Trump’s VP Announcement Didn’t Go According to Plan
The moment inside the convention hall when we learned—abruptly—that Donald Trump had chosen J. D. Vance
So much for the big reveal. When Republican delegates from across the country walked into the Fiserv Forum on Monday morning, all the buzz was about the pending selection of Donald Trump’s running mate—an announcement they believed would come that night, in prime time, a climactic conclusion to the first day of the GOP convention.
In fact, many Republicans I spoke with here—party loyalists who have come to expect pageantry from Trump—had anticipated an Apprentice-style grand finale to the so-called veepstakes. Perhaps Trump would bring several of the contenders onstage at once before naming his choice. At the very least, he’d keep everyone in suspense until the last possible moment.
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Become a SubscriberTrump had very different plans. Around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, the former president posted on his social-media site that J. D. Vance, the best-selling author turned U.S. senator from Ohio, would be his running mate. Some of the delegates gathered here inside Fiserv Forum received push alerts on their phones, while others overheard neighbors reacting to the breaking news.
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