Donald Trump’s choice of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his running mate has backfired with President Joe Biden’s shock announcement Sunday, argued MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. Maddow asserted that Trump selected Vance because he believed shoring up conservative support was more crucial to his campaign than winning over undecided voters, as he saw running against Biden as an easy victory.
“He wanted him for governing, not campaigning,” Maddow said. “They picked J.D. Vance because they thought they had this election in the bag, and Joe Biden did this today, and now it is an absolutely different ball game.”
Maddow continued, “J.D. Vance and Donald Trump are going to lose in November, and Donald Trump is going to regret picking J.D. Vance as his running mate.”
The unexpected twist came when Biden announced on Sunday that he was dropping out of the race, following weeks of concern from high-profile Democrats about his cognitive ability. He endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to take over.
With this new development, Maddow suggested that Trump could now face a tougher battle, and Vance’s far right-wing views might become a liability. She highlighted Vance’s extreme stances on issues such as abortion and no-fault divorce as examples of beliefs that could hurt the Republican campaign.
“Any Democrat who can talk about the kinds of issues where J.D. Vance has taken the kinds of stances … those are not 50/50 issues in this country. They are not 60/40. He is taking the kind of stances that single digits of Americans support,” Maddow explained.
“You do not need any type of Democrat in particular to prosecute a case against J.D. Vance. He is a real weirdo from a really, really narrow slice of the far right side of the ideological doctrine.”
Maddow concluded by saying, “They picked him because they didn’t think he would have to be defending himself at all. Because he thought he didn’t need to compete very hard to win, he picked J.D. Vance. He picked someone who’s not going to help him at all.”
This analysis underscores the potential shift in the political landscape following Biden’s unexpected withdrawal and the challenges Trump may face with Vance as his running mate. The upcoming election promises to be a dynamic and unpredictable contest.