Trump selects Senator JDVance as the Republican nominee for vice president

2024-07-16 07:25:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Former President Donald Trump on Monday selected Senator JD Vance as his running mate for the White House, as the Republican Party opened the national convention where it will formally nominate Mr. Trump as its candidate in the November election.

"As Vice President, JD will continue to fight for our Constitution, support the troops, and do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. .

The selection of Sen. James David Vance, author of the bestselling book "Hillbilly Elegy," could boost the chances of Mr. Trump's supporters turning out in the Nov. 5 election, as the vice-presidential candidate is very popular among the Republican base.

A staunch conservative from a Republican state, Mr. Vance is unlikely to attract many new voters, and in turn could push away some moderate voters. Some supporters of Mr. Trump had urged him to select a woman or a black American as his running mate.

Mr. Trump made the announcement at the start of the Republican National Convention, two days after he survived an assassination attempt.

Earlier on Monday, Mr Trump scored a major legal victory after a federal judge dismissed one of the cases against him.

Judge Aileen Cannon said in her ruling that special prosecutor Jack Smith, who is leading the investigation, had been illegally appointed to the role and that he did not have the legal authority to bring such a lawsuit. Judge Cannon's 93-page order states that the special prosecutor must have been appointed with the approval of Congress.

Mr. Trump will formally accept the Republican Party's nomination to challenge President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 election on Thursday.

After the shooting, Mr. Trump's selection carries significantly more weight.

Mr Trump has repeatedly said he would focus on selecting someone who was qualified to take over as commander in chief.

"It's imperative to cast someone who can be good for any occasion, for any terrible occasion," he said in May during an interview on "The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show."

In another interview with Fox News reporter Harris Faulkner that was recorded a few hours before his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Mr. Trump was asked where he was in the process of selecting a vice presidential candidate and whether his decision-making would change if President Joe Biden withdrew from the race.

"It's a very important position, especially if something bad happens," Mr. Trump said. "That's the most important thing, if something bad could happen."

Before the gun attack, Mr. Trump had made it clear that he wanted to announce the name dramatically in the assembly, which he said would make the process more "interesting" and "more exciting."

"It's like a very sophisticated version of 'The Apprentice,'" he said in a radio interview last week, referring to a TV show he once hosted where Mr. Trump selected candidates to work for the company. his.

Mr. Trump and organizers of the convention have said that his agenda will not change, but will continue as planned despite the attack.

In a post on his social media page, Mr. Trump wrote that he could not allow "a person with a gun or a would-be assassin to impose a schedule change, or anything else."

"At this moment it is more important than ever that we stand together and show our true character as Americans by remaining strong and determined and not allowing evil to win," he wrote.

Mr. Trump held meetings in the days before the attack with the main contenders to take the position of vice presidential candidate. One of the people in their knowledge said that during the meetings no promises were made or nothing was offered.

Mr. Trump's wait until the convention to choose his number two comes later than usual in recent years, but it is hardly unprecedented.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan negotiated with former President Gerald Ford for hours during the Republican convention in Detroit, but decided on George HW Bush as his number two when negotiations broke down. The decision came less than 24 hours before he formally accepted the nomination from the party.

Mr Bush himself waited until the 1988 Republican convention held in New Orleans before he 'shocked' many of the attendees - as well as some of his top advisers - by choosing little-known Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as the number 2 of him, instead of a better known and more widely accepted candidate.

Since then, however, it has been tradition to choose a candidate shortly before the opening of the party convention.

In 2008, Arizona Senator John McCain, in an effort to boost his race against Democrat Barack Obama, tapped little-known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin just before the Minnesota Republican convention opened. He had a surge in the polls, but that didn't last long.

Joe Biden nominated then-California senator Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential candidate, six days before the Democratic Party opened its convention that was held mostly 'online' due to the coronavirus pandemic./ Voa