Past vice-presidents and vice-presidential candidates are often among their party’s top contenders for future presidential nominations.

JD Vance is now just a heartbeat from the presidency—and that’s the heart of the oldest man ever elected to the White House. Just eight years ago, Vance was criticizing Donald Trump as a “fraud” and a “moral disaster” and reportedly told a friend he couldn’t decide whether the MAGA mogul was a “cynical a–hole like Nixon” or “America’s Hitler.