J. D. Vance: from Hillbilly Elegy to Trump’s pick for Vice President

J. D. Vance truly embodies the American dream. The 39-year-old’s incredible journey has taken him from traumatic beginnings in America’s crumbling rustbelt, to Iraq, to Yale law school, to fame on the New York Times bestseller list, to the US Senate, and now, quite possibly, to the White House. 

Vance originally rose to public prominence after the publishing of his gripping memoir Hillbilly Elegy, in which he recounts his family’s struggles with addiction, economic hardship, and hopelessness in the American Midwest. With millions of copies sold and a Ron Howard film adaptation to his name, Vance turned into a key cultural representative of the white working class, tapping into the same demographic that propelled Trump to victory across the region in 2016.

Vance, however, was a harsh critic at the outset of Trump’s political arc. During Trump’s first run, Vance dismissed the messianic fervour Donald brought to the Midwest, arguing that the Republican frontrunner was a “cultural heroin”, pacifying the masses without presenting real change. On Twitter at the time, Vance offered an apology on behalf of “fellow Christians” for Trump’s moral failings and adultery, even defecting to the conservative “Never Trumpers” in defiance. 

In the years since, he has radically transformed himself into an ardent Trump loyalist. Using his notoriety as an advocate of the anti-woke working class, Vance entered politics just three years ago in 2021, when he made his bid for Senator of Ohio. His run served as an ode to Donald Trump, with Vance rigorously defending the former President in the wake of January 6. His loyalty earned him a crucial endorsement from the man he once decried and Vance comfortably rode Trump’s coattails into the US Senate.

As a Senator, Vance has been among the leading voices of a new right-wing steeped in isolationist, NATO-sceptic, and economically nationalist rhetoric. Vance has explicitly rejected the economic logics of Republican Reaganism, frequently calling for broad-ranging tariffs on a number of imports, especially those from China, to “protect American industries from competition”. 

His appointment as VP makes the imposition of Trump’s universal 10 per cent tariff appear increasingly likely. Such a tariff would not only wreak havoc on global trade agreements, but would bring forth $1500 of increased spending per American family, per year, according to economists.

Curiously, Vance’s statist stances are not simply a reflection of a desire for economic strength via reindustrialisation as Trump’s are, but also carry a moral dimension to them. 

In a 2019 op-ed for UnHerd, Vance cautioned fellow conservatives: “We have allowed – under the guise of libertarianism — pornography to seep even into our youngest minds through the channels of the Internet”. He added, in reference to his young son, “I cannot defend commerce when it is used to addict his toddler brain to screens, and it will be used to addict his adolescent brain to pornography. I cannot defend the rights of drug companies to sell poison to his neighbours without any consequence”.

Vance’s ideology builds on the foundations laid by Trump but adds an additional layer of Christian nationalist rhetoric to defend the construction of a moral, paternalistic state which not only protects Americans from foreign goods and competition, but from themselves as well. 

Vance is thus emblematic of the new American right, unburdened by the free-market principles and individualism of Reagan, accelerating towards isolationism and statism. 

His foreign policy posturing also rejects the interventionist doctrines once championed by the Republican party. Vance was among the main figures opposing the recent Ukraine aid bill, joining the likes of Majorie Taylor Greene and Josh Hawley. In February, Vance threw Ukrainian sovereignty to the wind, stating, “Any peace settlement is going to require some significant territorial concessions from Ukraine, and you’re gonna have a peace deal, because that’s the only way out of the conflict”. 

His rhetoric also echoes the American far right’s racially charged scepticism of European liberalism. Vance mused in a speech last week that perhaps the UK will become the first “Islamist country” with nuclear weapons, “since Labour just took over”. A take that would be far-flung even from Nigel Farage.

Vance’s foreign policy does not share complete semblance with the ultra-isolationist far-right, however, as he has maintained a supportive stance towards Israel throughout the conflict. 

He is also among the first Republicans to lay blame for Trump’s attempted assassination at the feet of their Democrat rivals: “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination”. 

If Vance is to take the mantle of Vice President, which looks increasingly likely based on recent polling, the world can expect a dialling up of Trumpianism. Greater tariffs, greater disdain for European and British alliances, an abandonment of Ukraine, and a foreign and domestic policy based around notions of Christian solidarity. “Hillbilly” Vance is a far cry from a moderating voice or from the Republican party of old.

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