How JD Vance’s Combative Conservatism Is Shaping Trumpism 2.0

From attacks on “childless cat ladies” to claims of migrants devouring neighbors’ pets, Senator JD Vance is providing many Americans with their first glimpse of an ultra-online, aggressively combative generation of rabble-rousing conservatism.

This younger generation has come of age by taking its cues from Donald J. Trump, but Mr. Vance is fast becoming its chief emissary — muscling its tactics and language into the national psyche and driving some of the key story lines of the 2024 election.

In this version of Trumpism 2.0, publicity is paramount, precision is passé and controversy is often its own reward. The approach is inviting new criticism — and winning over converts.

Mr. Vance’s clearest real-world application of this online ethos has come in recent days as the Republican ticket has grappled with the aftermath of Mr. Trump’s poor debate performance and the second attempt in two months on the former president’s life.

Mr. Vance, the 40-year-old first-term senator who’s positioned as the anointed successor to the MAGA movement, has responded with a series of increasingly heated criticisms of rivals and a singular, at-any-cost focus on keeping the Trump-Vance team on offense.

On the rally stage, he can easily access his own anger. It’s not a surprising trait, perhaps, after a hardscrabble youth shaped by the consequences of his father’s absence and his mother’s drug addiction, yet it’s clearly a valuable tool to connect with frustrated and aggrieved supporters. But he veers between chest-pounding aggressionand the desire to appear like a happy warrior, while Democrats see something else — a leading Republican they view as willing to traffic in anti-migrant attacks anchored in racist tropes.