As Good as “The Sum of Their Parts”: Recap of the Republican National Convention and When Vice Presidents Could Be Presidents

It’s not “far-fetched” to say during this election year, events have been playing out more like a marathon of “As The World Turns” soap opera episodes in major news media outlets rather than
real life. Yet many career journalists are doing incredible investigative work, on both sides of the political aisle.

Donald Trump, our ex-president with a bandaged ear, took the stage at the Republican National Convention last week. He was predicted to show a lighter side (prediction by both CNN and Fox
News) after an attempted assassination on his life in Pennsylvania. He showed nothing but hostility at the RNC while speaking about many political officials, such as Nancy Pelosi, mentioning what a terrible job she did when she was Speaker of the House of Representatives.

He gave no specifics as to “why” and what she did specifically. Before his speech, Trump mentioned to the press that his speech would be “a call for unity.” He did exchange some tender
moments, like a kiss with often absent wife, Melania Trump. He also held-up a firefighter uniform and honored the citizen shot at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally, Corey Comperatore.

Amber Rose, a celebrity from a minority demographic, spoke at the RNC on how her dad convinced her how Trump is for every minority and gay person; “makes no difference who you
are,” she recalls her dad saying to her around his views of Trump. She has shared no evidence other than what her dad told her. We were then introduced to another character in the soap opera. None other than JD Vance. A person who most of the nation knew nothing about, until last week.

JD Vance used his Republican National Convention speech to recount how his grandmother, “Mamaw” despite her frailty, kept 19 loaded handguns strategically hidden around her home for
protection. This anecdote, shared shortly after an attempted assassination on Donald Trump, surprisingly resonated with some of the Republican audience in Milwaukee. Vance emphasized the resilience of American grandparents on Social Security raising unexpected grandchildren, portraying them as embodiments of the American spirit he champions.

Overall, while Trump expressed support for protecting Social Security during his campaigns, including leading up to his 2016 election, his administration's actions and proposals on related
programs reflected a more mixed stance. More clearly put, Trump’s actions often don’t line-up with his words. Recently, over the last two weeks, stating he doesn’t support Project 2025, yet
six of his ex-cabinet secretaries helped draft it and over 150+ more people affiliated with Project 2025 are connected to Trump (reported by CNN, Reuters and NBC). There are parallels between Project 2025 and Agenda 47, also proposed by the Trump party.

JD Vance has clearly shown during the RNC last week how he is comfortable taking the “back seat” to Trump. Polls show that 50% of the nation had no opinion of him before last week (NPR).
Summary of what we know about JD Vance so far:

JD Vance is a prominent conservative author, lawyer, and venture capitalist.
He gained national attention with his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” which explores his upbringing in Appalachia and critiques of socio-economic challenges facing working-class Americans.
Vance has been involved in Republican politics and was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
He ran for Senate in Ohio in 2022, positioning himself as a populist candidate focused on issues like economic revitalization and cultural conservatism.
Vance’s speeches often emphasize themes of family values, economic opportunity, and the preservation of American traditions.
His military background was only published on military.com 6 days ago, as a PMOS 4531 (Combat Mass Communicator), who is responsible for gathering and sharing information about global conflicts. They share their reports with the public.

It is important to note what Vance’s action-based merits are and if he could indeed take over the duties of POTUS, just as we’ve seen Kamala Harris do so as Biden has as gracefully as possible
bowed out of the race just this past Sunday, July 21st. So on top of our introduction to JD Vance last week, America started taking a closer look at Kamala Harris and what she stands for as she
has already launched several campaigns to raise money for the Democratic Party to “defeat Trump”. She’s coming out the gate strong, stating his fascists views for America (her words). Yet
we haven’t heard her take on what ideals she’s fighting for, nor how she differentiates from Biden. She does have a varied and stand-out political background.

Summary on some key facts about Kamala Harris:

Kamala Harris is an American politician and prosecution attorney who served as the Vice President of the United States from January 20, 2021, under President Joe Biden.
Prior to her vice presidency, Harris was a United States Senator from California, elected in 2016 and serving until her resignation in 2021.
She previously served as the Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017, where she focused on issues such as criminal justice reform, consumer protection, and defending the Affordable Care Act.
Harris began her career as a prosecutor in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office in California, later becoming the District Attorney of San Francisco in 2004.
She is the first woman, the first Black person, and the first person of South Asian descent to hold the office of Vice President of the United States, making history with her election in 2020.

What do we know about her tactics to run for POTUS and who her future running mate (VP) will be? We only have speculation from several news sources at this point (YouTube, PBS). Top four, as reported by PBS, are Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and Pennsylvanian Governor Josh Shapiro. From Harris,
what we’ve seen is a more fear-biased defensive so far. Email inboxes are flooding with “Donate to Harris’ Campaign” to “defeat evil” narratives. Does this register with many people for “Team
Blue”? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Harris’ tactics may be enough to win considering Trump’s radical, and fringing on unconstitutional, stances with Project 2025 and Agenda 47. But is “enough to win” what America is actually looking for? Well, we leave that up to our readership!

Here’s more on the comparisons and contrasts between Project 2025 (The most fascist initiative ever considered in American history), and Article 47, here: