J.D. Vance: Assassination Insurance
Submitted by Portfolio Armor:
Trump Buys Some Assassination Insurance
The first thing to understand about Trump's VP pick is that it's a form of assassination insurance. Had Trump not miraculously turned his head to look at a chart of soaring illegal migration numbers under Biden, the assassin's bullet might have killed him on Saturday. With no designated successor, neocon Nikki Haley might have ended up as the GOP's nominee for President in November. Much of the establishment would have been fine with that.
They would not be fine with J.D. Vance at the top of the ticket though. Despite opposing Trump in 2016, Vance has come around to embrace Trump's positions on most issues.
Very happy with the @JDVance1 pick. He’s a formidable political talent, and excellent assassination insurance. Trump’s enemies will not want to leave Vance in charge. Great choice by Trump.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) July 15, 2024
Including on immigration:
Vance has voiced support for mass deportations and legal immigration restriction. That doesn't make him perfect, but you're misrepresenting him. And you can think whatever you want about his wife, but the idea that he wants more immigrants so he can have more wives is absurd. https://t.co/bWqZQwAaR8
— Patrick Casey (@restoreorderusa) July 15, 2024
Vance's grade card (grade of "A") from the low-immigration Numbers USA: https://t.co/NNG9YEyJeK The only reason it's not an A+ seems to be some bills he hasn't signed onto yet, which doesn't concern me much. pic.twitter.com/jNlmras1xc
— Mark Krikorian (@MarkSKrikorian) July 15, 2024
And on some issues, such as the Ukraine War, Vance may be to the populist right of Trump.
🇺🇸🇺🇦 Trump's VP candidate JD Vance: “I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other.” pic.twitter.com/0GQy1wXQJG
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) July 15, 2024
Unlike Trump, Vance opposed the last Ukraine funding bill.
Vance has sent some mixed signals on Ukraine, but here in his own words, is his NYT op-ed explaining why he voted NO on that $95 billion war package.https://t.co/FZFlI0ZjjM pic.twitter.com/7VmIEFyeYX
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 15, 2024
The Vance Pick Is An Implicit Repudiation Of DEI
Unlike Biden, who picked an unpopular and incompetent running mate solely because she was a black woman, Trump picked the best-qualified candidate who shared his political views.
Two competent white men vs a nursing home patient and a craven social climber with bruised knees.
— FischerKing (@FischerKing64) July 15, 2024
Trump has bet that Americans have had enough of pandering to minorities and are ready to reward competence again. What a wonderful time to be alive!
Of all the choices, J.D. Vance stands out as the pick of a candidate deeply serious about enacting a lasting populist vision for America. Trump gave up demographic points for a pro-worker anti-war partner in policy—someone to take his vision to the next generation. A great pick.
— Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) July 15, 2024
Even one of the women suggested as a VP pick for Trump by one of our fellow ZeroHedge contributors supports Vance's selection.
It appears that President Trump may have chosen JD Vance for his VP. If so, that is a good choice.
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) July 15, 2024
Vance Represents The Emergence Of A Counter-Elite
Another thing to understand about the J.D. Vance pick is--unlike any of the other mooted picks such as Marco Rubio--J.D. Vance is plugged into the online right, and its leading edge thinkers. One of those thinkers is the software developer and political philosopher Curtis Yarvin, who is friends with Vance.
he's even supposedly friends with himhttps://t.co/BZB6mHEaLW pic.twitter.com/rbqx2I2He0
— Icaru (@koko8971) July 15, 2024
A point Yarvin has made is that you need some elites on your side for a successful revolution. It can't just be the salt-of-the-earth types who line up for Trump rallies.
Vance is (now) a member of the counter-elite, and he has counter-elite backing.
Congratulations to @JDVance1, the best choice for vice president. JD adds dimensionality to Trump and can help cultivate a counter-elite in tech, finance, and law. He has already introduced legislation to abolish DEI and will make the case with poise and brilliance. Let's go!
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) July 15, 2024
The difference between Trump 2016 and Trump 2024 is that there is now an emerging right-wing counter-elite, with sufficient knowledge, wealth, power, and prestige to advance the president's agenda through the institutions. Trump 2.0 will be an order of magnitude more effective.
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) July 15, 2024
Balaji Srinivasan, venture capitalist, former founder of a genetics startup, and former Coinbase CTO supports him.
JD Vance is a great choice for VP.
— Balaji (@balajis) July 15, 2024
- Marine Corps veteran
- Bestselling author
- Successful tech investor
- US Senator
Understands military, media, tech, finance, and politics. @JDVance1 is a brave man, and a Renaissance man. pic.twitter.com/71mYF3VUFy
As does Elon Musk,
Congratulations @JDVance1!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2024
Excellent decision by @realDonaldTrump.
And David Sacks,
When the Twin Towers came down, JD Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps, gung-ho to exact justice on America’s enemies. Subsequently he came to believe the Forever Wars were a mistake. This is who I want by Trump’s side: an American patriot, with the courage to fight America’s wars…
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) July 15, 2024
The last part of Sacks's post is important, so here here's the full text of it:
When the Twin Towers came down, JD Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps, gung-ho to exact justice on America’s enemies. Subsequently he came to believe the Forever Wars were a mistake. This is who I want by Trump’s side: an American patriot, with the courage to fight America’s wars but the wisdom to know when to avoid them. God bless JD, God bless Trump, and God bless the USA.
And Vivek Ramaswamy supports Vance as well.
So proud of my friend, classmate, and fellow southwest Ohioan today. We used to watch Bengals games at the bar in law school, it’s awesome we’re now here a decade later with JD joining the strongest presidential ticket in our lifetime. He’ll be an outstanding Vice President and I…
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) July 15, 2024
The full text of Vivek's post:
So proud of my friend, classmate, and fellow southwest Ohioan today. We used to watch Bengals games at the bar in law school, it’s awesome we’re now here a decade later with JD joining the strongest presidential ticket in our lifetime. He’ll be an outstanding Vice President and I look forward to everything ahead for him and for our country.
The Market Implications
The first market implication today was that shares of the free speech alternative video platform Rumble (RUM) spiked 20%(Vance is an investor in Rumble).
Beyond that, Vance should be bullish for crypto, as he reinforces perceptions of Trump as the Bitcoin candidate.
🚨 Trump’s VP pick JD Vance has a little bit of Bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/pH6MYVDn0W
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) July 15, 2024
As we wrote over the weekend (Reactions To The Assassination Attempt On Trump), the rally in Bitcoin after Trump triumph over an assassin's bullet on Saturday made sense as a) the odds of Trump winning the election had just spiked, and b) Trump was seen as the Bitcoin candidate.
At the end of that post, we mentioned we had another Bitcoin-related trade teed up for Monday. You can read about that trade here.
![Bill Maher image and quote](https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Trade%20Alert%20Crypto_0.jpg?itok=HK6BCjNa)
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