JD Vance: The youngest ever elected to the office of US vice president

J D Vance has been elected Vice-President of the United States. The ticket system of US Presidential elections means that a vote for Trump is a vote for Vance. Voters are not allowed to pick Harris as President and Vance as Vice-President or indeed Trump for president with Tim Walz as his VP.

Mr. Vance is 40 years old, and this will make him one of the youngest vice presidents ever. Given Trump’s infirmity and advanced age it is likely that Vance will take over as president in case of the death of the President en poste or resigning on health grounds or even being removed from office by the cabinet on the basis of his incapacity to execute his duties. This happened when President Ronald Reagan was under general anaesthetic in the 1980s and his VP George Bush Senior took over for a few hours.

Vance was born John Daniel Bowman in Ohio. He later dropped the surname Bowman and started to go by Vance. Never trust a man who does not even tell the truth about his own name.

Vance grew up without his father who left the family when JD was 3. His mother remarried twice. JD takes the name ‘Vance’ from one of his stepfathers. His household was alcoholic. Though academically gifted, the young JD was a troubled child. He has brushed with the law. His grandmother recognised his extraordinary potentialities and insisted on raising him herself.

To pay for his education he joined the US Marine Corps. He was posted to Iraq but never saw combat. The GI Bill dating back to the Second World War pays for tertiary education for those who have served in the military. After he left the Marines, JD Vance attended a little-known university Ohio State. He then went to Yale Law School. At Yale, he penned his Hilly Billy Elegy: a memoir about his dysfunctional upbringing.

Hill Billies are rural working-class whites. It was originally only applicable to the Scotch-Irish (i.e. Presbyterians who moved from Northern Ireland to America in the 18th century). Hill Billies are supposed to be whiskey quaffing though religious, unsophisticated, conservative though suspicious of politicians of all parties. They are mostly found in Appalachia.

Through networking, he landed a job before graduation. On receiving his degree, he went to work for a Republican politician. He also clerked for a judge. Then he was a corporate lawyer, but He only practised law for about two years. Through contacts, he attained a job as a venture capitalist in California.

JD Vance parades the fact that he is a practising Christian. He married an Indian American. She practises Hinduism. Their connubial union has been blessed with three children.

JD Vance was raised in the Protestant denomination of Christianity. He has since ‘crossed the Tiber’ meaning he has joined the Catholic denomination within Christianity. It could be a genuine change of heart. Or perhaps it is because it is the most electorally advantageous denomination. 55% of Americans call themselves Christians. A slight majority of American Christians are Catholics. The Catholic Church is a single organisation. Protestantism is split into numerous rival but friendly church organisations: the Episcopalian Church, the Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Church and the Methodist Church etc…

In 2016 there was much talk of Trump becoming the Republican presidential nominee. JD Vance took to the airwaves to lacerate Trump. Vance went so far as to call Trump ‘Hitler’. He pronounced himself a never Trumper. How he must be eating his words.

In 2022 JD was elected to the US Senate for Ohio. He bested the Democrat incumbent by 6% points. This was a tight margin considering that the Republican Party made major gains in the state in that election.

In 2024 Trump’s vice-presidential pick came as a surprise to many. Many suspected he would select someone who was not a white male. Would it be Tim Scott: the most prominent black person in the Grand Old Party? Would it be Ted Cruz who is Hispanic? Would it be Kari Lake to have a female on the ticket?

JD Vance brings youth to the ticket. That makes it a balanced one considering Trump is so old. Moreover, JD brings ballast and intellect.

Senator Vance (as he still is) can be seen as a lockstep conservative. Mr. Vance is philogenerative but has not come up with a policy to promote this. JD Vance castigated Kamala Harris as a ‘childless cat lady’. This struck a chord with people of his mindset. But it infuriated others who said that being contumelious towards women without children is misogynistic.

He says gay marriage is wrong. He wants to save children from the crime of abortion. JD Vance is against anything that would prevent mass shootings. He detests the idea of a minimum wage. Like all Republicans, he is viciously anti-Palestinian. He is fairly isolationist and says most foreign wars are wrong. He believes that the USA should cut off military aid to Ukraine despite this being a breach of US treaty obligations.

Where does Vance agree with Trump? In avoiding wars, they seem to concur. They are both anti-woke. Both are fixated on stopping illegal immigration. He shares Donald J Trump’s indifference to the fate of the poor and visceral hatred of publicly funded healthcare.

JD Vance has performed volte-faces before. His current view of Trump is diametrically opposed to that which he espoused several years ago. This is suggestive of being an arriviste. Presumably, deep down he still loathes Donald J. But JD Vance has bedrock beliefs that he does not hide. He may well be in a position to turn those into action because he will probably become president either through finishing off Trump’s second term or through being elected in his own right in 2028.