Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
- Former President Donald Trump has stamped out the old Republican Party.
- His power is on full display during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
- In selecting Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, Trump has also shown he has his eye on the future.
Former President Donald Trump staged a hostile takeover of the Republican Party. His latest coronation in Milwaukee shows he wants to cement this populist rebrand.
The most obvious signal is Trump’s selection of Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his vice presidential nominee. Instead of putting forth a historically diverse ticket or nodding to the GOP’s monied class, Trump elevated one of his staunchest allies who, like the former president, speaks with little subtlety.
No fan of Trump’s hold on the party, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney said the GOP of her father’s day is gone.
“The Trump GOP is no longer the party of Lincoln, Reagan or the Constitution,” Cheney wrote on X, bashing Trump’s selection of Vance.
Trump welcomes the ire. He enjoyed ending the Bush political dynasty by humiliating former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the 2016 primary. As president, Trump singled out those who questioned him, pushing then-Speaker Paul Ryan and then-Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona out of power. The former president has continued his crusade against the 10 House Republicans who impeached him for inciting the January 6 Capitol riot. Trump can preach unity now because he won the contest over the party’s future.
His victory is evident in more than just his vice presidential selection. The Republican Party granted one of its prized primetime convention speaking slots to Teamsters President Sean O’Brien. O’Brien railed against the US Chamber of Commerce, long the hallmark of the GOP business class.
“We need to call the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtables what they are. They are unions for big business,” O’Brien said during his speech on Monday night.
Less than a decade ago, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker became the GOP front man for taking on unions, backed by the powerful Koch brothers and their allies. And yet, on Tuesday night, O’Brien was extolling the virtues of union membership with the national spotlight trained on the state.
The GOP’s new platform, which Trump helped edit, according to The Washington Post, watered down the party’s commitment to a national ban on abortion access in favor of the former president’s state-driven policy. Some antiabortion activists are furious. Even former Vice President Mike Pence couldn’t quite understand it. But he is no longer on the ticket; Vance is.
Trump and Vance also stand in contrast to the GOP’s traditional interventionist wing. Vance helped lead the opposition to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell‘s push for a massive package of defense aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. McConnell ultimately won, working with President Joe Biden to get the $95 billion legislation through Congress. But McConnell, the longest-serving GOP Senate leader in history, is set to step down from his top post after the election. He has pledged to use his remaining time in Congress to advocate for the Reagan-era foreign policy that once dominated the GOP.
McConnell was also booed when he spoke for the Kentucky delegation on Monday. The top Senate Republican is no stranger to lukewarm receptions among his party’s base, but the contrast to Vance’s welcome was unmistakable.
