Two days after being tapped as Donald Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance introduced himself to voters in a speech that highlighted the populist direction the two aim to take the Republican Party — and the nation.
Vance’s Republican National Convention speech capped a night Republicans spent prosecuting what they see as President Joe Biden’s biggest foreign policy failures and their consequences.
Republicans, including the former president’s granddaughter, 17-year-old Kai Trump, also spent much of their time attempting to show Trump’s human side.
Here are five takeaways:
Vance introduces himself and slams Biden: Vance spoke of being raised in rural Ohio, joining the Marines and attending Yale Law School, where he met his wife, Usha. He also used his political leanings — populist and isolationist — to target Biden’s career as a politician.
A softer edge: Though parts of Vance’s speech were Trumpian, Vance used his speech to paint himself as an everyman and appealed to poor and middle-class voters across the political spectrum.
Usha Vance takes the stage: JD Vance’s wife, Usha, laid out her husband’s biography and compared it to her middle-class upbringing in suburban San Diego with Indian immigrant parents. In a humanizing moment, she noted that JD adapted to their differences.
Gold Star families lambast Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal: The audience heard sharp criticism of Biden from the families of some of the 13 service members who were killed in a suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul during the United States’ 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
GOP senators confront Secret Service director: Republican senators confronted Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and chased her through Fiserv Forum, demanding answers to questions about Saturday’s assassination attempt.
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