Even as a kid, I was always confused as to why no one seemed to recognize Superman just because he threw on some glasses. Likewise, JD Vance’s beard has done little to disguise who is and what he stands for, or the fact that he’s completely unqualified to step into the role of president if need be.
Vance rose to fame on the back of his supposedly autobiographical memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. While it was praised by critics upon its release and thought for some time to be both an explainer of Trumpism and a counterweight to it, many have started to call the book and its narrative into question of late, noting that it traffics in convenient stereotypes and trite conclusions that fail to account for the multitude of obstacles faced by America’s poor, white or otherwise.
Vance was chosen for the VP spot purely based on his credentials as a Trump sycophant. No other qualifications were necessary, and truly he has no other qualifications. As I discussed previously in an article for TNR, Vance also does little to advance the Trump ticket. He’s not even popular among Republicans, and lately there’s been talk of “buyer’s remorse.”
Yet there is solid grounding for his relationship with Donald Trump, based on a mutual understanding. Though Trump and Vance come from very different backgrounds – one growing up wealthy in New York and the other predominantly middle-class in Ohio – they share a trait that makes them natural allies: a willingness to take whatever form necessary to gain money, power, and influence. They are amoral and amorphous, structurally nebulous, with no inner-cores: shape-shifting wendigos ready to take any form that will satisfy their cannibalistic desires.
Each has a giant hole within them that cannot be filled. There is not enough fame, fortune, or admiration to satisfy their thirsts. They will play any character and strum any tune.
In Trump’s case, he’s pretended to be an immensely successful businessman for all his life, when in truth he inherited his empire from his father and his business ventures have included some fairly massive failures. If anything, he’s had an aptitude for committing financial crimes and getting away with them, including tax fraud, overvaluing properties, and money laundering. Yet Trump was able to play a successful businessman on The Apprentice, and people bought the act, believing him to be a real estate guru and savvy manager.
Vance is really no different. Much of the mythology behind his biography centers on his supposedly poor upbringing in Appalachia, as described in Hillbilly Elegy. Except Vance didn’t really live in Appalachia and was truly just a visitor there, coming in for the occasional summer. More importantly, as Sarah Jones previously described for TNR, Vance’s depictions in the book are highly prejudiced, fairly inaccurate, and very revealing about his own character – and not in a good way. The VP candidate shows an utter disdain for the poor people he met as a child, blaming them completely for their circumstances and refusing to countenance the idea that structural factors, corporate greed, and governmental failures could have also played a role. Writer and Chair of Appalachia Studies at Berea College Silas House told POLITICO in 2022 that Elegy is “a dangerous book…woven through with dog whistles about class and race, gender. And if your ears are attuned to those dog whistles, you know exactly what he’s saying.”
While it is true that Vance’s mother suffered from drug addiction and that addiction reverberated throughout his family, others have noted that Vance exaggerated his family’s economic straits, and that he actually grew up fairly middle-class. But a middle-class upbringing in suburban Ohio just doesn’t sell as well as a poor one in Appalachia. Just as William Henry Harrison pretended to be a log cabin candidate, JD Vance is pretending to be a hillbilly who rose up by his own bootstraps, educating himself and becoming a leader, transformed like Tarzan into Lord Greystoke.
Vance was determined to move on from somewhat humble origins, regardless of how he had to do it. It is this determination that has influenced everything he’s ever done in life, from joining the Marine Core to getting a law degree at Yale to going to work for Peter Thiel in the financial industry. Vance has found ways to cling on to rich and influential people and ride their coattails, and that’s how he became a Trump acolyte.
Trump, the PT Barnum of politics, appreciates a showman who knows how to sell himself. He appreciates a candidate who can be just as shameless and self-promoting as himself and do it with gusto. JD Vance is that man. Trump recognizes that he’s so incredibly ambitious that he’ll be whoever Trump asks him to be. He went from calling Trump “America’s Hitler” to becoming his staunchest supporter the moment he needed him; not because of any political epiphany, but because he is a lifeless, coreless wendigo like Trump.
Does it mean that Vance can sometimes be reasonable, if only by accident, if only because his interests and the country’s interests might at times align? Yes. Same as with Trump. But, in general, it means that Vance will say anything and do anything to put himself ahead. That is a recipe for a brutal campaign, since Vance will stop at nothing to make Trump happy. It also means that they’ll likely be two Vances: the one at rallies and the one who speaks to a broader national audience. He’ll bet on the American people not being able to connect the two, and he may not be far off.