MILWAUKEE — We are only 24 hours into the 2024 RNC, and already the contrast with the last time the GOP nominated Donald Trump to be his party’s nominee is jarring. Back in 2016, the Republican Party was divided and anxious about the road ahead. An NBC poll taken that summer found that less than 50% of Republicans were satisfied to have the former reality star and real estate developer as their standard bearer in November.

Today, the party has been transformed into the “Trump party.” Those who oppose him, his style or his policies have been purged or have left. Others have seen where the train is headed and have reluctantly gotten on board.

But, for those Republicans who are “waiting out” Trump in hopes of a return of the Grand Old Party of Bush and Reagan, Trump’s pick of Senator J.D. Vance as his vice presidential nominee should disabuse them of that coming to pass in 2028.

The pick of the young, populist and isolationist Ohio senator makes clear that the Trump campaign isn’t interested in winning back

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