Trump Wants to Win. And That Should Scare Biden

In many ways, the selection of Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as former President Donald Trump’s running mate is odd and seemingly impolitic.

After all, Vance is another white guy from a state Trump won twice and is sure to win again — hardly a value-add. He’s brash and often unlikeable. Despite his humble beginnings, he’s often described as a carpet-bagging, elitist, San Francisco tech bro who went to Yale Law School and became a CNN contributor to dump on people like Trump.

Indeed, he said some pretty pointed things about Trump in his early days of fame.

He called him “reprehensible,” an “idiot,” and “noxious.”

He implored the religious right, “Fellow Christians, everyone is watching us when we apologize for this man. Lord help us.”

He liked tweets accusing Trump of “serial sexual assault,” and suggested Trump might be “America’s Hitler.”

Hardly a ringing endorsement.

But in other ways, Vance is the perfect Trump vice president.

Since mocking Trump as “one of USA’s most hated, villainous, douchey celebs,” Vance has done all the things one must to ideally position himself for Trump ascendance.

In his opportune run for Senate in Ohio, he begged Trump and his voters for forgiveness for those comments, saying, “I regret being wrong about the guy.”

He dutifully defended Trump against his numerous convictions, calling the efforts at accountability everything from a “sham trial” to a “partisan witch hunt.”

And finally, he said the most important thing, which is that he wouldn’t have certified the 2020 election like Trump’s last VP did.

Presto! Vance is a veep.

But whether the pick is imprudent or obvious (or both) is only part of the story. The important part is, it shows Trump wants to win.

Talk of an X factor selection swirled around Trump almost from the beginning. Rather than go with another seasoned political insider like former Vice President Mike Pence, Trump would select a fellow showman, the thought was. Someone like Tucker Carlson, Arizona Senate hopeful Kari Lake, annoying agitator Vivek Ramaswamy, even Trump’s own son, Don Jr.

But instead of doubling down on personality, Trump’s selection of Vance is more about who can help secure the win.

He’s a direct appeal to rust belt voters — the same voters Republicans believe Democrats have left behind.

In Trump’s own words, according to Vance in his first interview since being nominated, “He just said…’You can help me win. You can help me in some of these Midwestern states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and so forth.’ ”

We’ll see if that’s true. But in the midst of an already crazy and chaotic election, it’s worth pointing out, Trump is making few mistakes these days.

Gone are the Pepe the frog memes and antisemitic graphics that Trump would impetuously post on Twitter during his 2016 run for president.

Someone smart on his campaign told him to rein in the bombast during the first (and likely only) presidential debate. With the added help of President Biden’s disastrous performance, it worked.

Someone smart on his campaign told him to distance himself from the ominous-sounding 2025 Project and extreme abortion bans.

And someone smart told him not to dance on Biden’s political grave as Democrats devolved into chaos over his fitness. Instead of piling on, Trump was relatively disciplined, even criticizing George Clooney for his disloyalty.

Sure, he’s the same old Trump — there’s no other kind — but he’s running as serious a campaign as we’ve seen from him.

And with the horrifying attempt on his life over the weekend casting him as the ultimate fighter — a man who’ll take a bullet for his voters, in their eyes — that seriousness comes into even sharper relief.

And that’s a huge problem for Biden, whose campaign looks less and less serious every day.

It started with the primaries.

While Trump fended off multiple primary challengers fair and square, Democrats protected Biden from a rigorous primary, changed the primary rules to be more favorable, and in the case of New Hampshire, even refused to be on the ballot to improve his standing.

Bubble-wrapping Biden did the ailing 81-year-old few favors.

Trump enters his convention ahead in the polls, widening his lead in several key swing states, tightening the race in blue states like Virginia and New York, while Biden is still getting calls from Democrats to drop out, just weeks before his convention.

Trump looks strong, like a survivor, while Biden looks like he’s fighting time with every cough, whisper, shuffle and gaffe.

It’s a severe contrast, and one that’s only sharpening as the race goes on.

So, how much longer can Biden keep running what increasingly looks like a vanity campaign, while Trump is clearly running to win? Time’s already up, if you ask me.

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(S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.)