As I said in an earlier article here on Politizoom today I watched speeches from key people last night. That of course included Ohio Senator J.D. Vance who officially became Trump’s running mate earlier this week. Last night he took center stage to accept the GOP nomination for Vice-President. We’d already learned much about Vance and will no doubt learn more. None of it impressive and quite a bit actually extreme – in a disturbing way. Much will be said and written by many (including me) but I want to focus on how/why Trump picked him. To be fair I worked really hard for ten minutes or so to keep an open mind on the issue I believe was key, but it was clear that while not bland, Vance clearly doesn’t have that “it factor”, that certain type of dynamic presence or charisma some people have under the glare of such a bright spotlight. Addressing a large crowd, and a much larger TV audience they know is watching.
I was talking with someone yesterday I won’t name because I haven’t cleared discussing details of the chat with her but she’ll likely read this and chime in to confirm. The fact is that the camera loves some people and others it doesn’t. For better or worse (and we are talking worse here) when it comes to TV, when he’s all prettied up the camera loves Trump. It’s really the only highly marketable quality/asset he turned out to possess in his despicable, miserable life but he knows how to play the hell out of a TV character. There are people who are great stage actors (and singers) who just suck when on camera. And vice versa. Some people who are awesome on camera in the controlled environment of a studio suck in front of a crowd. Or at least a large one.
No one who knew and/or worked with them for years said either Al Gore or Hillary Clinton weren’t down-to-earth, warm, engaging and even sometimes funny in small groups or gatherings. Yet both were wooden in front of large crowds and on TV. For all the nauseating b.s. spread about what a down-to-earth, warm guy Trump is in private with family and friends (LIES) the reality has long been known. Trump is curt, dismissive, abrasive and even abusing even to people he counts on. He’s contemptuous of his MAGA crowds and wouldn’t be in the same zip code with most of them unless he absolutely had to. But he HAS needed them. In part because like a junkie he needs his regular “fix” in the form of an adoring crowd. However what matters most is what happens when he is on TV addressing a friendly crowd. THEN, he’s got the “it factor” in spades.
To be fair to Vance he only found out Sunday night or Monday morning he’d be getting the nod. Then into the whirlwind so he might have had only two or three chances to do run-throughs of the speech that had been written for him. I think he might get a little better with time but only a little. However, given how well Trump understands TV. What plays well and what doesn’t. It’s one of the few things on which he looks for and understands nuance. I can almost guarantee you that aside from the butt-kissing and sucking up at some point everyone on the short list had to take a trip into Trump’s little TV studio and given a three or four minute speech praising him to read. On camera. Trump wouldn’t have been in the room, but he’d have carefully studied it on the type of TV screen most people have in their homes. As well as a computer screen. He’d want to make sure they had at least a little charisma but nowhere near enough to get people to talk about how his running mate was more telegenic.
I’d seen Vance on TV and on my computer screen before but last night hadn’t seen him give a major speech in front of a large crowd. Again, I tried to be fair but I was already aware his business record was a wash, that the populist talk in his book was only talk (his “charity” folded with the main accomplishment being administrative expenses to a friend). that while his time in the Marines (how he escaped his Appalachia home) included six months in Iraq his M.O.S. (job) was as a journalist/public affairs guy (for the record I was a jarhead – infantry – but didn’t do anything I’d brag about in a bio. There’s a few things I can’t talk about but other than say yeah, I served I wouldn’t try to make political hay out of it. Some, including some Republicans I can’t stand have every right to however but Vance does NOT), and as a Senator he hasn’t done jack.
He does however espouse toxic beliefs on all manner of things that are NOT what most Americans, even many registered Republicans believe. But he can read his lines and talk Trump’s talk. In the end Trump wanted someone who:
- Would be totally and completely subservient. A Mike Pence almost clone who Trump believes down to his DNA will do what Pence would not on Jan. 6
- Someone who could raise lots of money or have the contacts to start doing so right away
- Someone who looked acceptable on TV but would NEVER be able to outshine him – that ‘the some people are photo/telegenic or they aren’t’ quality is pretty much something people are born with or they aren’t.
Vance said a lot of harsh things about Trump but his ambition is such that he’d come around like everyone else in the GOP. He did during his Senate run thanks to help from his benefactor and major GOP donor (and rainmaker for donations) Peter Theil who put Vance and Trump together. Clearly Vance mastered the art of sucking up to Trump well enough to make the short list. So numbers one and two were covered. Vance has been Theil’s guy all along. (how Vance will navigate having two masters will be interesting to watch). So that left the matter of how Vance would play on TV.
Like I said it’s likely Vance will get a bit better with time to adjust to the glare of a spotlight brighter than almost everyone experiences in their life. But from where I sat it was clear that he simply will never have that “it factor”, that extra level of charisma. No, he has just enough for what Trump wants and feels he needs from Vance.
And that’s why J.D. Vance as he calls himself (well, since law school at Yale) got the nod. Now that I’ve mentioned it it’s clear to me one area in which Vance and Trump are soul mates is an utter lack of conviction. They will change their tune on a dime to suit what they think is needed at any given moment, or for their own self-interests or throw anyone or group under the bus without blinking an eye. Or some combination of all that. Vance won’t get Trump any votes he wouldn’t have gotten anyway and might even cost him some, but for Trump he’s the perfect running mate.
Yes he is a charisma free zone. He is the Pence 2.0, that Trump was looking for.