It’s official: Donald Trump has named Ohio Senator J. D. Vance as his running mate.

Trump’s announcement on Monday marked the end of many months of speculation as to whom he would select to be his vice president. During that time, other figures were rumored to be on the former president’s shortlist, including Nikki Haley, Marco Rubio, and Tim Scott. Fortunately, Trump did not choose any of them. J. D. Vance was the best choice of the available options, and he will make a fine vice president.

For those unfamiliar with the Ohio senator, Vance was born in Middletown, Ohio. He chronicled his dysfunctional, lower-class upbringing in the bestselling 2016 book Hillbilly Elegy, which was later brought to life in movie form by Netflix. Vance’s experience as an intellectually gifted young man growing up amid the anomie of the Rust Belt proved politically formative, furnishing him with a unique, firsthand perspective on American decline.

Vance boasts an impressively varied career. After graduating high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in Iraq. He then attended Ohio State University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and philosophy. Vance went on to obtain a law degree from Yale. For a few years afterward, he worked in politics, finance, and the tech industry.

J. D. Vance was elected United States Senator from Ohio in 2022. He has since established himself as a leading voice of American populism – much to the chagrin of National Review-style conservatives, for whom a return to the dreariness of the Bush era cannot come fast enough.

Dan McLaughlin, senior writer at National Review, lamented Trump’s vice presidential pick on X, writing, “Trump picking Vance is a giant middle finger to conservatives, but we’re used to that by now.” Of course, by “conservatives,” McLaughlin means “people with cushy Beltway conservative jobs,” not actual rank-and-file conservatives—small business owners, tradesmen, homemakers, etc.—who have made it abundantly clear that Donald Trump, faults and all, is their champion.

But McLaughlin is correct about one thing: conservatives of his variety are used to losing. But they’re used to losing to the left, not to challengers from the right, hence their consternation at everything that has transpired since 2016.

Vance is loathed within the Beltway because of his remarkable willingness to defy GOP orthodoxy in pursuit of what he perceives to be the best interests of the American people. This defiance is most apparent in his positions on immigration and economics. Not all conservatives will agree with his positions. However, it is clear that by selecting J. D. Vance as his running mate, Trump has yet again repudiated the pre-2016 GOP status quo. For that, we should be grateful.

On immigration, the most important of issues, Vance is staunchly hawkish. He has denounced the Biden administration’s atrocious open-borders policies, called for mass deportations, and advocated for legal immigration restriction. But it gets better. In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Vance even dared to point out that mass immigration imports new voters for the Democratic Party. “Democratic politicians … have decided that they can’t win re-election in 2022 unless they bring in a large number of new voters to replace the voters that are already here,” he told Tucker. And at a speech in Ohio in 2022, he argued that Democrats were attempting to “transform the electorate.” He’s spot on.

The media attacked him for these statements, but Vance stood his ground. As such, it should come as no surprise that the immigration reform nonprofit NumbersUSA has given him an “A” on his immigration grade card. But why not an A+? Mark Kirkorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, explained that “the only reason it’s not an A+ seems to be some bills he hasn’t signed onto yet.” It isn’t cause for concern, especially considering the congressional average on immigration flutters between the D+ and C- minus range.

As far as economics is concerned, J. D. Vance is unapologetically pro-worker. “I certainly agree that we need to apply some broad-based tariffs, especially on goods coming in from China,” he told CBS News in May. “We need to protect American industries from all of the competition.” That position alone is enough to draw the ire of Conservatism Inc. and the Republican establishment.

More controversially, Vance supports unions and opposes right-to-work laws. In fact, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien praised J. D. Vance by name last night at the RNC. “He’s been great on Teamster issues,” O’Brien told Fox News. “He’s been right there on all our issues.” Some conservatives will undoubtedly balk at what has historically been a left-wing position in America. But rest assured, Vance’s support for unions has its limits: he opposes the PRO Act, which would make it easier for workers to unionize. This is significant because it is the labor movement’s number-one legislative priority. It reveals that Vance is pro-worker but apprehensive of the left-wing labor movement overall.

Policy positions aside, J. D. Vance is compelling due to his connection to the dissident right. By his own admission, he is “plugged into a lot of weird, right-wing subcultures.” He is friends with neoreactionary theorist Curtis Yarvin. He follows some interesting accounts on X, including Bronze Age Pervert, Scott Greer, Steve Sailer, and Lomez. All of these people are far more intelligent, right-wing, and principled than your average Fox News host, so it seems Vance is getting his political commentary from the right places.

Bear in mind that Vance is only 39 years old. He is in many ways symbolic of a younger crop of dissident conservatives, who have no qualms about transgressing both liberal and neoconservative taboos. When they revere political figures of past eras, they are more likely to favor Pat Buchanan over Ronald Reagan. As such, Vance’s ascent—and the ascent a younger right-wing vanguard—should be welcomed by all truly interested in making America great again.