After much speculation—and nearly as much self-abasement from a long line of Republican hopefuls—Donald Trump finally added a vice presidential pick to his 2024 ticket: Ohio junior Sen. J.D. Vance.

The 39-year-old venture capitalist turned political firebrand beat out a pack of aspirants that included Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and, perhaps at one point, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem—until she wrote in her memoir that she shot her puppy and met Kim Jong-un. (And let’s never forget Trump’s interest in Florida Rep. Byron Donalds!)

Vance’s ascent is particularly notable because he was vocally opposed to Trump’s 2016 run, calling him an “idiot,” a “moral disaster,” and “a cynical asshole like Nixon” before having some sort of epiphany and doing an about-face. (This has been a theme of his short public-sector career.)

Vance is perhaps the foremost political representative of the “new right,” the strain of populist conservatism that has appeared to gain some purchase with younger Republicans in recent years. These politicians (Josh Hawley is another) prioritize a kind of traditional social conservatism—i.e., they like eroding the rights of women and other archnemeses among the “childless left”—with economic ideas that sound as if........

© Slate