President Donald Trump chose Ohio senator J.D. Vance to be his running mate for the 2024 presidential election, and though there are plenty of naysayers citing Vance’s past criticisms of the 45th president, he is the perfect choice to represent Americans.

When Trump first announced his candidacy, I was not enthused.  This was the dude from Home Alone 2.  I’d seen him on an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  He has been in Pizza Hut commercials and was nothing more than a rich businessman to me at the time.  I had never watched The Apprentice, but I’d heard plenty of annoying tidbits about it.  

I expected Trump to be another money-grubbing politician.  I was an independent voter who decried warmongers on the right and left.  I was against the ever-growing national debt and government overreach that interfered in Americans’ everyday lives.

Trump’s speaking style didn’t shock me.  I’d heard trash talk, but it turned me off until a co-worker pointed out that when you need to get rid of pests, “You don’t hire the tooth fairy; you hire an exterminator.”

President Trump went into Washington and started exterminating excessive government overreach, and he worked to give Americans a nation to be proud of.

We all felt it by 2018.  In 2018, my husband and I bought our current home, we had our first son, and we celebrated the triumphs of our leader.

Vance also started changing his tune around 2018.  Although he was just a political commentator and author during this period, even the New York Times recently reported on this transition, noting that his criticism of the 45th President “softened.”

Then came 2020.  With the COVID response and obvious election “inconsistencies,” his view of President Trump turned around completely.

By 2021, Vance was actively seeking justice.  He decried the BLM riots and pointed out in March of 2021 how insurance companies were profiting off them.  Vance also used his love of sarcasm to blast Biden, point out the folly of “perpetual masking,” and mock vaccine mandates.  He wrote about Big Tech interference in the 2020 election for the New York Post and openly decried voter fraud during interviews.

Like many of us who didn’t vote for Trump in 2016, we had voted for him in 2020 and watched our vote become the center of a “conspiracy theory.”

By early 2022, Vance entered politics as a fierce contender.  He came out against funding the war in Ukraine while our own southern border was unprotected, fueling the fentanyl epidemic.  He supported the Canadian Trucker Convoy and opposed student debt transfers disguised as “cancelation.”  He won his 2022 race and fully endorsed President Trump.

The Ohio Capital Journal reported that he released a statement acknowledging his shift in support.  He said, “I’m not gonna hide from the fact that I did not see Trump’s promise in the beginning but you know, he delivered.”

He also noted, “Donald Trump is the best president of my lifetime for the simple reason that he never bent to the mob and fought consistently for hardworking Americans.”

So many of us agreed.  My mother, who was a lifelong Democrat before 2020 — a former UAW worker who gave 20 years to the Chrysler plant in Fenton, Missouri — voted for Trump in 2020, and she has remained steadfast in her support for him because of how he worked for her.

J.D. Vance was there through it all.  Right alongside us, he has become a fighter for election integrity and putting America First.  He has decried weaponizing the justice system for political purposes.  He is against men competing in women’s sports and has strongly opposed killing the unborn.  His voting record speaks for itself.  He currently has a 93% rating with the conservative grassroots organization Heritage Action for America, whereas most republicans have a 63% score.

His opposition to increasing the national debt, and tying federal funding for military defense and securing the southern border to foreign wars, is unwavering.

Politico reported that after the Senate approved more funding to Ukraine in April he stated, “In 2003, I made the mistake of supporting the Iraq War.”  He noted how he joined the Marines and was sent to Iraq.  “I served my country honorably, and I saw when I went to Iraq that I had been lied to.  [I saw] that promises of the foreign policy establishment of this country were a complete joke,” he stated, expressing what so many Americans have felt.  

Like most Americans, he supports President Trump’s plan to put America and its citizens first.  He supports ensuring that this nation protects citizens’ values, our interests, and our pursuit of happiness.  But best of all, he represents those of us who didn’t trust Trump in the beginning.

He represents everyone who began supporting Trump during his first term, or during the election-steal.  He represents the people who didn’t wake up until later, or even until now.  He represents all the independent voters who have come around.

Vance’s story helps people to realize it’s okay to admit you were wrong and change your political position.  It’s very important, especially now more than ever.

I changed my mind, just like him.  So many others can relate.  The classical liberals of yesterday have become the conservatives of today.  Why?  Because most people seek balance, and the left is so imbalanced that it has cracked the scale.

Vance recognized this, right along with millions of us.  And that’s a common bond that has the power to unite Americans across party lines.  Independent voters, Republicans, and sensible Democrats (if there are any left) can save this nation together, under President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.

Despite some skepticism over Vance’s loyalties due to his history, I believe that 45 picked the right man to serve as his vice president when he becomes number 47.

Jessica is a homeschooling mother of five, author of various books, and reporter for RSBN and Mid Rivers news magazine.

Image: J.D. Vance.  Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.