So how did this guy end up as the Republican vice-presidential nominee? Who’s his constituency? Despite the “Handmaid’s Tale” vibe of his views on women and reproductive rights, he doesn’t have deep roots in the religious right. And he’s a late adopter of the MAGA worldview, having once fretted that Donald Trump could wind up being “America’s Hitler.”

 

Vance’s ascent has, to a significant degree, been powered by a small group of technology billionaires with Peter Thiel, who poured millions into Vance’s 2022 Senate race, at the center.