J.D. Vance is now the heir apparent to the MAGA movement

FOR AS LONG as Donald Trump has dominated the Republican Party, much of the old establishment had assumed it could wait him out and eventually return to espousing Reaganite conservatism. After all, Mr Trump is a unique political talent but has not produced a consistent, comprehensive political programme. Yet the Republican presidential candidate’s choice of J.D. Vance, a senator from Ohio, as his running-mate makes it much likelier that the MAGA movement will last beyond Mr Trump’s time in politics.

“I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of vice president of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance,” Mr Trump wrote on July 15th, ending an Apprentice-style process of elimination. He added that Mr Vance “will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond…”