On Tuesday, before the opening session of the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, JD Vance took three steps to the podium to survey the area before delegates arrived. Donald Trump’s new 2024 presidential candidate chatted off-mic with Don Jr., the Republican nominee’s eldest son, along with other “family members” like Kimberly Guilfoyle, Don Jr.’s wife. some take the opportunity to take selfies.
Between the 39-year-old senator and the 46-year-old heir, the current flows well. They are nationalists, radicals and socialists – a right very different from Ronald Reagan’s and George Bush’s free trade and budgetary orthodoxy.
They are addressed to an angry America, to those left behind by globalization, and not to notables attached to the status quo. It is this populist doxa that brought Donald Trump to power in 2016. It has only strengthened since then; the former president’s entire inner circle now seems reversed.
A populist of the younger generation
“JD” and Don Jr. text each other almost daily according to the “New York Times” [en anglais] , and they repost each other on social media. When the Ohio Senate candidate made the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago in March 2022 to be knighted by the former president, “Junior” was by his side. JD Vance was pardoned despite having harshly criticized Donald Trump in the past.
And then, a few days before the opening of the Republican convention, Donald Trump gathered two of his sons, Don Jr. and Eric, to consult them on the choice of his vice president. They blocked it when the name of Doug Burgum was mentioned, NBC reports [en anglais] : it would be “stupid”, this liberal and elderly businessman “has nothing to offer us”, they assured. They argued for JD Vance. Someone who thinks like them, a populist of the younger generation who is not afraid to ruffle the feathers of the traditional right.
This new generation of radical Republicans sits in the presidential gallery in Milwaukee: Eric and his wife Lara, named co-president of the Republican Party after a coup in March, Don Jr. and Kimberly, Tucker Carlson, the former host of Fox News breaking the ban – who also advocated for JD Vance in 2022 – and Matt Gaetz, the very aggressive deputy who toppled President Kevin McCarthy in October – for lukewarmness in his eyes.
Conquer the Senate
On the other hand, the ruling duo of the Trump presidency is conspicuously absent: his daughter Ivanka and the latter’s husband, Jared Kushner, have taken steps to develop their international business. The couple whispered in the president’s ear. They evaporated as the “stolen election” chorus began to boil the party’s popular base in 2020.
In 2024, populism has therefore eaten away at a large part of the Republican camp. The first circle has been reassembled, with a vice-chairman lined up. Opponents in the party were either brought into line — Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley publicly pledged allegiance to the leader Tuesday in Milwaukee — or purged — who remembers Liz Cheney?
It remains to convert Congress. After the defeat of the Trumpists in the 2022 midterm elections, Donald Trump and those close to him hope to win the Senate from the left by helping the new populist generation to win, especially in states affected by deindustrialization.
According to the online outlet Punchbowl, West Virginia, which was still in play a few weeks ago, is considered bought by the Republicans; the conquest of Ohio and Montana became very likely. And forecasts are improving in a number of key states: Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. As for the House, Republicans are less afraid of losing it.
