Ohio Senator JD Vance introduced himself to the country and officially accepted the nomination to be Donald Trump’s running mate at the Republican National Convention this Wednesday (17). He spoke about his upbringing and said that Trump — and his policies — are the best option for the United States.
It was Vance’s first time speaking at a convention, and also his first time attending one. He was introduced by his wife, Usha Vance, a lawyer and former court clerk.
Trump was also back in the arena for Vance’s speech. His ear is still bandaged after Saturday’s assassination attempt on him.
The 39-year-old senator began his speech by saying it was a “night of hope” after the assassination attempt. He attacked President Joe Biden’s policies that he said have harmed rural and small-town communities — like where he grew up in Ohio.
Vance also sought to appeal to white working-class voters in a call-out to battleground states. He addressed factory and energy workers and said Trump is the person who will put American workers first.
When talking about his upbringing and training, Vance spoke about his mother’s struggle with addiction.
Trump speech
Trump is expected to make an official speech this Thursday (17), on the penultimate day of the Republican Conventions. The former president was officially announced as the Republican Party’s candidate earlier this week, and today he will formally accept the nomination.
On the third day of the event, this Wednesday, Trump took the stage for 15 minutes before the audience arrived.
Many of the United States’ political issues that preceded Saturday’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump have faded as the former president, President Joe Biden and their respective allies rush to adapt their campaigns to the new landscape.
“Honestly, it’s going to be a totally different speech now,” Trump said in an interview with the Washington Examiner about his speech at the Convention following the assassination attempt.
Vance attacks Biden policies
Vance spoke about his education and attacked President Joe Biden’s policies in his speech this Wednesday (17). He argued that Biden harmed communities like the one he grew up in in Ohio.
“Somehow a New York City real estate developer named Donald J. Trump was right on all these issues, while Biden was wrong,” Vance said.
“Joe Biden screwed up and my community paid the price,” he added.
Vance said the country needs leaders “who put America first.”
The vice presidential candidate was born in Middletown, Ohio, on August 2, 1984, and spent part of his childhood in Kentucky. He recounted part of his life in his best-selling book “Once Upon a Dream”.
He served in the Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007 before attending Ohio State University and Yale Law School. Vance later worked as a venture capitalist before running for public office.
He argued that the country needs a leader who “will respond to workers, both union and non-union” and who will fight to bring factories back. Trump is the person who would accomplish these things,” he said.
Union within the Republican Party
The senator repeated similar claims he made following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, casting the former president’s opponents as those responsible for Saturday’s violence while celebrating Trump’s subsequent calls for unity.
“Now consider what they said. They said he was a tyrant. They said he must be detained at all costs. But how did he respond? He called for national unity, the call of the nation right after a murderer almost took his life,” Vance said.
Vance at X, like some other Republican lawmakers in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, said President Joe Biden’s rhetoric was to blame.
“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance wrote.
“This rhetoric led directly to the attempted assassination of President Trump,” he added.
In his speech, Vance stated: “And then President Trump flew to Milwaukee and went back to work. This is the man I have met personally over the past few years. He’s tough but he cares about people. He can challenge a killer one moment and call for national healing the next.”
Donald Trump Jr. remembers the attack in speech
Donald Trump Jr., Donald Trump’s son, took advantage of the beginning of his speech to remember the life of the man who died on Saturday (13) during the assassination attempt on the former president of the United States.
“We were millimeters away from one of the darkest moments in American history,” he said, referring to the attack.
“But we lost an American hero that day, his memory will forever live in the hearts of his family, his community and the nation he loved,” Trump said, referring to firefighter Corey Compatore – the 50-year-old man shot and died on Saturday.
In the speech, he took aim at issues related to President Joe Biden’s physical and mental fitness.
“And honestly, who is really running the country, anyway. Obviously not Joe Biden. So who are they asking us to elect? Seriously, who is running things, does anyone really know?” said Trump’s son.
