Former President Trump ended all speculation and named Ohio’s junior U.S. Senator, JD Vance, as his running mate this week at the Republican National Convention. To understand why Trump may have made this pick, longtime Vance adviser Jai Chabria joins the show.
Shots fired
When former President Trump took the stage in rural western Pennsylvania on Saturday, many wondered if he would use the occasion to announce his running mate, possibly Senator Vance of nearby Ohio. As we all know, that’s not what happened.
It appears a bullet from a would-be assassin’s assault-style rifle grazed the former president’s ear, but he escaped otherwise unharmed. Another man was killed and two others were wounded before the gunman was killed.
The attempted assassination has stunned the country, roiled the political campaign and brought calls for a calmer tone. The shooting brought nearly unified messages from Ohio’s elected leaders.
The one outlier was Vance who posted:
"Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination."
Of course, we don’t know the motives of the suspected shooter. We don't know if he was aware of political rhetoric. Now, almost a week after the incident, FBI investigators either don’t know or are not saying publicly what led the suspect, Thomas Crooks, to climb atop the building and fire at the former president.
Just a couple of days later, Trump announced Vance was his choice for vice president.
Vance, who worked extremely hard for the nod, addressed the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.
Trump's pick was not completely unexpected. Trump identified Vance as one of three finalists, along with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
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