…It will be interesting to see what direction Vance goes, factoring in his ties to Tech oligarchs. There are trade-offs, as the rightwing of Silicon Valley is open to the more grey tribe, dissident sphere, yet also invested in neoliberal policies like h1b immigrant visas and deregulation. The reality is you need some elite support and this Silicon Valley grey tribe elite is preferable to the old guard GOP donor class like the Koch Brothers. I could see a future post-Trump, tech-oriented GOP that is centrist on cultural issues, for natalism/soft eugenics, pro-high skilled immigration, tech accelerationist, pro-crypto currencies, and for replacing social programs with UBI.
Vance is intelligent and much more intellectual than the other MAGA figures. While Trump could have selected another boomer or a diversity pic, I can appreciate that Vance is a White millennial male. Trump’s selection of Vance signals that Trump is symbolically aligning with populism and Vance is some flex of the online youthful right. Basically, Vance is the best of a list of uninspiring potential VP candidates.
Reasonable overview of Vance and why Trump picked him. I like the kind of thinking in the highlighted paragraph. That’s basically what real-world politics is, all that it is. Whether you agree with the conclusions or not, we need that kind of thinking. ABN
American Buddhist Net 