Republican convention to focus on Vance, foreign policy
The third day of the Republican National Convention will kick off with Republicans – led by the newly nominated Donald Trump and his running mate US Senator JD Vance of Ohio – shifting their focus to issues of national security and foreign policy.
Republicans are expected to focus on Democratic President Joe Biden’s handling of the ongoing crises in Europe and the Middle East.
Former Trump administration officials are also expected to take the stage to outline what foreign policy would look like if he returns to the White House for a second term.
Vance will also introduce himself to the audience on Wednesday evening when he delivers his first speech as the Republican vice presidential nominee.
The 39-year-old is a relative political unknown who rapidly morphed in recent years from a severe critic of Trump to an aggressive defender.
The first millennial to appear on a major party ticket, he joins the race when questions about the age of the men at the top of the tickets – 78-year-old Trump and 81-year-old President Joe Biden – have been high on the list of voters’ concerns.
Vance is expected to lean into his biography as someone who grew up poor in Kentucky and Ohio, his mother addicted to drugs and his father absent, but went on to the highest levels of US politics.
It is a story meant to connect with average US voters and shed light on how Vance’s upbringing shaped his positions on issues such as immigration, inflation and drugs, according to a person familiar with the speech.
Vance is an Ivy League graduate and a businessman but his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, published in 2016, explores his blue-collar roots.
The book is now seen as a window into some of the cultural forces that propelled Trump to the White House that year.
Tony Fabrizio, Trump’s pollster and a senior advisor to his campaign, said on Wednesday that Vance will help in pivotal rust belt states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where the senator’s blue collar roots and populist views are popular.
“His story is a compelling story,” Fabrizio said while speaking at an event hosted by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and The Cook Political Report.
Beyond Vance’s prime-time speech, the Republican Party intends to focus on Wednesday on a theme of US global strength.
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, and Vance’s wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, are expected to speak on Wednesday.
So will family members of service members killed during the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and of someone taken hostage during the October 7 attack in Israel, a source said.
Republicans contend that the country has become a “global laughing stock” under Biden’s watch and are expected to make a case on Wednesday hitting on their theme to “Make America Strong Once Again”.
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