Broadcasting a split screen to his father raising his fist and shouting “fight, fight, fight”, after the assassination attempt, he added: “I have never been more proud of my father than I was in that moment. That’s when the world discovered how difficult it is.”
Before giving his speech at the Republican National Convention this Wednesday, Donald Trump Jr. passed the microphone to his daughter, Kai Madison Trump, who spoke about how shocked she was to learn of her grandfather’s attempted assassination.
“I just wanted to know if he was okay. It was hurtful that someone would do that to someone else. A lot of people put my grandfather through hell and he’s still standing.”
Kai Trump described former US President Donald Trump as a proud grandfather who is an inspiration to her.
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Trump shot in the ear during rally in Pennsylvania Credit: 07/13/2024REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
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Former President Donald Trump was removed from the stage at a rally in Pennsylvania, United States, this Saturday (13). Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
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Donald Trump is carried off the stage with a wound on his face and was bleeding. Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
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Loud bangs were heard before Trump fell. Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
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Secret Service agents then helped him to his feet. Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
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Subsequently, the former president was taken to a vehicle and removed from the scene. Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
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Journalists at the scene reported hearing “a series of loud explosions or bangs” before Secret Service agents rushed toward Trump. Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
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Image shows shooter who attacked Trump during rally; he was on the roof of a nearby building Credit: Reproduction/CNN
During his speech, JD Vance spoke about his mother, Beverly Vance’s struggle with addiction and recognized her where she was sitting in the VIP box.
“Our movement is about single mothers like mine who struggled with money and addiction but never gave up. And I’m proud to say my mom is here — 10 years clean and sober. I love you, mom,” Vance said.
Vance gestured to his mother in the audience, who stood up for an ovation as the audience chanted “JD’s mom!”
The family of Omer Neutra, an Israeli hostage held by Hamas, made comments at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this Wednesday (17).
The crowd, at one point, began shouting: “Bring them home”, in reference to the Israeli hostages who are still being held by the radical Islamic group in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.
Omer’s father, Ronen Neutra, joined the crowd in the chant.
Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in Israel on October 7 and took more than 250 people hostage.
“This was not merely an attack on Israel,” he said, noting that 45 of the victims were Americans. “This was and continues to be an attack on Americans.”
He asked where the American outrage is over the return of the hostages and said that former President Donald Trump personally called his family after his son was taken hostage.
“We know he has the American hostages,” said Ronen Neutra. “We need our beautiful son back and we need his support.”
Outside the Republican Convention, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately told President Joe Biden in a recent conversation that polls show the president cannot defeat Donald Trump.
Pelosi said Biden could destroy Democrats’ chances of winning the House in November if he continues to seek a second term, according to four sources briefed on the call.
The president responded by resisting, telling Pelosi he has seen polls that indicate he can win, a source said. Another source described Biden as being defensive about the polls.
At one point, Pelosi asked Mike Donilon, Biden’s longtime adviser, to come on the line to talk about the data.
This phone call would mark the second known conversation between the California lawmaker and Biden since the president’s disastrous June 27 debate, broadcast on CNN.
While the exact date of the conversation was unclear, a source described it as taking place within the last week. Pelosi and Biden also spoke in early July.
Neither source indicated whether Pelosi told Biden in this conversation that she believes the president should drop out of the 2024 race.
She spent the weeks following Biden’s disastrous debate performance listening to her colleagues’ concerns, causing an uproar when she said in an interview last week: “It’s up to the president to decide whether he’s going to run. We are all encouraging him to make this decision because time is running out.”
When asked for comment, White House spokesman Andrew Bates did not respond to the details of the report. CNN about the recent Pelosi-Biden call.
“President Biden is the party’s nominee. He plans to win and looks forward to working with Congressional Democrats to pass his 100-day agenda to help working families,” Bates said.
A Pelosi spokesperson told CNN that the former House speaker has been in California since Friday and that she has not spoken to Biden since.
(With input from Gregory Krieg, Eric Bradner, Tori B. Powell, Elizabeth Wolfe, MJ Lee, Jamie Gangel, and Jeff Zeleny of CNN)
