J. D. Vance

J. P. Mandel'JD Mandel:' Former President Trump mixes up name of endorsed Ohio candidate YouTube James David "J. D." Vance , born James Donald Bowman, is a venture capitalist, author, chameleon politician, and pro-Russia sycophant who is currently the Vice President of the United States. He previously served as a Senator from Ohio. He was selected as Donald Trump's running mate in the 2024 Presidential election, despite his past as a Never Trumper. Later a self-described "elite", he grew up in poverty, which he escaped in part by serving in the US military working in public affairs.Svetlana Shkolnikova (July 16, 2024). "Vance credits service in Marine Corps for teaching him 'how to live like an adult'". Stars and Stripes. He is a Catholic convert. Vance recieved national attention for his memoir Hillbilly Elegy.
Vance was extremely critical of Trump around 2016, but by 2024, he had sucked up to the man and became his VP pick. Vance's current politics can be described as neoreactionary (although he'd probably never admit it) and he has deep ties with that movement. For example, he opposes abortion rights and gay marriage. He is a climate change denierVance changed his tune on climate change. Oil cash flowed. Norman, Nicole. Politico 16 Aug 2024 and supports Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Vance supports intentionally decreasing the value of the US dollar,Alan Rappeport (July 16, 2024). "Trump-Vance Administration Could Herald New Era for Dollar". The New York Times.Eamonn Sheridan (July 15, 2024). "Trump running mate Vance a supporter of US dollar devaluation - 'make it easier to export'". Forexlive. and is very interested in birth rates among the "ruling classes".https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/26/ohio-senate-candidate-jd-vance He has invoked conspiracy theories about George Soros, an oft antisemitic insinuation.Weinstein: Vance's antisemitic, racist abortion comment 'dangerous' by Courtney Byrnes (Posted Sep 23, 2022 at 2:55 PM Updated Sep 29, 2022 at 9:43 AM) Cleveland Jewish News.Republicans invoke Soros to steer narrative on Trump probe by Ali Swenson (March 22, 2023) AP News. He has spread disinformation both racist and flagrantly false.JD Vance defends baseless rumor about Haitian immigrants eating pets by Kit Maher & Chris Boyette (September 15, 2024) CNN.Trump falsely accuses immigrants in Ohio of abducting and eating pets by Mike Catalini et al. (September 11, 2024) Associated Press. At the 2024 Republican National Convention, Trump officially nominated Vance as his running mate and he was later elected, the final step in his transformation from Never Trumper to Trump's right hand.
==Life & early career==
Vance grew up in rural Ohio in a poor family. Raised evangelical, he converted to Catholicism in 2019. He served in the military. There, he saw no "real fighting" according to himself, but worked in public affairs, e.g. touring bases and photographing troops. After graduating from Yale University (given much financial aidJ. D. Vance (June 29, 2016). "As A Poor Kid From The Rust Belt, Yale Law School Brought Me Face-to-face With Radical Inequality". HuffPost.) with a Juris Doctor degree in 2016, he worked for Peter Thiel as a "vulture capitalist" at Thiel's Mithril Capital Management from 2016–2017.J.D. Vance’s journey from San Francisco ‘Never Trumper’ to VP pick by Joe Garofoli & Shira Stein (July 15, 2024) San Francisco Chronicle. Beginning in December 2017, he oversaw the Rise of the Rest Seed Fund with former AOL CEO Steve Case, receiving funding from big-name investors like Jeff Bezos, Ray Dalio, the Kochs, and the Waltons.Richard Feloni (February 6, 2018). "High-profile investors like Jeff Bezos, Ray Dalio, and Meg Whitman are flocking to a $150 million fund nurturing startups in overlooked American cities". Business Insider. In 2020, Vance co-founded Narya Capital, which received heavy funding from Eric Schmidt, Marc Andreessen, and Peter Thiel. Peter Thiel boosted Vance's 2021–2022 Senate campaign with lots of money,Tabby Kinder, George Hammond, and Alex Rogers (July 17, 2024). "How Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley funded the sudden rise of JD Vance". The Financial Times.Caleb Ecarma (August 30, 2021). "J.D. Vance’s Rust Belt Rhetoric Gets a Reality Check". Vanity Fair. via a super PAC. Said super PAC published "vulnerability analyses" about their candidate, which they graciously deleted after reporters discovered them."This item was deleted". Dropbox. This URL is linked to from the Politico article about the analyses. Other files in the folder still exist.
