Donald Trump’s selection of Ohio Sen J.D. Vance as his vice presidential nominee marks a critical moment in the history of the Republican party: It’s the former president’s attempt to end, once and for all, the notion that the “establishment” GOP will ever reemerge.
Vance, elected in 2022, knows no Republican party other than one dominated by Trump and Trumpism. And he is 100% an acolyte of the national populism and isolationism that defines the former president’s world view.
Had Trump picked North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum or Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, both of whom had a political life in the pre-Trump days of the party, an argument could be made that a post-Trump party could return to the days when names like Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney were spoken with reverence.
But that’s not the party anymore — McConnell was booed on the convention floor on Monday! — and Trump’s selection of Vance is an attempt to ensure that the “old” GOP never comes back.
Trump has installed Vance as the clear frontrunner for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, a purposeful passing of the torch that blocks out the likes of Nikki Haley and other more establishment types from making a serious run at the nomination.
Trump doesn’t just want to rule the party while he is in power and alive. He wants Trumpism and its dominance within the GOP to extend well beyond him. That’s what he is up to in the Vance pick.
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