Donald Trump & JD Vance – a political marriage made in heaven! – By Hemantha Yapa Abeywardena
The contrast of the paths to politics between the two American politicians couldn’t be starker: President Trump was born with a silver spoon in his mouth whereas his vice-presidential pick, JD Vance, was born into utter poverty in a remote corner of the vast nation, to be brought up by a single mother, who had been forced to fight two different struggles simultaneously by her fate, – a drug addiction and making a living for the family.
JD Vance, 39, wrote a book in his early 30s, highlighting his early struggles and that of his community in grasping the reality on the ground, where he was brought up. At present, I am reading the book, ‘Hillbilly Elegy’, by JD Vance and his no-holds barred account of what he and the very community that he loves went through is a fascinating read, indeed.
The book had been a best-seller even before his ascension to the second most influential position in the Republican Party in the United States. With his sudden elevation to stardom, the sales of the book have skyrocketed and Amazon reviews explicitly reflect the phenomenon.
According to Mr Vance, what his struggling mother failed was given a lifeline by his grandma at the tender age of Vance-the-kid partially that eventually resulted in being educated at prestigious Yale University as a law student and then becoming a financier in the world of venture capitalists. The impressive success added yet another worthy statistic to the annals of the so-called American Dream.
Mr Vance saw the poverty and suffering of remote corners of what is supposed to be the word’s wealthiest nation. The very observations may have sown the seeds of making a change that ultimately led to Vance-the-politician being born.
The rags-to-riches or rags-to-fame life of Mr Vance is the exact opposite of the very man – a billionaire property tycoon – who chose him to be his deputy against all odds, at the Republican National Convention – RNC. Mr Vance, in the past, had described his boss as America’s Hitler and even in more less-than-flattering terms, yet they unbelievably patched up the differences and buried the hatchet in no time – much to everyone’s amazement.
Despite the past disagreements and corresponding one-way mudslinging, they have one thing in common: they can easily mingle with ordinary Americans as if each was one of their own. Every word that they utter resonates very well with the long-abandoned, ordinary Americans in the industrial wasteland, dubbed the Rust Belt. Both derive their political power from this very demography and it is not just a case of acting to fool them around up until getting their votes; they are in it – seriously.
They are determined to make a difference for them – and for the middle Americans in that order – and that’s not political scripts, but the instincts of both camps that run the game.
In addition, they both made it clear that they were not for foreign wars any more, referring to the catastrophic Iraq invasion under the pretext of weapons of mass destruction that turned out to be far from the truth – and a few more.
Republicans, on their own accord – or by definition – exactly like our own UNP stalwarts in Sri Lanka, normally identify themselves with the rich and privileged, but not with the ordinary folks like blue-collar workers and farmers. President Trump broke the mold even before the election of his first term – and has been at it since. Mr Vance is treading along the same path – and with much ease due to his humble upbringing.
The unbelievable reconciliation – and the union – of the two politicians will have far reaching reverberations beyond the presidential polls due in November. The alliance has made the pair onto a winnable path and Mr Vance, just 39, has cleared the path for achieving the pinnacle of the career of a politician in the US – the occupation of the White House in a few years’ time. President Trump wished his political protégé at the RNC on Thursday, ‘Enjoy the ride!”
That also shows the fact, a unique character; although they fight each other in public on political platforms, they do not appear to be harbouring ill thoughts on each other. In short, they simply may not go to sleep at night in plotting political assassinations or those of character.
That’s how I see President Trump’s miraculous survival on Saturday by a whisker. I think he is a compassionate human being at heart, despite his bombastic rhetoric at times. Perhaps, thanks to his Christian upbringing, he is very quick to forgive, forget and move on. It, however, does not mean he does not have human flaws that we all inherit, perhaps, since the day our very forefathers ate the forbidden fruit while in birthday suits.
For instance, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un of North Korea badly fell out in public, exchanging enviable barbs, ‘a dog’, ‘a little rocket man’ etc, during the first term of the former in office. Yet, a few months later, they became bosom friends while writing big letters to each other. President Trump even stepped into North Korea to be greeted on the North Korean soil, the first US President ever to do.
This is how I see the survival of our own JRJ in the parliament, somewhere in the 80s, when the killer grenade was aimed at him: although it fell just in front of him, he escaped unhurt, while his prime minister and the national security minister got injured and a deputy minister got killed. Although JRJ took some disastrous decisions under pressure, as a politician, he may not have let hatred grow in his heart, while harbouring ill-thoughts to plot questionable political games day-in-day-out.
Not only did he live to the ripe age of 90 without major health issues, but also decided, on his own accord, when his earthly existence should come to a quick end. As far as I know, he quickly parted with this world without bothering anyone.
Incidents of this kind, of course, are normally classified being lucky. They, however, have a much broader significance, as survivals of this kind, the so-called miracles, only favour a selected few.
The new political sensation, JD Vance in the US, regardless of his quickly-evolved conservative leanings, is going to be a force to reckon with in the next few decades to come. In his book, Hillbilly Elegy, he touched upon the existing ‘race’ debate too and clearly says that those who attribute it to skin colour, religion or wealth – or lack of it – simply bark up the wrong tree. It is, according to Mr Vance, much more complex than that and transcends the usual attributes.
It is interesting to see how the joint political journey of these two men unfolds in the coming months. Like it or not, if elected, they will head the most influential nation on the Earth and the decisions that they make affect all of us – in a myriad of ways.
European politicians, including those of Britian, are already worried, especially about the future of mutual trade and of course, security. The NATO, for instance, will be under strict scrutiny over the funding, as the US under President Trump, will be insisting on other members for making a fair contribution – 2.5% of the GDP of each member state. I will be surprised if Israel is not given a ‘place’ in the military alliance in some form, citing Iranian threats against its very existence.
With less than four months to go, the potential outcome of the US presidential election moved away from the state of being too-close-to-call on Saturday, when President Trump survived an assassination attempt. It will remain so, unless something magical happens during the relatively shorter period of time left before the election, as there is a new lieutenant to steer the team effort for the outcome in their favour.
