J.D. Vance

(Senate.gov photo)

Earlier today Donald Trump announced John David ("J.D.") Vance as his running mate. Your humble blogger, who doesn't pay much attention to who's who in national politics, will start learning about J.D. Vance by tackling his 2016 best-selling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy.

If elected, J.D. Vance, who will turn 40 on August 2nd, will be the third youngest vice president in American history behind John Breckinridge (37) and Richard Nixon (40), who assumed office in 1857 and 1960, respectively.

Here are the WSJ's "Five Things to Know About J.D. Vance."

1. He gained prominence as a bestselling author. “Hillbilly Elegy,” a rumination on the problems facing his hometown and growing up in working-class America, became a commercial smash, and later was a Ron Howard-directed film. The memoir helped Vance pitch himself to voters as he began to rise in politics.

2. He used to be a critic of Trump. Vance in 2016 said Trump could be “America’s Hitler.” But since then, the senator has morphed into a strong ally of Trump. He has echoed Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

3. He was in the Marine Corps. Vance joined the Marines after high school, and he has said that the experience gave him a distaste for unnecessary foreign entanglements. In the Senate, Vance has helped lead the opposition to foreign aid for Ukraine. Trump, for his part, wasn’t as aggressive as Vance on the issue.

4. He has only been in Congress for two years. Vance, 39 years old, was elected to the Senate in 2022. He defeated Tim Ryan, a Democrat and longtime Ohio representative, for the seat. Trump endorsed Vance in that election, helping him win during a crowded election cycle.

5. He was also a venture capitalist and knows wealthy donors. Before coming to Congress, Vance graduated from the Ohio State University and Yale Law School, and was a principal at venture capitalist Peter Thiel’s firm in 2016 and 2017. Thiel spent millions on Vance’s Senate run. Those relationships have helped him hold his own among influential political donors.

Given Donald Trump's age (78), there is a distinct probability that J.D. Vance could become President in the next four years. Of course, the same thing may be said about Kamala Harris, 58, given the infirmities of President Biden, 81.

San Francisco: Burglaries Are "Rampant"

Tourists to San Francisco are almost non-existent thanks to the pandemic (and homelessness and car smash-and-grabs and closed restaurants etc.), so the burglars have switched to breaking into stores.

Rampant burglaries plague San Francisco businesses, compounding the hurt of the pandemic

Across San Francisco, businesses are hiring armed security guards, pouring thousands into replacing shattered windows and even pulling up stakes amid a rash of commercial theft and vandalism.

Burglaries in San Francisco have spiked by 62% so far this year, rising from 691 reported incidents in 2020 to 1,123 as of mid-February. The break-ins have been particularly glaring in a city where overall crime is down by 31%, and San Francisco’s once most seemingly intractable crime — car break-ins — has plummeted by 52%...

Most of the burglaries in San Francisco are never solved. What police call the “clearance rate” — the percentage of arrests per reported crime — was 8.1% for burglaries this year to date, down from 14.5% by this time last year, according to police data.

As we've opined before, Progressive government proclaims the unimportance of property versus caring for people, and the surge in property crime was easily foreseeable. "Petty" theft ($950 or less) is a misdemeanor and on the police back-burner; "most...are never solved." Well, people may be the priority, but I don't see a lot of happy people in San Francisco.

The election is over, the winners safely installed, and negative information can't be used by Republicans. The Chronicle has now resumed reporting.

Willie Advises the Democrats

Willie Brown is unabashedly partisan, but he doesn't hesitate to call out his fellow Democrats when he thinks they're on the wrong track:

Burning Kenosha used-car lot (Chron)

Burning and Looting Will Hand the Election to Trump
If they stand up and condemn the “demonstrators,” the left wing will label them as Trump flunkies and they’ll be in all sorts of trouble.

If they keep quiet or offer passive responses, voters will assume they’re OK with burning and looting.

What we need to do is have everyone, including the media, stop calling the after-dark destruction “demonstrations.”

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did not cross the bridge at Selma under cover of darkness. You can’t even read a protest sign at night.

(NBC News photo)

Duck the Debates
Biden would probably get his backside kicked.

