The choice of J.D. Vance is a middle finger to identity politics

It makes no sense.

Why would Donald Trump pick as a running mate a white man from Middle America who’s just like him?

Wasn’t Trump supposed to broaden his base to increase his chances of winning in November, and pick someone like a woman or a person of color or a more classic conservative?

Instead of expanding his reach, Trump has doubled down on his ideology, choosing J.D. Vance, someone who once called him “cultural heroin” for Middle America while musing that he may be “America’s Hitler.”

Evidently, Trump must have been so eager to build a MAGA future for America that he forgave Vance for those horrible things he said about him while he was the celebrated author of “Hillbilly Elegy.”

I always assumed, though, that Trump was so obsessed with returning to the White House that he wouldn’t take any chances and pick a complementary running mate such as Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, Glenn Youngkin or even Nikki Haley.

What happened?

One theory is that after the failed assassination attempt against him, Trump figured he had victory in the bag and might as well pick someone he felt was the best person for the job.

That may be so, but we’re still left with a stunning choice, devoid of the usual political machinations. You might call Vance the antidote to Vice President Kamala Harris, who Biden made clear was chosen more for her gender and racial identity than for, you know, merit. 

In that sense, choosing Vance is a kind of middle finger to identity politics. Vance’s only identity is merit. It just so happens that he’s white.

The obvious advantage to choosing people based on merit is that it feels real. No one can accuse you of playing games just to win. Trump, love him or hate him, isn’t playing the typical identity games with his choice of Vance. He seems ready to risk it all for what he believes in.

He’s even violating one of his cardinal rules—never pick someone who can outshine you. Vance is a razor-sharp, charismatic figure who is both fearless and articulate. He’s the living embodiment of the American Dream, going from a hellish childhood to Yale Law School, including stints in the Marines and Silicon Valley before winning election to the U.S. Senate.

Regardless of which political side you’re on, this focus on merit is a breath of politically incorrect fresh air.

Just as our cynicism for modern-day politics was reaching all-time highs, just as the primal grab for power overruled the common good, a divisive and polarizing political figure decides to eschew political games and focus on excellence.

The Democrats seem mired in the opposite camp. Their lust for power has led them into serial blunders that have come back to haunt them. In addition to aggressively hiding for years President Biden’s mental decline, until it blew up in their face, they were single-mindedly obsessed with taking down Trump any way they could.

“Whatever the respective merits of the many cases against him,” Bret Stephens writes in The New York Times, “the bald effort to embarrass, paralyze and ultimately criminalize a political opponent smacked, to millions of Americans, as a much graver danger to democracy than, say, whether hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels constituted a campaign-finance violation.”

The Democrats were right to expose the dangers of Trump. But since they were devoid of any self-reflection or self-criticism, they were incapable of doing anything else, throwing the whole kitchen sink to take him down and stay in power. Eventually their bald obsession caught up with them and left them with a big mess and a losing hand.

Trump, of course, has been as messy and power-hungry as anyone, which makes his risky choice of a young MAGA clone who used to insult him that much more notable.

Who knows, maybe a little voice came to him in the middle of the night last week, after he missed having his brains blown off by a few centimeters.

“You’ve been a narcissistic and lying bully your whole life, who would do anything to win,” the little voice told him. “Now you’ve dodged the ultimate bullet. Don’t push your luck, big guy. For the last major decision of your life, put merit above your ego. Pick someone who you’ll think will make America great again, even if it’s not you.”