JD Vance, the new heir to Trump’s MAGA movement, steps into the spotlight

A faint burst of applause broke out from the Republican National Convention floor as Sen. JD Vance took the stage Tuesday afternoon in Milwaukee for the first time as Donald Trump’s running mate.

A faint burst of applause broke out from the Republican National Convention floor as Sen. JD Vance took the stage Tuesday afternoon in Milwaukee for the first time as Donald Trump’s running mate. The Gettysburg Address was loaded into the teleprompters, adjusted for Vance’s towering frame. Arms crossed over a navy suit and gold tie – an Ohio State man dangerously close to sporting Michigan colors – Vance looked out during his midday walkthrough, a hint of a smile on his face. Before him was an arena of empty chairs soon to be filled by members of the party he has been hand-picked to one day lead. On Wednesday, when Vance addresses the convention, he will do so not only as the party’s vice presidential nominee but as its MAGA heir-in-waiting. In tapping a 39-year-old first-term senator from the country’s heartland over more experienced Republicans with deeper party ties, Trump is looking ahead to the future of his political movement. Those close to Trump say he is looking to Vance to lead the party beyond his time in office, an expectation he never seriously harbored for his previous vice president, Mike Pence. “It’s very clear that Trump wants someone who can carry the movement on,” a person close to Trump told CNN said of the Vance selection. His choice of whom to carry the torch remained concealed until Trump was ready to reveal it, but the anointment of Vance shouldn’t come as a surprise. Trump’s campaign had said for months that the former president sought in a running mate “a strong leader who will make a great president for eight years after his next four-year term concludes.”