'Principal strategy': Analyst claims single campaign tactic persuaded Trump to pick Vance

Donald Trump’s now-widely criticized pick of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his running mate was aimed to spearhead what will be a “principal strategy” of the Republican presidential campaign, a columnist suggested Monday.

The choice has caused concern even among Republicans as the Ohio Republican has been badly bruised with the sharing of past interviews in which he shares many controversial opinions — including questioning if childless women should have a say in the running of the country.

But Salon’s Amanda Marcotte wrote that, while these opinions worry some, they are exactly why Trump added Vance to his ticket.

She said that he adds backup for the type of campaign he wants to run — one aimed at race, sex, disability or any other factor that the two can try to exploit as a weakness.

"It looks like this was no accident or gaffe from Trump, but a summation of his campaign's strategy,' she wrote.

The tactic was on full show last week when Trump cast doubt on his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris’ race, and again when they jumped into the gender-related controversy surrounding an Olympic boxer, Marcotte wrote.

“No wonder Trump picked Vance, despite so many warnings from other Republicans that the Ohio senator was bad news,” she wrote.

“Both men express contempt for people whose body or identity doesn't conform to their exceedingly narrow views of what it "should" be. Vance attacking an athlete for a genetic anomaly is reminiscent of Trump expressing irritation at the sight of disabled veterans at Army events, telling his staff, ‘No one wants to see that.’"

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“Vance even made excuses for Trump's sneering at biracial people, even though Vance's wife is Indian-American and his kids, like Harris, have a biracial heritage."

“This hypocrisy is something he shares with Trump. Trump repeatedly mocks others for what he perceives as physical flaws, as if that will distract people from the fact that he's a lumbering 78-year-old man with a comical combover. That's how it's always been with fascists, who never meet their own impossible standards of Aryan perfection. No one can — and no one should even want to, since it's all made-up nonsense anyway.“

Marcotte expects the strategy won’t work for Vance and Trump, writing, “Most Americans find this obsessive policing of other people's bodies and identities gross, even if they don't know its deeper fascist history. It feels "old and quite weird" to want a full readout of everyone's biological and ethnic heritage.

“So Old Man Trump can decide if it's good enough for his liking. But if this is what the Trump-Vance campaign is setting out as its principal strategy, we're in for an ugly fall season.“