===Hillbilly Elegy===
Vance originally became famous in 2016 for his book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, written at the encouragement of Amy Chua. The book describes his lifestyle while growing up in the Cincinnati, Ohio suburbs (elevation 742 feet), which is obviously the most hillbilly place one can grow up.https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jd-vance/hillbilly-elegy/ It was very successful when it came out, especially in media circles, but even then there were warning signs of the lunacy that was to come. Vance's portrayal of the working class is couched in rugged individualism,David DeWitt (July 18, 2024). "As a fellow Ohioan, I have some concerns about U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance". Louisiana Illuminator. expressing that they're ultimately to blame for their own difficulties in life, that they have "the feeling that our choices don’t matter," and suggests that they "buy giant TVs and iPads" instead of working to better themselves.https://www.salon.com/2017/03/11/hillbilly-sellout-the-politics-of-j-d-vances-hillbilly-elegy-are-already-being-used-to-gut-the-working-poor/ A particularly prescient article in Jacobin by Bob Hutton views the book as a part of a tradition of elitist victim blaming such as in the boot-straps theme of the works of Horatio Alger and the infamous The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua.https://jacobinmag.com/2016/10/hillbilly-elegy-review-jd-vance-national-review-white-working-class-appalachia/ Despite his posturing about his special insights into the reasons why Trump won white working-class voters, he really just repeated the same old conservative mantra that poor people are lazy, and he provided hints of the wingnuttery that was to come.
After the book, he founded a nonprofit pitched as an effort to combat opioid addiction and overdoses in Ohio; the group spent more on management salaries than such efforts, hired an "addiction specialist" employed by a group funded by a major opioid manufacturer, spent money on political consultation (former employees later accused Vance of creating the group to launch his political career), and fizzled out. When Vance was elected Senator, he voted against an anti-opioid bill he co-sponsored, because he strongly opposed aid to Ukraine in the package deal.
==Our Ohio Renewal==
After publishing his book, which mentioned his family's personal struggles with opioid drugs (including death), he started a nonprofit (Our Ohio Renewal, OOR) claiming to fight opioid abuse in Ohio, which spent more on management salaries than its stated goal then fizzled out of existence. A spokesperson for another group, Ohio Opioid Education Alliance, said she never heard of Vance's group.Adam Wren and Meghan Morris (August 31, 2021). "We found tax records showing 'Hillbilly Elegy' author JD Vance's anti-opioid nonprofit faltered". Business Insider. Our Ohio Renewal did, however, manage to hire "addiction specialist", who was employed by AEI, a group in turn funded by Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin (an opioid drug).Julie Carr Smyth (August 18, 2022). "Vance’s anti-drug charity enlisted doctor echoing Big Pharma". The Associated Press. Vance himself was formerly employed by a law firm that lobbied on behalf of that same company, Purdue Pharma;Amy Eskind (August 29, 2022). "'Hillbilly Elegy' Author J.D. Vance Risks Losing Republicans a Senate Seat in Ohio This Year". People.Ryan Lizza and Rachael Bade (May 5, 2022). "POLITICO Playbook: The book J.D. Vance doesn’t want you to read". Politico. Purdue ultimately planned to plead guilty to criminal charges regarding its production of the opioid.Natalie Sherman (October 21, 2020). "Purdue Pharma to plead guilty in $8bn opioid settlement". BBC News.
The New York Times wrote that Our Ohio Renewal ultimately left behind just "a pair of op-eds and two tweets"; former employees of the group accused Vance of creating it simply to launch his political career, including by hiring political consultants through the nonprofit which was — remember — intended to help combat opioid addiction.David A. Fahrenthold (October 8, 2022). "J.D. Vance’s First Attempt to Renew Ohio Crumbled Quickly". The New York Times. After his election as a US Senator, he voted against an anti-fentanyl (another opioid drug) bill that he himself co-sponsored (the FEND Off Fentanyl Act), because he prioritized opposing aid to Ukraine.Marty Schladen (July 17, 2024). "For Ohio US Sen. JD Vance, is not backing Ukraine more important than the fight against fentanyl?". Ohio Capital Journal. In 2022, Vance insinuated President Joe Biden could be "intentionally" complicit in fentanyl trafficking because it would "kill a bunch of MAGA voters". He added: "It's like Joe Biden wants to punish the people who didn't vote for him and opening up the floodgates to the border is one way to do it."Lev Facher and Sarah Owermohle (July 18, 2024). "JD Vance’s rhetoric, and record, on the opioid epidemic". STAT News. (Fentanyl is mostly smuggled into the US by the country's own citizens, including those hired by cartels specifically because they attract less scrutiny than migrants do.Fiona Harrigan (October 17, 2022). "Don't Blame Migrants and 'Open Borders' for Fentanyl Entering the Country". Reason.)
