JD Vance’s ascension to the Republican ticket as vice-presidential candidate gives this 39-year-old Ohioan senator the power to shape a future Trump administration. This puts Vance second in line to the presidency, and the heir-apparent if Trump leaves office. Vance now has power. Labour will have taken this appointment with mixed feelings.
Vance is not the most diplomatic politician. Last week he said the UK could become the first “Islamist” country to have nuclear weapons after Labour won the general election. This invited muted disagreement from the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. But it should be seen as a jibe, in line with alt-right online jokes about the alliance between the Islamists and the left. Vance was trying to make his audience at the National Conservative Conference chuckle. It could also be explained by a mistaken interpretation of the UK general election: that Labour was elected because of its position on Gaza, not despite it. Labour lost five seats to pro-Palestinian independents as well as only scraping over the line in Shabana Mahmood’s and Wes Streeting’s constituencies.
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