Politico
The surreptitious meeting, which has not previously been reported, helped to solidify Trump’s decision to pick the 39-year-old freshman senator as his running mate. Trump had spoken with North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the other two vice presidential contenders, earlier in the week. To those familiar with his deliberations, it was clear he had been the most impressed with Vance.
For Trump, the pick represented the selection of an heir apparent to his MAGA movement — and the latest stage of a relationship that evolved from Trump’s initial skepticism of Vance, to his full-on embrace of a pol he now views as a fierce loyalist.
The relationship between the two men, detailed by more than a half-dozen people close to both of them, began in 2021, when Vance was running for Senate. Vance, who famously documented his blue-collar upbringing in “Hillbilly Elegy,” had savaged Trump, whom he called “noxious” and said he “loathed,” during the 2016 campaign.
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