Meaning behind '48' chants as JD Vance's speech interrupted by crowd's calls
When JD Vance gave a speech at the Republican midterm convention yesterday (10 September) he was interrupted by several people chanting '48' at him.
He's Donald Trump's vice president and was telling the crowd of his party's supporters they'd have to 'take care of business in November' during the elections which could be crucial for the second Trump term in the White House.
Vance did encourage them to chant his name, but when faced with '48' chants he told them to hold on until after the midterms and then 'we will worry about what comes next'.
The chant is them showing support for Vance as the next potential president, as the successor to Donald Trump will be the 48th time a new president has entered the White House for a term.
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It doesn't mean there's been 48 US presidents, as Trump is both the 45th and 47th President of the United States, and Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th.
Both men won and lost the presidency, then went on to win it again, so the next man to become POTUS (assuming it's not someone who already had the job like Joe Biden) will be the 46th person to have the job but they will officially be president number 48.
There's been a lot of talk about what exactly will happen at the end of Trump's second term, not least from Trump himself who has been dropping lots of hints that he'd seek a third term.
He's not allowed to do that but it's not stopped him from wearing a 'Trump 2028' hat and repeatedly saying he'd try again for a third stint with remarks he has typically later walked back as a joke before going on to say them again.
If Trump isn't going to try and stand again then Vance would want to position himself as the most likely successor, and being vice president has been a pretty good way of getting on the ticket to be elected president later on.
Trump's rival Joe Biden was Barack Obama's VP, George W Bush was elected against Al Gore who had been Bill Clinton's VP, and Bush's father had been Ronald Reagan's VP before getting elected to the job himself.
There's also the chance that the VP will have to step up and become president if something happens to the man in the top job, as scandal or health can mean a deputy has to step in.
If Republican voters are chanting '48' at JD Vance then it shows he's got at least some support within his own party for a tilt at the White House himself in a couple of years.
There'll likely be several people fighting to succeed Trump when he goes, though whether they'll position themselves as his successor or the one to undo his mess depends on how he's being perceived.
It's been suggested that Trump might try and get around the laws preventing him from running for a third term, but it would require some complicated legal processes and would be quite unlikely.
Topics: JD Vance, Donald Trump, US News
Joe Harker