We need a JD Vance here to forge a conservatism for those failed by the elite.
If the Conservatives are to have any hope of being re-elected then they must come up with a vision that the left-behinds can buy into
CAMILLA TOMINEYASSOCIATE EDITOR20 July 2024.
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JD Vance is a really good pick for vice-president by Donald Trump. By appointing the senator for Ohio, a whipper snapper at 39, the former US president can now play the role of elder statesman as he campaigns for a second term in the White House.
Cynics will call it political opportunism – but it does also show a degree of magnanimity by both men, since Vance was once a vocal “Never Trumper”.
Although a controversial figure for his ultra-Christian statements on abortion, gay marriage, Islamist extremism and other thorny topics, Vance is undoubtedly the thinking man’s answer to Making America Great Again.
A poor boy done good, the father of three was brought up in the rust belt by a drug-addled mother and spent a great deal of his childhood in the care of his grandparents, whom he called “Mamaw and Papaw”.
After school, he joined the US Marine Corps before gaining a political science degree from Ohio State University and studying law at Yale.
He therefore brings a welcome dose of intelligence and thoughtfulness to Team Trump.
Importantly, he has attempted to create an intellectual case for conservatism that cares about people who have been left behind.
Importantly, he has attempted to create an intellectual case for conservatism that cares about people who have been left behind.
Although the Brexit vote and Trump’s 2016 election were very different, both were to some extent driven by a part of the electorate that felt completely ignored. For once, they were given the power to change something.
Yet despite being promised that the referendum result in 2016 and the election of Boris Johnson in 2019 would improve things, “levelling up” has done nothing to help these people, as the gulf between prosperous cities and impoverished towns continues to get bigger.
If the Conservatives are to have any hope of being re-elected in 2029 then they must come up with a vision that the left-behinds can buy into – along with younger people who also feel locked out of the system.
The polls suggest that Trump is already winning back these voters from the Democrats and Vance’s unique backstory will surely help with that. The British Conservatives would be wise to listen to him carefully. DT.
