"The people who govern this country have failed and failed again", Vance tells Republicans Turning again to the trials of his Ohio hometown, JD Vance argued that repeated administrations had failed it – until Donald Trump came along. “My friends, things did not work out well for a lot of kids I grew up with. Every now and then, I will get a call from a relative back home, who asks, did you know so and so? And I’ll remember a face from years ago, and then I’ll hear they died of an overdose,” Vance said. “As always, America’s ruling class wrote the checks, communities like mine paid the price. For decades that divide between the few with their power and comfort in Washington and the rest of us only widened. From Iraq to Afghanistan, from the financial crisis to the Great Recession, from open borders to stagnating wages, the people who govern this country have failed and failed again.” And then: “That is, of course, until a guy named Donald J Trump came along. President Trump represents America’s last best hope to restore what, if lost, may never be found again.” Third night of Republican convention concludes And we’re done. Chair Michael Whatley has brought the gavel down, and the third night of the Republican national convention is finished. Only one more to go. Pelosi warned Biden he cannot beat Trump – report But how much longer will it be called the Biden-Harris campaign? CNN reports that Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic former House speaker who is one of the lawmakers closest to Joe Biden, warned him that he could not defeat Donald Trump, and if the president continued his re-election bid, Democrats may fail to retake the House: It had been speculated that if Pelosi tells Biden it’s over, the president will listen. We will find out if that ends up being the case. "It’s working families and the middle class who will suffer" from Vance"s policies, Biden campaign warns The Biden campaign quickly issued a statement bashing JD Vance right after he got off stage, linking him to Project 2025, the rightwing blueprint to remake the US government. Vance did not mention the plan in his speech, which was generally light on policy proposals. “Tonight, JD Vance, the poster boy for Project 2025, took center stage. But it’s working families and the middle class who will suffer if he’s allowed to stay there,” Michael Tyler, the Biden-Harris communications manager, said. “Backed by Silicon Valley and the billionaires who bought his vice-presidential selection, Vance is Project 2025 in human form – an agenda that puts extremism and the ultra-wealthy over our democracy. An agenda that cuts healthcare, bans abortion, slashes Social Security and Medicare and is a rubber stamp for Donald Trump to become a dictator on ‘day one’ and ‘terminate’ our constitution as he wishes.” Tyler concluded: “JD Vance is unprepared, unqualified and willing to do anything Donald Trump demands.” After his speech finished, Vance was joined onstage by several relatives, who he shared hugs and handshakes with. As they walked off stage, Vance appeared to pause and point to Donald Trump, who is seated across the arena. Vance tells US: "I will give you everything I have to serve you" After a recitation of why he believes America is special, JD Vance then told the audience that re-electing Donald Trump was essential to preserving that greatness. “The only thing that we need to do right now, the most important thing that we can do for those people, for that American nation that we all love, is to re-elect Donald J Trump president of the United States,” Vance said. “Mr President, I will never take for granted the trust you have put in me and what an honor it is to help achieve the extraordinary vision that you have for this country. Now, I pledge to every American, no matter your party, I will give you everything I have to serve you and to make this country a place where every dream you have for yourself, your family and your country will be possible once again.” When Donald Trump selected JD Vance, word spread that the choice was made in part because his campaign believed the Ohio senator could sway voters in the rust belt swing states, like Michigan and Pennsylvania. And in his speech tonight, Vance has mentioned those states repeatedly. “We’re done buying energy from countries that hate us. We’re going to get it right here, from American workers in Pennsylvania and Ohio and across the country,” he said. JD Vance told the crowd how, after his grandmother, who he called Mamaw, died in 2005, they found “19 loaded handguns”. “The thing is that they were stashed all over her house, under her bed, in her closet, in the silverware drawer and we wondered what was going on,” Vance said. “And it occurred to us that towards the end of her life, Mamaw couldn’t get around so well, and so this frail old woman made sure that no matter where she was, she was within arm’s length of whatever she needed to protect her family. That’s who we fight for. That’s the American spirit.” The praise of gun ownership pleased the crowd, which broke into the familiar chant: “USA! USA! USA!” This is an audience that clearly enjoys compliments. After a line about how “Joe Biden is willing to buy energy from tin-pot dictators across the world when he could buy it from his own citizens, right here in our own country” drew applause, JD Vance remarked, “You guys are a great crowd.” Then the crowd started chanting, “Yes we are! Yes we are! Yes we are!” "The people who govern this country have failed