What could compel a person to shift from “that guy’s Hitler” to “that guy’s my president”? Power, obviously, and celebrity, even if the people cheering for you are monsters themselves. But, given that Trump tried to get his last VP hanged, there’s an argument to me made for keeping your head down. So why would Vance come all the way around to becoming Trump’s running mate?
I have to think that Trump’s getting shot at confirmed his likely strategy, one Caro suspects LBJ also pursued: 12 presidents have had assassination attempts made on them, and MAGA has already started to turn their violence on Trump. In addition nearly 1 in 5 presidents have died in office, and Trump is hardly the picture of health, plus, if he’s in the middle stages of Alzheimer’s as it seems, he likely won’t live out his term. There’s no way Vance could ever get elected on his own, so I suspect this is his long game.
If Trump wins, I would, if I cared a whit about him, advise him to get a food taster.