Since Donald Trump selected Ohio Senator JD Vance as his vice presidential candidateIt is widely known that Vance once referred to Trump as “reprehensible” and “cultural heroin.” However, the day after Vance won his own Senate election in 2022, he reportedly announced that he would support Trump for president in 2024.
Given this dramatic change, what does Vance's election mean for the Republican Party and conservatism, the political philosophy that Republicans once supposedly represented?
I’m a political scientist and my research and policy evaluation focuses on the connection between Trump cardThe Republican Party And conservatism. Every citizen defines conservatism in other ways, but at its core it’s a philosophy that supports smaller and fewer centralized governments because consolidated power could possibly be used to silence political competition and strip residents of their freedoms.
Since 2015, Trump has tightened his grip on the Republican Party, pushing it ever further away from its stated conservative ideology. The collection of Vance as Trump's vice presidential running mate – and the competition that preceded it – are the newest steps in that process.
Vance got here from a small pool of applicants Among them were other notable politicians who were also once staunchly against Trump. By examining their careers, we are able to see how the Republican Party has abandoned conservative values to serve one man.
Elise Stefanik
Elise Stefanik ran for Congress in 2014 in a district in upstate New York as a mainstream Republican who admired Representative Paul Ryan from WisconsinRyan was a conventional conservative who ran for vp in 2012 alongside former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Romney supported Stefanik for Congressand said she was “a person of integrity. Every campaign is different, but the values do not change.”
But Stefanik’s values have modified. When she was forced to share the ballot with Trump in 2016, she couldn’t even “spit out his name,” According to Republican consultant Tim Miller. But at the start of Trump's presidencyshe became a vocal ally, finally replaces Rep. Liz Cheney as Chairman of the House Republican Conference in 2021.
Republicans within the House of Representatives ousted Cheney from office after Trump's Refusal to support the 2020 election results and his actions through the attack on the US Capitol on January 6. Cheney justified her opposition to Trump by stating her Respect for the rule of law and support for limited government – even when those positions meant opposing her own party leader. These are fundamental conservative principles, on the core of which is an aversion to the consolidation of presidency power.
This change was a major moment within the party's ideological transformation. Stefanik's rise later earned her the title of Vice President, which she described as “An honor. A humbling honor.”
Marco Rubio
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida challenged Trump for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. During that race, Rubio issued a press release calling Trump “serious threat to the future of our party and our country” and blamed him for create a climate of violence.
Such statements made sense once they got here from a serious conservative whose worldview was shaped by his family's Cuban heritage and who spoke out against Communism, tyranny And excessive government power.
Eventually, nevertheless, Rubio became a Trump ally, voting to acquit Trump in his second impeachment trial in 2021, which was on charges that Trump had instigated a rebel. In line with Trump's wishes, Rubio against the establishment of an independent commission to research the events of January 6.
In early 2024, Rubio was asked in an ABC interview if he really desired to be vp, though Trump had defended the demands of the January 6 insurgents to hold former Vice President Mike Pence to verify the 2020 election results.
“When Donald Trump was president of the United States, this country was safer and more prosperous,” Rubio replied.I believe this country and the world were a greater place.”
This refusal to acknowledge and challenge Trump's supporters' blatant support for lawlessness amounted to an abandonment of fundamental conservative values.
Tim Scott
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott has praised his conservative values and principles throughout his political life. It was logical for him to Support Rubio as Trump gained momentum within the 2016 Republican primaries.
In 2017, Scott insisted that Trump’s Failure to sentence white nationalists after violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, compromised his moral authority. Not long afterward, nevertheless, Scott met with Trump to debate his comments and was convinced that Trump “obviously reflected“ to what he said.
When Trump refused to sentence white supremacists outright in a 2020 presidential debate just a few years later, Scott said Trump had “misspoken”” and was presupposed to correct the comments, but added: “If he doesn’t correct it, I guess he didn’t make a mistake.” After dropping out of the 2024 Republican primaries, Scott endorsed Trump as someone who “unite the country.”
Why Vance?
These converted Trump allies still represent modern conservative positions on issues reminiscent of Abortion and health careBut by attempting to change into Trump’s running mate, they tacitly endorsed an executive officer’s try to overturn a democratic election and undermine the freedoms of US residents. Such a shift violates the spirit of conservatism.
These politicians have also strayed from conservative principles in areas including US foreign policy and immigrationBut essentially the most fundamental and profound change concerns their attitude towards the abuse of state power.
What should we predict of Trump’s alternative of Vance, who once privately compared Trump to Hitler but now he says that he wouldn’t have confirmed the 2020 election without further ado if he had been in Pence's shoes?
Many considerations influence the alternative of a vp. But Vance doesn’t represent a swing state. He will probably not appeal to MAGA-skeptical independent voters who haven’t yet decided who they are going to vote for.
Instead, People near Trump call the 39-year-old Vance the brand new heir to Trump's MAGA movement. But Vance is greater than a protégé; he embodies Trump's influence on the Republican Party's evolving relationship with government power and insists that his political conversion is real.
If there was speculation that Republicans would return to some type of traditional conservatism after Trump leaves politics, the prospect of a JD Vance presidency makes it clear that the reply isn’t any.
image credit : theconversation.com