Trump's running mate enters the scene

He was é chosen by Donald Trump to assist him in the campaign and will become vice-president if the Republican is elected: the atypical senator J.D. Vance takes his grand oral on Wednesday & agrave; the Milwaukee Convention.

The young elected official from Ohio will give a speech at 9:30 p.m. (02:30 GMT Thursday) in front of the media from around the world, during a new prime-time evening of the party's high mass.

The 39-year-old man, a successful author, was propelled to the forefront when Donald Trump announced on Monday that he would choose him as his running mate for the presidential race. White House, ending weeks of suspense.

– Faithful among the faithful –

For a candidate in the presidential election, this choice often meets the objective of attracting new voters, or to compensate for identified weaknesses in terms of image or program.

J.D. Vance, an anti-system elected official from a modest background, with a unique background since he had a career in the army as well as in Silicon Valley, should reassure the party's most right-wing voters, while Donald Trump is trying to breakthroughs among the moderates.

In the American Senate, this tall brunette with piercing blue eyes distinguished himself by his fierce opposition to aid to Ukraine, demanding that these funds should instead be allocated to the fight against illegal immigration.

J. D. Vance and Donald Trump campaign signs at the Republican convention in Milwaukee, July 15, 2024 © AFP – ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS

If Donald Trump, 78, is elected, J.D. Vance will also bring a wave of youth to the White House since he will become the third youngest vice-president in the history of the United States.

But one quality may have counted more than anything to explain his selection by the Republican candidate: loyalty.

Even though he has been very critical of Donald Trump in the past – to the point of comparing him to Hitler in private messages – J.D. Vance has made a complete turnaround to establish himself as one of the most powerful defenders most ardent of the billionaire and his MAGA ideology, “Make America great again”.

Saturday, just a few hours after the shootings targeting the former president, J.D. Vance accused President Joe Biden of having, with his rhetoric about the dangers of Trumpism, “directly caused this assassination attempt.”

– Trump speech Thursday –

This attack unsurprisingly turned the Milwaukee convention upside down, the objective of which was above all to designate Donald Trump as the Republican candidate for the November 5 presidential election .

The images of the septuagenarian, presenting himself with his fist raised and a bandage on his ear in a room carpeted in red and blue, are already historic.

Balloons for the Republican convention, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 12, 2024 © AFP – KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI

Some of his supporters immediately imitated him, also strolling through the aisles of the Milwaukee sports complex with a small white square hiding their hearing pins.

“I'm doing this to pay tribute to President Trump and the sacrifice he is making for our country,” said Joe Neglia, delegate from Arizona.

But the high point of this carefully choreographed meeting will come on Thursday when Donald Trump formally accepts his party's nomination.

The occasion for a spectacular party , punctuated by the traditional release of thousands of red, white and blue balloons.

This will be the first time that the Republican will speak on stage since he escaped this assassination attempt.

Having barely finished the convention, Donald Trump will fly to Michigan on Saturday where he will hold a campaign rally, exactly one week after the attack .

J.D Vance will take his place next to him on the stage.

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