This Monday, Donald Trump chose Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his vice presidential candidate. Florida Senator Marco Rubio and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum have been notified that they will not be Donald Trump's nominees for vice president of the United States, Fox News and CNN reported Monday.
Rubio and Burgum were two of the four Republican leaders most likely to be nominated for the position, along with fellow senators J.D. Vance, who was ultimately elected, and Tim Scott.
Trump announced the name on Monday, during the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Vance, 39, is a political newcomer who entered the Senate last year but has spent time in conservative caucuses.
Once a bitter critic of Trump — whom he attacked as “reprehensible” and called a “cultural heroine” — he earned Trump’s support in his 2022 Senate race by fully embracing his politics and his deception over a stolen election.
The support lifted him above a crowded field and ultimately into the Senate.
Vance rose to fame with his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly elegy. A former critic of Trump and now a staunch supporter, he claims to be fighting for the working class against the liberals who “populate the upper echelons of American government, business, media, entertainment and academia.”
He also encourages the former president’s populist views on immigration and an “America First” foreign policy in Ukraine. His friend Donald Trump Jr. told Newsmax in January, “I’d like to see a J.D. Vance. Aligned, aggressive people.”
Trump, after the attack
In an exclusive interview with the diary Washington Examinerthe Republican Party nominee announced Monday that he has changed the speech he will deliver this week at the Republican National Convention, which begins Monday and will make Trump's nomination official.
“The speech he was going to give on Thursday was going to be spectacular. If this hadn’t happened, it would have been one of the most incredible speeches,” he said. But his words will no longer be aimed at his opponent, President Joe Biden. “Frankly, it’s going to be a very different speech now,” he promised. Before flying from Bedminster, New Jersey, to Milwaukee, where his party’s convention is taking place, Trump told the media that his speech “will meet the moment that history demands.”
The former president arrived in Milwaukee on Sunday night, and before leaving, he said on his Truth Social network that what happened had caused him to delay his arrival at the event by two days. However, he then decided that he could not allow a “gunman or potential assassin” to disrupt his schedule. After spending a day in seclusion at his golf club in New Jersey, he said in a response on that social network that he is “not afraid” and will remain strong and “defiant.”
Meanwhile, his campaign confirmed that the Republican convention, scheduled for Monday through Thursday in Wisconsin, will go ahead, albeit with increased security. In a statement, Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said security measures would be expanded on site, while recommending that campaign staff stay away from the Washington and Palm Beach, Florida, offices “while locations are evaluated and new security measures are implemented.”
“We also urge recognition of the political polarization in these heated elections. If anything seems amiss, immediately alert the bosses or the security team on the ground,” they asked in the statement.