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that “Of the people that were mentioned as finalists, he had the most risk, because he had never been vetted nationally.”

He added, “Doug Burgum ran for president, he had been vetted, mostly. Marco Rubio has run for president, he had been vetted. JD Vance hadn’t. So there was risk in the pick. And we’re going to see over the next 102 days how he stands up to the bright lights of a national campaign.”

A member of the House Republican caucus anonymously told the outlet: “Find me one publicly elected official in the Senate who is pushing JD Vance other than [Utah Republican Senator] Mike Lee. I’ll wait.”

This week, an NPR/PBS News/Marist College poll found that 28 per cent of registered voters hold a favorable view of Vance and that 31 per cent have an unfavorable view – 41 per cent were either unsure or haven’t heard of him.

A Pennsylvania Republican strategist, Joshua Novotney, told Politico that Vance “was not chosen to get a leg-up in some area, he was chosen as someone who Trump trusted and wanted to serve with.”

Appearing on Fox & Friends on Thursday morning, Trump was asked if he was still “100 per cent behind JD Vance” after Harris’s rise to the top of the Democratic ticket.

“He’s fantastic, it wouldn’t have mattered, and I thought she was probably going to happen anyway because I knew there was a palace coup going on,” Trump said.

He added that Vance, a former venture capitalist, is “essentially for the worker.”

“He’s doing a great job and he’s been very well received,” Trump said.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung previously told The Independent: “President Trump is thrilled with the choice he made with Senator Vance, and they are the perfect team to take back the White House. Meanwhile, Democrats are in complete disarray after their coup that forcibly removed Biden from the campaign, proving they are the real threats to democracy.”