When then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump picked then-Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate last July, it left many people with questions, including diehard Trump Republicans.
Though Ohioans were familiar with Vance, much of the rest of America was not. What would a first-term senator with not even two years of experience in office be able to bring to the table on a national level?
As it turns out, a lot.
Beyond the inspiring back story of how he made something of himself as a young man despite a challenging upbringing that included not just an absentee father but also a mother who struggled with drug addiction, people have been seriously impressed by how Vance has handled himself since first becoming Trump’s running mate and then his vice president.
Vance, an Iraq war veteran who enlisted in the Marines two years after the 9/11 attacks following graduation from high school, has a stature and seriousness about him that says, “I’m here, and I mean business.” But he’s also not afraid to be charmingly self-deprecating when the occasion calls for it. He also doesn’t back down from a fight and comes armed with receipts so he can start dropping them when challenged.
Perhaps most impressive about Vance has been his smooth transition into being Trump’s wingman.
We saw it almost right away after both were sworn into office.
After the unfortunate mid-air crash over Washington, D.C., involving an Army helicopter and an American Airlines jet in late January that killed 67 people, Trump held a presser in which he took questions on his previous statements where he’d referenced diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and had wondered if that factored into what happened.
After Trump explained his rationale in his uniquely Trumpian way, he invited Vance to comment on the incident and the speculation surrounding it, too.
As he stepped up to the podium that displayed the presidential seal, Vance essentially gave the CliffsNotes version of what Trump was talking about, succinctly explaining exactly why it was indeed important to investigate what role DEI might have played and why it needs to be nixed.
“Something the president said that I think bears reemphasizing, which is that when you don’t have the best standards in who you’re hiring, it means on the one hand you’re not getting the best people in government, but on the other hand it puts stresses on the people who are already there,” Vance said to the reporters at the presser.
We’ve seen what some have described as Vance’s “Trump whisperer” tendencies since then as well, including during the first Trump 47 cabinet meeting a couple of weeks ago and also the much-talked-about fireworks display that took place last week between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at an informal White House press gaggle.
If there’s anything the four years of Joe Biden’s presidency showed us beyond a shadow of a doubt, it’s that vice presidential picks very much matter and can be very consequential on down the line — and sometimes much sooner than anyone anticipates, as we saw when Biden was forced out of the presidential race in 2024 and gave his vice president, Kamala Harris, his endorsement.
It’s still early on in this term and there is a long time between now and 2028, but JD Vance is leaving good impressions with all the right people — not to mention is triggering all the right people as well — and is well on his way to making the vice presidency great and respectable again.
North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.
