(MENAFN- AsiaNet News) Former President Donald Trump, on Monday, announced that he had selected Ohio Senator JD Vance, 39, as his vice-presidential running mate. trump believes Vance can energize the Republican base, supporters of an 'America First' foreign policy and pro-Israel voters. Trump announced in a post on Truth Social, during the first day of the Republican National convention in Milwaukee, that he had survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania just two days earlier.
Vance won a Senate seat in 2022 and started his term in January 2023. He works on committees that focus on banking, commerce, economics and ageing issues. Before becoming a senator, Vance was a venture capitalist in the tech industry and worked as a corporate lawyer. He gained fame with his 2016 memoir, 'Hillbilly Elegy.'. The book talks about social and economic problems in the Appalachian region where Vance grew up. He served in the US Marine Corps for four years, beginning in 2003. During his military service, he worked in public affairs in Iraq after the US invasion.
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Vance's wife, Usha Chilukuri, born to Indian immigrants, is a lawyer at a US firm. She has an impressive academic background, with a Bachelor's degree in History from Yale University and a Master's degree in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge.
In contrast to the more aggressive and neo-conservative members of the Republican party, Vance has spoken out against foreign aid and US military actions in the Middle East. In a speech at the Quincy Institute in May, Vance questioned the US providing military aid to Ukraine. In that speech, Vance had said he admired the Ukrainians fighting against Russia, but did not believe it would benefit America to keep funding a seemingly endless war in Ukraine. He also criticized US foreign policy, stating that the 2003 invasion of Iraq had resulted in creating an Iranian ally in the Middle East, among other issues.
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After the Senate approved $61 billion in new military aid to Ukraine in late April, Vance criticized his fellow senators, referring to his experiences in Iraq. On the Senate floor, he said he had served his nation with honour. But, when he went to Iraq, he realized he had been deceived. He added that the promises made by the country's foreign policy leaders were a complete joke.
The Republican senator added that the Christians evacuating Iraq and moving to the US was the result of America's Iraq invasion. Before the US attacked Iraq, its indigenous Christian population was 1.5 million, belonging mostly to such ancient communities as the Chaldeans, who were ancestors of people known to Jesus Christ's apostles. Now, there are only around 150,000. The US actions in that country had resulted in Iraq becoming Iran's ally and caused great harm to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, he added.
Al-Monitor reported that Politico referred to Vance as having an 'America First' perspective prioritizing the welfare and interests of America above those of other nations. It was an influential slogan reintroduced by Trump in his 2016 presidential campaign.
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Pro-Israel Stance
Vance does not criticize US policy by questioning its support for Israel. In his speech at the Quincy Institute, he argued that providing aid to Israel was different from providing aid to Ukraine. He also expressed his concern that people tended to treat Israel and Ukraine as if they were identical. However, he emphasised they were fundamentally different and should be analysed separately. At the Quincy Institute, he called on politicians to better explain how supporting Israel aligned with America's“best interests”.
According to Vance, Israel is a highly advanced and innovative nation. He commended Israel for its creation of the 'Iron Beam' air defence system, describing it as crucial for achieving missile defence equality. Vance stressed that Israel was at the forefront of important technological advancements in this field.
Vance mentioned religion as a factor that influenced many Americans to support Israel. He pointed out that the US was the biggest country worldwide with a Christian majority. He also referred to the Christian belief that Jesus had lived, died and was brought back to life in present-day Israel and the West Bank.
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During an interview with CNN, Vance expressed his endorsement of Israel's decision to continue the conflict in Gaza, rejected any pressure from the US on Israel and held Hamas responsible for the casualties sustained by Palestinians. He asserted that Hamas had initiated the war and was now using Palestinian civilians as shields.
He emphasized the crucial need to defeat Hamas as a functioning military force if they wanted to learn from the lessons of the past four decades. One could not eliminate the beliefs of Hamas, but their leaders and trained fighters could be captured. He believed the US should support Israelis in doing this. The Biden Administration has become more critical of how Israel is handling the war, but it continues to provide military support to the country.
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Vance believes the US has not been successful in closely controlling wars in the region and should allow Israel to manage the war on its own. He added that he believed the US should admit it was not good at closely controlling wars in the Middle East. Since Israel had been its ally, it should have let them handle the war as they saw fit.
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In the CNN interview, Vance talked about creating a 'new Middle East' and mentioned US efforts to achieve a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. He added that their goal in the Middle East should be to help Israel build good relations with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. This could not happen unless Israel dealt with Hamas first.
Tensions with Iran
After Iran attacked Israel in April, Vance had warned of a real fear of escalation in the region and said the US should work to control the conflict. In a separate CNN interview, he had said the most important things for the US were to prevent this from becoming a larger regional conflict, since the US was already stretched thin and to support their Israeli allies. Vance said the fear of escalation was real because the world saw that the US was stretched too thin and urged the US to reestablish deterrence, which included rebuilding its manufacturing capacity.
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