Who is J.D. Vance, Trump's deputy: former marine, best-selling author and opposed to aid to Ukraine

The vice presidential candidate chosen by Donald Trump is a young senator from Ohio with a strong right-wing populist identity. J.D. Vance, at 39, is the rising star in the Republican firmament of the Trump era and the Maga movement. The first millennial to enter a US presidential ticket, known for his ambition and desire to be the centre of attention, he could now also play the role of the tycoon's natural heir.

He certainly enjoyed an enthusiastic crowd bath last night that demonstrated his grip on the militant base: he appeared on the convention floor after the announcement to be formally nominated from the stage by the lieutenant governor of his state, Ohio. He walked for long minutes through the lines of thronging delegates chanting his name, JD, shaking hands left and right and betraying emotion.

Only elected senator from Ohio in 2023, he distinguished himself by his personal support for the former President and his brand of conservative populism. In doing so he dramatically revised previous criticisms of the former President and gained his support: in a time now forgotten he had accused him of outlining a 'dark path' and of being the American Hitler. Instead, in recent years he has been among Trump's most dedicated defenders from prosecution and among the most stentorian megaphones of the unfounded allegations of election fraud in 2020 against him. In recent days, while Trump himself has been preaching unity, he has been among the most outspoken in attacking instead Democratic President Joe Biden as being responsible for a demonisation of Trump that would lead to Trump's assassination attempt.

He is now considered among the ideologues of the Maga movement, Make America Great Again. He has espoused Trump's tough stances on immigration. In foreign policy he voted against aid to Ukraine and is sceptical of NATO. In trade policy he favours Trump's proposals for generalised tariffs. On abortion, however, he has softened drastically opposing positions to be in line with the former President, who has deleted from his slogans the call for a nationwide ban on abortion as politically losing.

For Vance, the stepping stone was a bestselling autobiography, Hillbilly Elegy, in 2016, which chronicles his youth in rural, impoverished Appalachian Queen America, specifically in a small Ohio town, Middletown, engulfed by the steel crisis and the flight of solid jobs. His mother was a drug addict and he was raised by his grandparents.