and failed again", Vance tells Republicans Turning again to the trials of his Ohio hometown, JD Vance argued that repeated administrations had failed it – until Donald Trump came along. “My friends, things did not work out well for a lot of kids I grew up with. Every now and then, I will get a call from a relative back home, who asks, did you know so and so? And I’ll remember a face from years ago, and then I’ll hear they died of an overdose,” Vance said. “As always, America’s ruling class wrote the checks, communities like mine paid the price. For decades that divide between the few with their power and comfort in Washington and the rest of us only widened. From Iraq to Afghanistan, from the financial crisis to the Great Recession, from open borders to stagnating wages, the people who govern this country have failed and failed again.” And then: “That is, of course, until a guy named Donald J Trump came along. President Trump represents America’s last best hope to restore what, if lost, may never be found again.” JD Vance then turned to his tough childhood in Ohio and found a way to blame both Joe Biden and, obliquely, two Republican former presidents. “Now, never in my wildest imagination, could I have believed that I’d be standing here tonight,” the senator said. “I grew up in Middletown, Ohio, a small town where people spoke their minds, built with their hands and loved their God, their family, their community and their country with their whole hearts. But it was also a place that had been cast aside and forgotten by America’s ruling class in Washington. When I was in the fourth grade, a career politician by the name of Joe Biden supported Nafta, a bad trade deal that sent countless good jobs to Mexico,” Vance said, neglecting Republican president George HW Bush’s role in getting the trade deal passed. Then, he turned his attack on the Iraq war, which was a project of Republican president George W Bush. “When I was a senior in high school, that same Joe Biden supported the disastrous invasion of Iraq, and at each step of the way in small towns like mine, in Ohio or next door in Pennsylvania or Michigan, in states all across our country, jobs were sent overseas and our children were sent to war,” Vance said. Vance accepts Trump"s nomination as running mate JD Vance made official his acceptance of Donald Trump’s offer to be his vice-president, if he returns to the White House. “Shouldn’t we be governed by a party that is unafraid to debate ideas and come to the best solution? That’s the Republican party of the next four years, united in our love for this country and committed to free speech and the open exchange of ideas. And so, tonight, Mr Chairman, I stand here humbled, and I’m overwhelmed with gratitude to say I officially accept your nomination to be vice-president of the United States of America,” Vance said. Applause followed, as did chants of: “JD! JD! JD!” Donald Trump did indeed call for unity after the attempted assassination – and for that, he deserves credit, JD Vance is arguing. “Now, consider what they said. They said he was a tyrant. They said he must be stopped at all costs. But how did he respond? He called for national unity, for national calm, literally right after an assassin nearly took his life,” Vance said. Vance has made the attempted assassination the backbone of his speech thus far. Speaking of Trump, the Ohio senator said: “Prior to running for president, he was one of the most successful businessmen in the world. He had everything anyone could ever want in a life. And yet, instead of choosing the easy path, he chose to endure abuse, slander and persecution, and he did it because he loves this country.” “I want all Americans to go and watch the video of a would-be assassin coming a quarter of an inch from taking his life,” Vance said. “Consider the lies they told you about Donald Trump, and then look at that photo of him defiant, fist in the air. When Donald Trump rose to his feet in that Pennsylvania field, all of America stood with him.” As the crowd clapped, Trump smiled from his seat in the VIP section. Usha Vance was seated to his right. JD Vance began his remarks by looking back on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on Saturday. “As we meet tonight, we cannot forget that this evening could have been so much different. Instead of a day of celebration, this could have been a day of heartache and mourning,” Vance said. JD Vance was introduced by his wife, Usha Vance, who said of her husband: “It’s hard to imagine a more powerful example of the American dream.” “Raised by his grandmother through tough times, chosen to help lead our country through some of its greatest challenges. I am grateful to all of you for the trust you’ve placed in him and in our family,” she said. And with that, her husband arrived on stage. JD Vance takes stage at Republican convention Ohio senator JD Vance is about to make his first speech since Donald Trump picked him as his running mate on Monday. He has previously spoken in favor of a national abortion ban, and criticized military aid to Ukraine. We’ll see if he hits on those themes in his speech. We are now seeing on the arena Jumbotron a video recalling JD Vance’s background. “It’s nothing short of a miracle that JD Vance is a household name,” the narrator said, recalling how Vance was “born into poverty”. “JD Vance’s story is one of perseverance, of duty, of commitment to what’s right. It’s an American story, and it’s just getting started,” the video concluded.