Legal analyst Frank DeVito, author of a new book on JD Vance, says the vice president has the potential to lead Republicans after Donald Trump, pointing to Vance’s emphasis on family, faith and institutional disruption—an assessment that some Republicans dispute, citing Vance’s relatively short time in national office and past shifts in his stance toward Trump.
Legal and political analyst Frank DeVito argues in his new book, JD Vance and the Future of the Republican Party, that Vice President JD Vance is positioned to become a leading figure for Republicans in a post-Donald Trump era.
“I think there’s a pretty good argument that [Trump] chose somebody who has the potential to be a post-Trump leader of the Republican Party and the MAGA movement,” DeVito said in an interview with The Daily Wire.
Not all Republicans share that view. Critics on both the populist right and the party’s more traditional conservative wing have questioned whether Vance’s relatively short tenure in national office—and his well-documented shift from critic of Trump to Trump’s running mate—makes him the natural heir to the movement, the outlet reported.
DeVito said he sees Vance as part of a broader change within the GOP, describing Vance’s political appeal as rooted in themes of family, faith and a willingness to confront institutions DeVito views as failing ordinary Americans.
“One of the priorities that he is clearly focused on,” DeVito said, “is how do we provide a world where as many people as possible can get married, have stable marriages, and raise children.”
DeVito also echoed Vance’s criticism of what he described as the political left’s approach to family life. “How does any civilization function?” DeVito asked. “You have parents who have children, they raise those children as best they can … You can’t really have civilization without that.”
DeVito linked that argument to one of Vance’s most controversial past lines of attack—that leaders without children may lack the long-term perspective needed for governance—comments that drew criticism from Democrats and some Republicans who warned the rhetoric could prove politically damaging. DeVito said he viewed the underlying point as straightforward: “I would hope leaders are thinking not just about the next election or their stock portfolio, but about what kind of country their grandchildren are going to inherit.”
On Vance’s political evolution, DeVito said the vice president’s reassessment of Trump reflected a harsher view of American institutions. “If you think American institutions are basically healthy and just need minor corrections, then of course Trump looks insane,” DeVito said. “But what Vance came to believe is that he was wrong about how broken those institutions really are.”
“They’re actually so co-opted that it might take dropping some dynamite into the system to recover a sane America,” DeVito added.
DeVito also pointed to Vance’s personal trajectory—from a childhood marked by family instability and addiction, to Yale Law School and entry into elite professional circles—as central to his credibility with voters who feel left behind. In DeVito’s telling, Vance’s experience highlights a divide between communities struggling with addiction, joblessness and family breakdown and elites who see the country improving.
Faith is another part of that story, DeVito argued, describing Vance’s conversion to Catholicism in 2019 as sincere rather than political. “There’s really nothing advantageous to your political career about becoming a Catholic … So I don’t think he would do it unless it was genuine,” DeVito said.
DeVito said Vance could potentially unify a Republican Party that has changed significantly since Trump entered the race in 2015. Still, he acknowledged uncertainty about whether any successor can replicate Trump’s hold on the party. “It’s a hard dance,” DeVito said. “Nobody’s going to be Donald Trump.”
