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Donald Trump picking JD Vance as his vice-presidential running mate was a message that Trump’s second term will not be the end of what simple people call “Trumpism.” JD Vance is a true believer in the America First ideology. He feels it in his bones in a way late-adopters don’t – the Jacksonian patriotism, the concern for the little guy, the demand that the elites stop bossing us around. No wonder his selection seems to be rubbing some people the wrong way. You get the impression that his Republican critics are hoping that, after this infatuation with Trump fades away, we can all get back to business as usual, whatever the hell that means. It certainly does not mean the kind of populism that Donald Trump embodies. It’s more like the kind of flaccid conservatism Jeb Bush embodied when he got rejected eight years ago.
A lot of the people pushing this idea claim the mantle of Reaganism, as if Ronald Reagan was their lodestar. Of course, a lot of the establishment types back then felt exactly the same way about Ronald Reagan. One difference is that Ronald Reagan selected a real establishment figure as VP to “unify” the party. George HW Bush lasted just one term of his own. So, the appeals to Reagan just won’t fly. To paraphrase The Clash’s classic “London Calling” lyric, “Phony Reaganmania has bitten the dust.”
This is no diss of the Gipper. Far from it. No one exceeds my respect for Ronald Reagan. I was commissioned an officer when he was president. He was the first president I ever voted for. I saw him at his last campaign appearance in San Diego in 1984 on the eve of his landslide defeat of Walter Mondale – all the rooftops were covered, might I add, because this was before all our institutions failed. Ronald Reagan was the defining political figure of my youth, from being the governor when I first got to then-golden California to being our President during my college and young adult days. When he passed away, it meant something to me. I have visited his library and his grave. But here’s the thing about Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was the right man for his times. But Ronald Reagan stopped being president 36 years ago.
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Times change. Challenges change. Solutions change. So, it’s not surprising that JD Vance is not a political clone of Ronald Reagan, considering that he was born halfway through Ronald Reagan’s term. The fact is that American politics in 2024 are very different from American politics in 1984. The specific policies that Ronald Reagan embraced then do not necessarily apply now. Remember that Ronald Reagan signed an amnesty bill in 1986. At the time, that didn’t seem crazy. It seems crazy to us now because we’ve seen how misguided it was in practice, but at the time, most of us didn’t look at it that way. Ronald Reagan’s defining fights were against inflation and the Soviet Union. He brought the economy roaring back through supply-side economics but not through massive budget cuts. He spent a lot to rebuild our military because he needed to defeat the Soviet Union. And he defeated the Soviet Union without firing a shot.
Things are different now. The cultural battles of Reagan’s era have changed. Abortion is still there, but under Reagan, we were on the way to eliminating racism as a meaningful issue in society. Now, it’s a huge one because Democrats have pumped it up. We have a new set of bizarre liberal pathologies, from DEI to the trans insanity, that Reagan never had to deal with. In fact, he couldn’t conceive of them. If Reagan came back today, he would look around and gasp, “What the hell?” and he’d be as hardcore as any of us.
It’s weird that people expect policies not to change, but the essence of Reaganism has not changed. Ronald Reagan embodies an optimism about America and a dedication to faith and patriotism that provides a powerful contrast from the anti-American gloom and doom of the left. And JD Vance has that too. He is the American dream. This is a guy who was born into poverty. He wrote a best-selling book about it. He joined the Marines and served his country here and overseas. Then he came back and went to school. He worked hard, and he was talented, and he managed to go to what, at the time, was the most prestigious law school in America and graduate after being editor of the law review. This is a guy who grew up around social pathologies and drug abuse. He went into high tech, did very well, married a wonderful and accomplished wife, and had a beautiful family. He found faith and became a confirmed Catholic.
Does JD have different policy prescriptions in 2024 than Reagan had in 1984 – again, the year that JD Vance was born? Of course. But ask yourself WWRD – What Would Reagan do – in 2024? The fact that Ronald Reagan was an implacable enemy of the Soviet Union does not, for example, somehow imply that he would have bought into the disastrous strategy prescription the establishment has scribbled out for Ukraine. The specific policies may be slightly different, but the underlying foundation – the optimistic belief that America is great, that we must be strong, and that Americans can succeed if allowed the opportunity to do so – is the same.
JD Vance is not a departure from Ronald Reagan. He is Ronald Reagan’s heir. This guy is the American dream. Ronald Reagan wouldn’t have rejected him. Ronald Reagan would have loved him. JD Vance did what Ronald Reagan wanted to make possible for every American. And he’ll make a fantastic vice president.
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