Biden has never been a good debater. He’s too civilized, too nuanced for a matchup with Trump.

It would be like Willie Brown taking on LeBron James in a one-on-one pickup game.

If the polls are to believed, Biden has a respectable lead over Trump in the states that are likely to decide the election.

Why mess with success? Why give your opponent an audience?

Kimberly Guilfoyle's speech was a blast

Democrat vs. Republican Conventions
In terms of entertainment value, the Republicans won hands down. Their telethon was livelier and better-produced than the Democrats’...

They also had a couple of showstoppers, like Sen. Tim Scott, a Black Republican from South Carolina, declaring that only in America could his family have gone “from cotton to Congress in one lifetime.” The best line of the convention, in my opinion...

Judging by the national reaction, the real star of week was San Francisco’s own former first lady Kimberly Guilfoyle. My cell phone started blowing up even before she was halfway through her “Evita” performance.

It was reality TV at its best.

Kim Kardashian, watch out.

According to Willie Brown Democrats should denounce the riots and duck the debates. It's not an inspiring strategy, but it's probably a sound one.

Holding Their Nose and Voting Republican

The Wall Street Journal highlights another consequence of the extended coronavirus lockdown: uncollected garbage. [bold added]

NYC sidewalk, Jan., 2020   (WNYC)

Philadelphia and Baltimore are among the hardest hit cities, though others, such as Atlanta and Nashville, also are having trouble. In Virginia Beach, Va., sanitation workers demanding hazard pay held a one-day work stoppage Aug. 19, putting trash collection behind for days. In New York City, garbage has piled up on some commercial corridors and residential streets after budget cuts reduced trash pickup.

Some residents are taking matters into their own hands. On two occasions the West Passyunk Neighborhood Association in South Philadelphia has trucked trash and recyclables in rented pickups to a city facility, after waiting in vain for municipal crews.

“Our streets looked like the city was abandoned,” said James Gitto, the association’s 29-year-old president. “It’s a daunting task when you look out and there is trash everywhere.”

At its worst, he said, the smell of rotten meat seeped into his home from trash bags piled by the street, and at night he could hear cats fighting over the spoils. He added that some garbage sat so long it stained the sidewalk.

Without knowing the answer in advance (except for New York), your humble blogger looked up the political affiliation of the mayors of the above-mentioned cities. They were overwhelmingly Democrats.

Keisha Lance Bottoms (D), Atlanta
Bernard "Jack" Young (D), Baltimore
John Cooper (D), Nashville
Bill de Blasio (D), New York
Jim Kenney (D), Philadelphia
Bobby Dyer (R), Virginia Beach

According to recent polls the Democrats have a good chance of winning the Presidency and sweeping Congress this year. Well, they might have done so despite the rioting and looting in cities they govern, but garbage in the streets? That may be enough for their constituencies to hold their nose and vote Republican.

When Kimberly Guilfoyle Shouts, People Listen

Kimberly Guilfoyle was derided for her extravagant speaking style by hostile commentators in the mainstream media. Here is what the normally-friendly WSJ had to say about her speech at the Republican convention: [italics added]

Guilfoyle Goes Full Blast
The convention was peppered with dark predictions about the future if Mr. Biden wins the election in November. Trump campaign senior adviser Kimberly Guilfoyle, who delivered her warning to Americans in a nearly continuous shout, said Democrats want to enslave Americans with liberal ideology, steal liberty and freedom and “control what you see and believe.”

“They want to destroy this country and everything we have fought for and hold dear,” said Ms. Guilfoyle.

After that tantalizing review, one has to see the speech for oneself:



Comments:
1) The usual outraged responders to the sexist criticism (if a man talked like that, they would say he was dynamic and forceful) are unusually quiet;
2) Her speech was over-the-top when one knows that there was no live audience; it was entirely appropriate for a speech in front of conventioneers. This will become apparent when the Trump campaign adds cheers, crowds, and confetti through the magic of CGI.
3) Kimberly Guilfoyle was once married to Gavin Newsom. Forget about the Conways and Matalin-Carville. Guilfoyle-Newsom would have sucked all the air out of the room.