Choosing JD Vance shows how much Trump believes he’s going to win

Tonight, the United States will get its first major look as JD Vance, vice presidential candidate. Of course, this won’t be the first time they’ve seen JD Vance the person. Most of America got to know him in 2016 when his part-memoir, part-manifesto Hillbilly Elegy became a New York Times bestseller. They got to know him again when he made his volte-face on Donald Trump, going from comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler to becoming Trump’s biggest defender when he ran for Senate in Ohio.

But tonight will debut JD Vance, Trump’s running mate. Vance has been met with a raucous reception from the all corners of the Republican Party. When he entered the Fiserv Forum on Tuesday evening, he received a hero’s welcome. When he appeared on the convention floor and took his seat beside Donald Trump, he was treated as the Chief Operating Officer to Trump’s CEO.

Trump’s decision to pick Vance — a MAGA warrior who ardently opposes abortion and also opposes supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia — shows that Trump feels little need to do the dance of deference to the defeated. That’s a dance the presidential nominee traditionally performs once the primary ends.

Indeed, Trump tried doing this two-step in 2016 after he initially said Ted Cruz “holds the Bible high, he puts it down, then he lies”. He picked Mike Pence, the pious Indiana governor who supported free trade, but he endorsed Cruz.

Likewise, when Nikki Haley took the stage on Tuesday evening, she put her earlier feud with Trump in the freezer.

Trump chose Pence in order to consolidate his voter base by winning over wary evangelicals. But the former president doesn’t need to win over evangelicals any more, since he gave them the ultimate golden goose during his first term,