(IntegrityTimes.com) – Ohio Senator JD Vance, who has been announced as former President Donald Trump’s running mate in the presidential election, placed emphasis on his working-class origins at the Republican National Convention. Vance, 39, addressed the key voting demographic in his speech, and mentioned that his grandmother had a secret stash of loaded firearms.
The senator, who grew up in Middleton, promised that a Trump-Vance administration would prioritize the needs of blue-collar Americans. He vowed to focus on reversing economic decline that the GOP blames on President Joe Biden’s government
Vance stressed the importance of listening to Wisconsin’s factory workers who take pride in American craftsmanship and Michigan’s auto workers worried about “out-of-touch” politicians decimating jobs. He also referenced energy workers in Ohio and Pennsylvania and their frustration with Biden purchasing energy from “tinpot dictators” rather than Americans.
Vance mentioned his mother’s problems with drug addiction in his speech, and explained that his family’s personal battles gave him insight into the damage Biden’s policies were doing to people on lower incomes. Left-wing commentators noted that Vance’s “populist” rhetoric moved away from the GOP’s traditional conservatism.
Democrats dismissed Vance’s attempts to appeal to low-income workers, and suggested he was hypocritically supporting a Republican economic policy that would increase costs for families while promising tax cuts for corporations and billionaires. Trump has himself tried to present himself as a living example of the success of the American Dream, having claimed to be a self-made billionaire. Critics noted that Trump received vast sums from his father Fred Trump’s business.
On the other side of the Atlantic, and on both sides of the political spectrum, attempts by leading politicians to relate to working-class roots have been widely mocked. The UK’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s repeated statement that his father was a “toolmaker” has been questioned. Despite the Labour prime minister’s claims that he experienced a tough working-class upbringing, Starmer’s father owned a factory. Vance promptly criticized Starmer at the RNC, suggesting the UK would become the first Islamist country with nuclear weapons under his leadership.
Vance claimed that many he grew up with struggle to afford groceries under the Biden administration, and blasted the Democrats for causing the prices of fuel and rent to skyrocket. He stated that the dreams of working-class Americans had been “shattered” as a direct result of Biden’s economic policy.
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