==2022 Senate run==
The first warning sign in J.D. Vance's run for Senate that he was going to be veering very, very far into wingnut territory with a sudden swerve from being a critic of former-President Trump.https://time.com/6078483/j-d-vance-interview-trump/ He switched from his earlier establishment conservativism (though he still retains the support of many of them) to a new right-wing populism in a competition with his fellow wingnut former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel.https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/07/29/jd-vance-senate-election-rob-portman-ohio-501384/
Among the various actions that he has taken in his race to the right was his reference to "degenerate liberals".Tom Nichols (July 14, 2021). "The Moral Collapse of J. D. Vance". The Atlantic, via archive.today. (Original link). Vance's elitism reemerged in his comments about giving proxy votes to parents for their children, in which he insulted "the childless left" and in particular Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as "childless cat ladies" whose childfree status was interfering with "a healthy ruling class".https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/26/ohio-senate-candidate-jd-vancehttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/aoc-jd-vance-cat-ladies-b1894081.html For the record, Kamala Harris has step-children who she is rather close toDoes Kamala Harris Have Children? Get To Know The Presidential Candidate's Family Women's Health Magazine and Pete Buttigieg adopted two children before Vance made this comment.Pete Buttigieg's 2 Children: All About Twins Gus and Penelope People Vance is also a Catholic,J.D. Vance Used to Be an Atheist. What He Believes Now Is Telling. Salon meaning that he is part of a religion run by a childless ruling class of its own, given higher ups in the Catholic Church are banned from marrying and having families.
That a GOP candidate feels the need to say nonsense like this reflects the continuing popularity of The Bell Curve-like thought in the party. It is left up to the reader what to think about these comments. (Billionaire Peter Thiel apparently thought his bid for Congress was worth donating to.Ryan Mac and Lisa Lerer (February 14, 2022). "The Right’s Would-Be Kingmaker". The New York Times.James Pogue (May 2022). "Inside the New Right, Where Peter Thiel Is Placing His Biggest Bets". Vanity Fair. Quote: "J.D. Vance, running for the Republican nomination in Ohio, and Blake Masters in Arizona. Thiel has given more than $10 million to super PACs supporting the men's candidacies, and both are personally close to him. Vance is a former employee of Thiel's Mithril Capital ... These three—Thiel, Vance, Masters—are all friends with Curtis Yarvin, a 48-year-old ex-programmer and blogger who has done more than anyone to articulate the world historical critique and popularize the key terms of the New Right.")
News reports summarizing and quoting contents from a leaked vulnerability analysis (produced by a Vance-friendly PAC funded by Thiel) still exist: weak spots identified by the PAC, many of which focused on contradictions between his words and his past, included Vance's old posts praising Bill and Hillary Clinton, previously boasting that he was "eating sushi and getting wasted", his living in "an opulent $1.4 million mansion", his work for a law firm that lobbied for an opioid manufacturer and represented large mainland-Chinese companies, his flubbed "Our Ohio Renewal" nonprofit, the clerk work for Supreme Court justices Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts by his wife whom Vance met at Yale Law School, and his owing parts of his career to the "Big Tech" heads he rhetorically criticizes like Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Eric Schmidt (Google), and of course Peter Thiel.Liz Skalka (May 5, 2022). "11 Things We Learned From The J.D. Vance Oppo Dump". HuffPost.
During his run, he revealed on a far-right podcast with Jack Murphy, he revealed his more extreme views:J.D. Vance largely avoids pivot to center in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race after culture-war heavy Republican primary by Andrew J. Tobias (Sep. 04, 2022, 5:30 a.m.) The Cleveland Plain Dealer.JD Vance - JML #070 (Sep 20, 2021) Jack Murphy Live (archived from July 10, 2022).
