JD Vance’s VP Nod Could Be Final Nail In Coffin Of The Forever War Wing Of GOP, Experts Say

Former President Donald Trump’s pick of Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his vice president could speed the GOP’s departure from a “permanent conflict” approach to national security, should Trump win in November, former U.S. officials and defense experts told the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation.

Vance has aligned himself with Trump’s “America First” approach to national security and generally advocated against U.S. intervention in foreign conflicts, including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Given Vance’s ideology, Trump’s choice to pick him as vice president has alarmedsomeprominentneoconservatives — a term frequently used to describe “hawkish” and pro-intervention conservatives — but welcomed by former senior U.S. officials and defense experts who told the DCNF they see his views as credible and pragmatic.

“Vance is unique among GOP politicians on foreign policy. You can either be a party leader on foreign policy or you could be right about foreign policy, but you can’t be both. But Vance seems to be both,” Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy at the CATO Institute, told the DCNF, noting that it is unsurprising that neoconservatives were upset by Vance. “Those people are extremely anxious, and I think they should be extremely anxious.”

“The selection of Vance does indicate a break with the Reaganite, sort of establishment wing of the GOP that has been the dominant faction for a long time,” Michael DiMino, senior fellow at Defense Priorities and former CIA official, told the DCNF. “I think this represents Trump putting a stake in the ground and saying, ‘Hold on now, let’s put America first.’ And that’s about realism and restraint, and it’s about putting core U.S. interests first.”