Why J.D. Vance Could be a Very Formidable Foe

By DON ROLLINS

It’s been five years and one pandemic since author (and now venture capitalist) J.D. Vance published “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis”, his first-person take on Appalachian poverty. The book has since become a New York Times Bestseller, the subject of a 2020 Ron Howard movie, and a political rorschach hailed across political lines as the definitive profile of the 2016 Trump voter.

While “Hillbilly Elegy” was not without detractors — in particular progressives incensed over Vance’s “bootstrap” shaming of Appalachians still mired in the poverty he escaped — in the end its a tale well told, with just enough heart tug to overlook Vance’s moral and political slights.

Per some standard Beltway markers, it appears the Yale Law grad and former Silicon Valley rainmaker will be banking on this head/heart formula for an even loftier end: a seat in the US Senate.

Here’s four reasons why Vance might chase and grab onto that goal:

First, the timing couldn’t be much better. In January, Ohio’s Republican junior senator, Rob Portman, announced he would be retiring effective 2022. A fellow Ohioan from the same area of the state, Vance would have a ready made platform to match his ready-made story. The opportunity is there for the taking.

Second, Vance would enter the race with an already overflowing war chest. In March, Peter Thiel, Vance’s tech billionaire mentor, forked over $10 million to a pro-Vance super PAC. A handful of Breitbart supporters are reported to have followed suit, and a Portman endorsement would result in even crazier amounts of money. If Vance doesn’t run, it won’t be for lack of flush friends.

Third, Vance has joined the throng of one-time Trump critics offering in-person mia culpas — quite an act of contrition given Vance’s NPR interview from 2016: “I can’t stomach Trump. I think that he’s noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place.”

Whatever Vance’s true thoughts, he and Thiel made the prodigal’s trek down to Mar-a-Lago last month. Its good optics all around, and the invitation alone should quiet any whispers of ultimate loyalties.

Fourth, Republicans love a good “success” story: a Lincolnesque figure has beaten the odds, made lemons out of lemonade, and pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps. And dammit, so can you.

No matter the obvious flaws in such an individualist, pseudo-populist mythology it nonetheless commands the hearts of some of the country’s poorest voters. Embellished or not, Vance’s backstory checks off every box on the GOP wishlist for keeping Portman’s seat in the fold.

Democrats, not just Republicans, are known to vet famous over-proven candidates for federal office — a choice with obvious risks in this age of scorched-earth politics and cyber sleuthing to the extreme. As of deadline, J.D. Vance and his backers show every indication they’re willing to take those risks. If so, the rest of the field should expect a very formidable foe.

Don Rollins is a Unitarian Universalist minister living in Hendersonville, N.C. Email donaldlrollins@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, May 15, 2021

Populist.com