*Millions of government workers should be fired regardless of the law, comparing it to post-World War II de-Nazification, or the purge of Baathists following the downfall of Saddam Hussein, referring to it as "de-wokeification"
*He compared the current United States to the late republican period of Rome before it became an Empire, indicating that he believes that Democrats are evil, and anti-democratic actions need to be taken to stop them so that we can have Emperor Trump. It's no wonder since apparently Curtis Yarvin of the Neoreactionary Movement apparently got his ear.How reactionary is MAGA? Try the first century B.C. by Dana Milbank (September 7, 2022 at 6:28 p.m. EDT) The Washington Post.
*He tweeted "Now everyone admits the vaccines don’t prevent transmission, it’s time to end these dehumanizing mandates."An important story. Now that everyone admits the vaccines don’t prevent transmission, it’s time to end these dehumanizing mandates. by J. D. Vance (2:38 PM · Oct 19, 2022) Twitter (archived from 20 Oct 2022 19:19:02 UTC).
Ultimately, he was able to win, as Ohio has become much redder over the years. However, it was a bit of a pyrrhic victory, as his opponent Tim Ryan was able to inspire Democratic turnout to the point that Democrats won a few house races that they shouldn't have even been competitive in. By comparison, Ohio's Republican governor Mike DeWine was reelected by a margin of over 25% in the same night that Vance only won by around 6%, and Rob Portman won the seat by almost 21% of the vote in 2016.Ohio election results, The New York Times
Vance agreed with a conservative talk radio host that there wasn't a climate crisis, continuing with "And even if there was a climate crisis, I don’t know how the way to solve it is to buy more Chinese-manufactured electric vehicles. The whole EV thing is a scam, right?"Ohio Senate Candidate JD Vance on the Crumbling Economy (July 28, 2022) The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.Climate at the 2022 midterms: Where Senate candidates stand and what’s at stake by Ethan Freedman (08 November 2022 11:30 GMT) Independent.
==2024 Vice Presidential Campaign==
Vance was nominated as Trump's running mate in 2024. People who pushed for Vance to be Trump's running mate behind the scenes included the Heritage Foundation (who lead Project 2025),Nicholas Riccardi (July 17, 2024). "Outside RNC, conservative group defends its Project 2025 guidebook as Democrats ramp up critiques". The Associated Press. Peter Thiel,Hasan Chowdhury, Beatrice Nolan, and Noah Sheidlower (July 16, 2024). "Peter Thiel plays kingmaker again as Trump picks JD Vance for veep". Business Insider. Elon Musk, David Sacks, Tucker Carlson, and Donald Trump Jr., who stated Vance has a "very high chance" of being elected President in 2028. However, polls showed Vance was the most unpopular VP pick in years, outdoing even Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin (who at least had a significant amount of support and popularity).Trouble for Trump as Vance declared 'most unpopular VP pick in the history of polling' | Joe Twyman YouTube His favorability benefited from the 2024 VP debate, which viewers rated as "generally positive" in tone.Molly Bohannon (October 2, 2024). "Tim Walz-JD Vance Polls: Both Candidates’ Favorability Increases Post-Debate". Forbes. Vance was elected in November of 2024 as Vice President.
==Influences==
According to Ian Ward in Politico, Vance has had seven influences that shaped his worldview:The Seven Thinkers and Groups That Have Shaped JD Vance’s Unusual Worldview: Post-liberals, “crunchy cons” and monarchists. by Ian Ward (07/18/2024) Politico.
