Photo: Donald Trump, left, with JD Vance at a campaign rally in Ohio in November 2022 © AP. When Vance first came to the national stage, the US Marine Corps veteran described himself as “a never Trump guy” and debated whether the former president was “America’s Hitler.” Eight years later, the tide has turned dramatically — he’s since become one of Trump’s fiercest defenders.
By : Joseph Zeballos-Roig
The pick of Sen. JD Vance as former President Trump’s running mate is raising fears in corporate America that populist, anti-business Trumponomics will truly take hold in a second term in the White House.
While Trump’s rhetoric in his first term advocated for working-class Americans, the Goldman Sachs alumni who held key positions in his administration retained tax loopholes for private-equity billionaires and pushed against growing trade tensions with China.
Now Trump’s campaign partner is an Ohio Republican who has been critical of Wall Street, and has built a profile as someone seeking to realign the balance of power toward workers and away from large global firms.
“CEOs are shocked as this is quite an odd choice to try to balance the ticket with [someone] so hostile to business,” Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, president of Yale University’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute who is in touch with business executives, told Semafor via email.
“As one GOP-leaning CEO told me an hour ago ‘This is [the] greatest gift Trump could give to Biden now!’” Sonnenfeld added.
Conservatives have hailed the Vance pick, arguing his modest roots will help Republicans make inroads with working-class voters. “I think they see that with J.D. Vance, he can relate to the everyday American,” Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, chair of the Republican Study Committee, told Semafor.
Since joining the Senate last year, Vance has notably teamed up with liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on multiple bills cracking down on Wall Street, including on clawing back executive pay after a major bank failure. He also praised Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan for her tough antitrust enforcement against tech giants, toyed with universal healthcare coverage for pregnancies and told The New York Times last month: “I’m not philosophically against raising taxes on anybody.” He also favors trade restrictions to protect domestic manufacturers and suggested he’s open to devaluing the dollar to boost exports.
“Senator Vance has really been at the forefront of providing a critique of what’s wrong with globalization, what’s wrong with financialization, what’s wrong with just chasing cheap labor and rising stock prices,” Oren Cass, chief economist of American Compass, told Semafor. “Just the fact of choosing Vance suggests that Trump doesn’t feel beholden to, or even loyal to Wall Street at this point.”
Trump’s signature domestic achievement was the GOP tax law, which channeled most of the benefits towards large corporations. Observers say the former president’s pick is signaling a more combative direction for the party when it comes to dealing with CEOs.
“I see this pick as an affirmation of the Trump-era evolution of the party, and a rejection of Reagan-era fusionism and the Chamber-friendly neoconservatism that followed it,” Liam Donovan, a GOP strategist, told Semafor.
OSEPH’S VIEW
Today’s Republican Party bears little resemblance to the fiscal and social conservatism of the 2012 Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan campaign ticket. Vance is a distinct break from Reagan-style conservatism on several issues, perhaps most notably on trade and unions.
However, vice presidents generally fall in line behind the president, and there’s little reason to believe that the basic dynamic will change between Vance and Trump. Trump supports renewing the 2017 tax law, and signaled an interest in further reducing corporate taxes. Still, Vance’s selection as Trump’s running mate — and heir apparent to the MAGA movement — will hand him a more powerful position to wage his rebellion against the GOP’s long-held economic principles.
THE VIEW FROM DEMOCRATS
Democrats assailed Trump’s pick as someone who would do nothing to restrain Trump’s authoritarian impulses, seek to roll back reproductive rights, and support tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. “The VP will take it to J.D. Vance,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren told reporters on a campaign call on Monday, referring to Kamala Harris.
SEMAFOR
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