Are Republican Voters Ready for the Nerdy Radicalness of J.D. Vance?

J.D. Vance’s elevation to the number two spot on the Republican ticket marks the culmination of two remarkable transformations — one personal to Vance, and one that has swept over the American right as a whole.

On the personal front, Vance’s selection represents the completion of the Hillbilly Elegy author’s much-remarked-upon evolution from liberal darling and stalwart Never Trumper to diehard MAGA loyalist and heir apparent to Trump’s political dynasty. The credibility of this conversion has been hotly debated on both the left and right, and lingering questions about those past criticisms of Trump are likely to hang over the Trump-Vance ticket until November.

But the other transformation signaled by Vance’s ascension — the takeover of the Republican Party by a once-marginal faction of conservative elites — is no less remarkable.