Republican Party Convention: Democrats consider new Trump Vice President Vance dangerous

US President Joe Biden’s Democrats are reacting with alarm to the appointment of hardliner JD Vance as vice president of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Vance will do everything to push through Trump’s extreme agenda, “even if he has to break laws to do so, and regardless of the damage to the American people,” Biden’s campaign warned after the announcement of the appointment. The president himself called Vance a “clone of Trump” in terms of his substantive positions. The Republicans, on the other hand, euphorically celebrated the new number two at Trump’s side at the party convention in Milwaukee.

With Vance, Trump has brought a hardliner to his side. Despite the fear of a spiral of violence following the assassination attempt on Trump, the duo is not expected to adopt a more moderate tone in the election campaign. The former Trump critic Vance is now considered a close ally of the former US president and, at 39, is an up-and-coming star in the Republican Party.

Shortly after the announcement of the eagerly awaited nomination, the party convention in the state of Wisconsin officially confirmed the nomination. At the beginning of the major event, the delegates also elected Trump as the candidate for the presidential election. The step was considered a formality after his victory in the party’s primary elections.

Trump’s sensational appearance at party convention

Late in the evening, Trump made his first public appearance since the assassination. The 78-year-old wore a kind of white bandage on his ear, raised his fist again and was cheered by the delegates in the event hall. He appeared together with Vance – but he did not give a speech on stage. That is not expected until Friday night German time. Vance, in turn, is expected to speak to the delegates on Thursday night.

Trump brings best-selling authors to his side

Vance has only been in the Senate for the state of Ohio since 2023 and is considered a right-wing hardliner. If Trump wins the presidential election in November, Vance would be one of the youngest vice presidents in US history. He once celebrated success with his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy”. The bestseller provides an insight into a social class that helped make Trump’s election victory possible in 2016.

Vance had been under discussion for some time

Vance doesn’t mince his words and likes to dish it out. After the assassination attempt on Trump, he immediately began to rant and blame Biden personally for the attack. In the Senate, he voted against billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia, in the spring.

The senator came to the party convention in Milwaukee with his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance. The lawyer met Vance at the elite Yale University. She is the daughter of Indian immigrants. The couple shook many hands and were celebrated. The crowd chanted “USA, USA, USA”. Vance had long been considered the favorite for the position of “running mate” – but his name was not the only one that was mentioned.

CNN and other US media reported that behind the scenes, tech billionaire Elon Musk, among others, had urged Trump to choose Vance as his vice president. On his platform X, Musk celebrated the appointment and wrote that it was an “excellent decision” by Trump. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Musk plans to pump large sums into Trump’s election campaign. He plans to send the money to the organization “America PAC”, which supports Trump’s election campaign. The Tesla and SpaceX boss intends to put around 45 million US dollars (around 41 million euros) into the organization every month. Super PACs are organizations that accept donations of unlimited amounts and can use them to advertise certain candidates or political causes.

Assassination attempt on Trump overshadows party convention

In recent days, events in the already heated US election campaign have escalated. While last week the whole country was discussing Biden’s mental fitness and suitability as a presidential candidate, the focus has shifted since the shooting at a Trump campaign event in the state of Pennsylvania.

A few hours before the start of the party convention, Trump was also able to score a huge legal victory. In the affair surrounding the taking of secret government documents, the judge in charge, Aileen Cannon, dropped the criminal proceedings against Trump. The legal victory gives the former president further momentum in the election campaign, even if the last word in the case has not yet been spoken and an appeal is possible.

Biden accuses Trump of inflammatory rhetoric in TV interview

After the assassination attempt on Trump at the weekend, US President Biden warned of further violence and called on Americans to come together and resolve differences of opinion at the ballot box, “not with bullets”. In an interview with NBC television, the Democrat, who is running for a second term, made it clear that he does not intend to be gentler on his opponent. He accused Trump of regularly playing tricks on others and announced that he would not remain silent on the matter. “He is talking about a bloodbath if he loses,” said Biden, arguing that Trump’s rhetoric is fueling the debate in the election campaign, not his.

State of emergency in Milwaukee

There are major security measures in place around the Republican Party Convention in Milwaukee. Numerous streets in the city on the western shore of Lake Michigan are closed off. Even near the venue in the center of the city, which has a population of around half a million, one could only get there after a special security check. The organizers had already planned strict security measures before the assassination attempt on Trump.

In addition to the delegates, thousands of other people traveled to Milwaukee – including politicians, party members and members of the press. At the start of the major event, the delegates shouted “Fight, fight, fight!”