Vance brings down the house with 5 words about Trump: ‘The toughest SOB in American politics’

BS BULLETIN:

Vice President JD Vance closed the Republican midterm convention Thursday night with an unmistakable message about Donald Trump.
Vance called the president “the toughest SOB in American politics” while urging Republicans to protect Trump’s agenda in November.
The high-profile address also gave Vance another opportunity to establish himself as the early favorite to inherit Trump’s political movement in 2028.

Vice President JD Vance had five words Thursday night for Republicans wondering what Donald Trump still means to the GOP:

“The toughest SOB in American politics.”

Vance delivered the line during his keynote address on the final night of the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, bringing the party’s unusual two-day gathering to a close with an emphatic defense of the president and his agenda.

The vice president’s larger message was aimed squarely at November.

Republicans may have Trump in the White House, but Vance warned that much of what the administration has accomplished could be jeopardized if voters hand control of Congress to Democrats in the midterms.

The convention itself was designed around precisely that concern.

Republicans gathered in Dallas roughly two months before Election Day for an event intended to energize Trump’s coalition and convince voters who turned out for the president that they need to return to the polls when Trump himself isn’t on the ballot.

Vance argued that the administration has delivered on the issues that powered Trump’s return to office, particularly immigration and the border, while portraying Democrats as determined to reverse those gains.

But there was another political story unfolding Thursday night. JD Vance was standing center stage.

The vice president has increasingly been viewed as the early favorite to carry Trump’s political movement into the 2028 presidential race.

And he wasn’t the only potential contender in Dallas.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has also generated speculation about 2028, spoke earlier Thursday and delivered his own headline-grabbing warning about what he called an alliance of “communists and Islamists” taking hold inside the Democratic Party.

That gave Republicans an intriguing preview of a political fight that may eventually arrive.

Cruz represents one possible future for the GOP.

Vance represents another.

But Thursday night, Vance wasn’t talking about succeeding Trump. He was talking about keeping Trump’s coalition together.

The vice president urged Republicans to remember the political battles Trump has survived and the resistance his administration continues to face.

“The toughest SOB in American politics.”

It was part compliment, part rallying cry and perhaps the simplest explanation yet of the political brand Republicans hope can carry them through November. Trump won’t be on the ballot.

Vance wants Trump voters to behave as though he is.

MY QUICK TAKE

There are political endorsements. Then there’s “the toughest SOB in American politics.”

But Vance understands something Republicans have struggled with for nearly a decade: Trump voters aren’t necessarily Republican voters.

Some of them show up because Donald Trump is on the ballot and then disappear when he isn’t. So the entire mission in Dallas boiled down to one question:

Can Republicans get the Trump army to fight when Trump isn’t personally running?

Vance’s answer was essentially: Remember the guy who got shot, prosecuted, impeached, investigated, written off approximately 4,732 times — and kept coming back.

Then vote like his name is still at the top of the ticket.

Not exactly Morning in America. But “toughest SOB in American politics” certainly fits on a bumper sticker.

DBS WIRE SOURCES