After dodging a bullet, Trump picks a MAGA heir

Meanwhile in Milwaukee

View in browser  July 16, 2024       Stephen Collinson, Caitlin Hu and Shelby Rose Meanwhile in Milwaukee Republican Vice Presidential Nominee J.D. Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, walk into the crowd at the Republican National Committee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A lot has happened since we sent the last Meanwhile on Friday. An already unprecedented presidential campaign has been transformed by the failed assassination attempt against Republican nominee Donald Trump. The attack reawakened some of America's darkest historic ghosts — and raised the possibility that an already poisoned political culture could descend into a cycle of retribution. After a near tragedy, Trump's narrow escape from death —bloodied but with a defiant fist raised — reinforced the image of a man whose followers perceive him as almost superhuman. The template that Trump has chosen for this election — his strength against President Joe Biden's supposed weakness was also enhanced. On Monday, as the Republican National Convention opened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Trump got another huge boost. A judge in Florida threw out special counsel Jack Smith's criminal indictment over the ex-president's hoarding of classified documents, handing him a huge legal and political victory. The president may have been convicted in a hush money case in New York — but the Trump-appointed judge's move in Florida reinforced an impression that he will never face accountability for his conduct in office and assaults on the rule of law -- all bolstered by a huge Supreme Court win for Trump over his sweeping claims of presidential immunity. Trump was already ahead in the presidential race, with less than four months to go before Election Day. His momentum now makes Biden's task even harder.  The president has spent the last two weeks fighting to save his own nomination after his disastrous debate performance in Atlanta. There were times last week when it looked like his campaign was about to founder, but the horrific attempt to kill Trump crated such a furor that it quieted the Democratic revolt as Biden cloaked himself in the institution of the presidency to lead in a time of crisis. Biden gave an Oval Office address on Sunday evening calling on Americans to unify and lower the heat in the ferocious political rhetoric that makes enemies of political foes. Here's the most important part: "Our founders understood the power of passion, and so they created a democracy that gave reason and balance a chance to prevail over brute force," he said, adding: "That's the America we must be." But after generations of political violence, and with calls for calm and unity after previous killings and assassination attempts quickly lost in the cacophony, that's not the way America has ever been. Sign up for Meanwhile in America The world and America Provisional results in Rwanda's presidential election show incumbent Paul Kagame winning in landslide.   A French soldier deployed in the country's anti-terrorism force was stabbed at a train station in central Paris, a week before the Paris 2024 Olympics.   And Kenyan police say a man in Soweto has confessed to murdering 42 women.   Meanwhile in America, here's what we know about the Trump rally gunman so far.   A Black man has filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against a hotel in Detroit, Michigan, alleging the hotel only offered him a job interview after he changed the name on his resume.   And Google is close to making its biggest acquisition ever. 'The Russian military can no longer feel impunity and security' After many months on the back foot because of ammunition and manpower shortages, Kyiv is finally able to take full advantage of Western military aid that started to flow into the country last month, after months of delays, CNN's Ivana Kottasova reports.   Soldiers on the front lines say the deliveries are beginning to make a difference – especially since they can now use the arsenal to strike across the border at certain military targets supporting Russia's offensive in Ukraine.   "We can see the impact of the aid every day. Artillery, longer-range multiple launch rocket systems with various types of ammunition and submunitions… it's affecting the overall battlefield picture," Ivan, an officer with the 148th artillery brigade, told CNN. He also asked for his full name not to be published for security reasons.   "We are deploying the most effective weapons systems in the areas where the Russians are trying to break through the defensive lines and there has been a significant slowdown in the Russian advance," he added.   Permission from the United States and other allies to use Western weapons to strike inside Russia has had a particularly huge impact, soldiers told CNN.   "We have destroyed targets inside Russia, which allowed for several successful counteroffensives. The Russian military can no longer feel impunity and security," said one senior officer in Ukraine's Security Service.  After dodging a bullet, Trump picks a MAGA heir  JD Vance is the embodiment of the populist, nationalist and blue-collar transformation of the old establishment Republican Party.   That's why ex-President Donald Trump — who never forgets the enthusiasms of his base — picked the Ohio senator as his vice-presidential running mate and effectively named him as a political heir who is now the best positioned Republican to inherit the keys to the MAGA kingdom.   The Ohio senator is only 39 and injects a dash of youthfulness into an election season dominated by two elderly men who have both been elected president. His selection caps a stunning political rise, after less than two years in the Senate. If Trump wins the election in November, a millennial will be a heartbeat away from the presidency.   Trump rarely comes across as someone preoccupied with posterity — he lives in the present. But the selection of Vance is a nod to his legacy and anoints a leader of the Make America Great Again movement who could be active long after its author has left the scene. And this weekend's assassination attempt underscores the constitutional duty of vice presidents to secure the chain of power and assume the presidency themselves if the worst happens.   Vance made his name by explaining the political forces behind the rise of Trumpism before most people were paying attention to them in his book "Hillbilly Elegy" about growing up poor in Appalachia.    The new Republican vice-presidential pick is also the embodiment of Trump's "America First" policies abroad and augurs another rocky period between the US and its European allies if the ex-president reclaims the Oval Office.   Vance is in the vanguard of a new generation of pro-Trump lawmakers who reject the traditional US foreign policy consensus. He traveled to the belly of the internationalist beast at the Munich Security Conference earlier this year to rebuke America's European allies. And at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in the US, he argued that America should no longer finance Ukraine's fight for its freedom.   "I have … Republican colleagues, who are much more emotionally invested in what's going on 6,000 miles away than they are in their own country," Vance said at the conference. "If you care about Ukraine, but most importantly, if you care about America, you should be wanting this thing to come to some diplomatic resolution."   Vance was once a critic of Trump, but there is little distance between the two men now. The Ohio senator made sure of that, and it's made him one of the most significant rising powers in American politics. Thanks for reading.   On Tuesday, representatives from the Czech and Ukrainian governments are scheduled to meet in Prague. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov chairs a UN Security Council meeting on multilateralism in New York. What did you think of today's email? 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