Two days after surviving an assassination attempt, Trump picks his MAGA heir

CNN —

JD Vance is the embodiment of the populist, nationalist and blue-collar transformation of the old establishment Republican Party.

That’s why ex-President Donald Trump — who never forgets the enthusiasms of his base — picked the Ohio senator as his vice-presidential running mate and effectively named him as a political heir who is now the best positioned Republican to inherit the keys to the MAGA kingdom whenever Trump exits.

Trump rarely comes across as someone preoccupied with posterity — he lives in the present. But the selection of Vance is a nod to his legacy and anoints a leader of the “Make America Great Again” movement who could be active long after its author has left the scene.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Trump chose an heir apparent a few days after surviving an assassination attempt — a horrific event that underscored the constitutional duty of vice presidents to secure the chain of power and assume the presidency themselves if the worst happens.

The Ohio senator, who is only 39, injects a dash of youth into an election season dominated by two elderly men who have both been elected president. His selection caps a stunning political rise — he’s been in the Senate for less than two years. And if Trump wins the election in November, a millennial will be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Vance made his name by explaining the political forces behind the rise of Trumpism before most people were paying attention to them in his book “Hillbilly Elegy” about growing up poor in Appalachia. The memoir describes human blight, economic pain and drug addiction sown by deindustrialization and globalization in Kentucky and Ohio. Eight years ago, he was often sought out by liberal commentators looking