Vance has some rather... interesting influences. He is a fan of conspiracy theorist Alex JonesAndy Kroll and Nick Surgey (July 16, 2024). "In Private Speech, J.D. Vance Said the 'Devil Is Real' and Praised Alex Jones as a Truth-Teller". ProPublica. and friends with neo-monarchist Mencius Moldbug, who he cites as an influence.George Michael (July 27, 2022). "An antidemocratic philosophy called 'neoreaction' is creeping into GOP politics. The Conversation. Online, Vance follows nudist Bronze Age Pervert (BAP), whose eugenicism about regenerating the "Aryan" race through a " program" is straight up neo-NazismJack Butler (January 18, 2024). "Bronze Age Meltdown". National Review.Jack Butler (February 10, 2023). "How 'Bronze Age Pervert' Seduced Right-Wing Thought Leaders". The Daily Beast. despite BAP's partial Jewish ancestry.Costin Alamariu (September 12, 2023). "Journalists at major American publications seem interested in me, an obscure reader of Plato. Gratuitously they claim things about my background. Here is my DNA." Twitter, via archive.today. Vance follows others in BAP's sphere like Raw Egg Nationalist,Ali Breland (July 17, 2024). "Silicon Valley Got Their Guy". The Atlantic. Quote: "Vance is steeped in the discourse of the online right. On X, he follows niche but popular anonymous posters such as Bronze Age Pervert, Raw Egg Nationalist, and Lomez, who have either expressed racist beliefs or, in the lattermost’s case, released books by racists through his publishing house. Although people follow accounts on X for a number of reasons, what’s more telling is that Vance is reportedly friends with Curtis Yarvin, an anti-egalitarian monarchist blogger who is an influential figure among the intellectual online right. Vance says that he doesn’t cook with seed oils, a cause du jour of the online right, whose influencers say they cause obesity." who insulted people for not being "Aryan",RAW EGG NATIONALIST (January 6, 2024). "You will never be a real A10 Aryan." Twitter, via archive.today. and dubiously claimed to be a bodybuilder swallowing up to eighteen raw eggs a day with raw milk.Gregory Davis (June 20, 2024). "Egg-sposed: We Reveal The Identity Of Far Right Bodybuilder 'The Raw Egg Nationalist'". Hope not Hate.RAW EGG NATIONALIST (April 3, 2020). "250ml of raw milk, as much cream as you like (up to the same volume as the milk), a generous helping of maple syrup and up to six eggs. I was taking three of these a day until the latter troubles intervened." Twitter, via archive.today. Vance seems to take some diet advice from this realm of influencers.
==Anti-abortion extremism==
Vance is so extreme on abortion that he cosigned a letter with his some of other Congressional colleagues to the Justice Department demanding that they enforce The Comstock Act,letter to The Honorable Merrick B. Garland from James Lankford et al. (January 25, 2023) via DocumentCloud.Vance urged DOJ to enforce Comstock Act, crack down on abortion pills: The Ohio senator and other GOP lawmakers conveyed their call for abortion restrictions to Attorney General Merrick Garland in a January 2023 letter. by Dan Diamond & Meryl Kornfield (July 17, 2024 at 7:21 p.m. EDT) The Washington Post. an act which prohibited not only sending contraceptives across state lines, but also made illegal the sending of contraceptive or abortion information across state lines. The law was never repealed by Congress but was effectively nullified by the Supreme Court ruling on Griswold v. Connecticut.
==Fascism==
Vance, along with some other MAGA leaders, wrote an endorsement for the book written by noted fascist Jack Posobiec titled Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions (and How to Crush Them) by Jack Posobiec & Joshua Lisec (2024) War Room Books. The title would seem to be an only slightly-veiled reference to Nazi Germany's term for people deemed as undesirable by the regime, Untermensch (or "subhuman").These People are Nazis by John Ganz (Aug 06, 2024) Unpopular FrontThe Weird Authoritarian Book Blurbed by JD Vance by Michelle Goldberg (Aug. 5, 2024, 7:00 p.m. ET) The New York Times. Vance's book endorsement states:Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions (and How to Crush Them) by Jack Posobiec & Joshua Lisec (2024) Amazon (archived from July 9, 2024).
As Vice Presidential running mate for Trump (and reiterated by Trump), Vance knowingly repeated the false accusation (which originated from a neo-nazi group called Blood Tribe) that legal Haitian immigrants in his own state of Ohio of stealing and eating pet cats and dogs, a form of racist demonization.JD Vance defends baseless rumor about Haitian immigrants eating pets by Kit Maher & Chris Boyette (September 15, 2024) CNN.Trump falsely accuses immigrants in Ohio of abducting and eating pets by Mike Catalini et al. (September 11, 2024) Associated Press.
==The evolution of a stooge==
July 2024: Trump's running mate!
==See also==
*Mo Brooks: Another insane candidate who ran for Senate in 2022, but he fortunately lost (not that is any less insane, mind you)
*John Kasich: For a much more reasonable Ohio Republican
*2022 midterm elections
*Ron DeSantis - Another former Trump critic and MAGA ringkisser, who he’s been compared heavily to.
==Notes==
==References==
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