Posted on 07/15/2024 8:44:31 AM PDT by conservative98
If looks are the key to Donald Trump's vice presidential pick then there is only one winner.
J.D. Vance's blue eyes and thick beard first caught the attention of the former president two years ago, when the author and former Marine was competing for the Republican nomination in Ohio's Senate race.
'He's one handsome son of a bitch,' Trump told his inner circle.
Since then Vance has emerged as one of his most formidable promoters on cable news channels.
And a strict running regimen instituted during his run for Senate has seen the possible veep lose weight recently, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by Trump himself, according to a source familiar with the former president's conversations.
'He's got the look,' is another Trump assessment, noting the slimmed down figure and choice of well-fitting suits.
It leaves the Ohio senator as one of three candidates—along with Sen. Marco Rubio, 53, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, 67—on a shortlist for vice president.
Supporters, who include the likes of Donald Trump Jr. and former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, say he brings a deep connection with the rust belt states that could decide the election, a personal history that embodies the American Dream, and the sort of TV skills essential for the president's number-one advocate.
Critics accuse him of being a political chameleon, selling out his Never Trump credentials at the first sniff of power.
Either way it marks an extraordinary rise for a 39-year-old brought up in the crushing poverty of southern Ohio by his heroin-addicted mother and his fierce grandmother.
His 2016 memoir, 'Hillbilly Elegy,' catapulted him to literary and political fame, establishing him as the sort of working class, white author who could decode Trump and his allure for an uncomprehending liberal and conservative establishment.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I was about to excoriate J. D. Vance with personal observations, but I see the scuttlebutt says he is the one, so I'll stand down.
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