Will the Real JD Vance Please Stand Up?
Reviewing Hillbilly Elegy 8 years later
I am late to the Hillbilly Elegy party. When this memoir was published by JD Vance in 2016, coinciding with Donald Trump’s surprising upset victory over Hillary Clinton, it created a cultural moment that catapulted Vance into the spotlight. Vance was anointed as a whisperer for the white working class.
The full reality, however, was much different. While Vance may have grown up in Middletown, Ohio and later represented Ohioans in the U.S. Senate, he left the Appalachian working class community long ago.
Yale Law School. Big Law (the term lawyers use for top law firms). Venture capitalism in San Francisco.
Vance even worked for the infamous billionaire conservative donor, Peter Thiel, who helped bankroll his successful election to the U.S. Senate.
Needless to say, Vance has soared a long way from Appalachia and hillbilly country since walking through the doors of Yale Law School in 2010.
But I was still intrigued by Vance’s story following his selection as Trump’s running mate. After the Trump/Vance ticket won this past November, I picked up a copy of Vance’s book, Hillbilly Elegy.
I wanted to know how someone who had climbed the ivory tower from the hills of Appalachia planned to fight for the working man. Especially given that the working man was instrumental in the Trump/Vance victory in 2024.
What were Vance’s experiences and ideas for improving the quality of life for working class Americans? And given Vance’s political rise since originally publishing the book in 2016, was he the same principled guy who wrote the book?
Will the real JD Vance please stand up?
I was surprised by how critical Vance was of his own people
Vance was fortunate to have a grandmother who lit a fire under his ass. He credits her (“Mamaw”) and his grandfather (“Papaw”) with saving him as a child and young adult. Vance lacked a father figure and his mother struggled with addiction and an unstable home life, cycling through numerous men throughout Vance’s childhood.
He consistently recognized how fortunate he was to have Mamaw and Papaw. How without them, he probably would have ended up like most of the other young men he saw.
No fire. No drive. No ambition.
Perhaps they lacked a Mamaw in their lives.
Vance used his experience working at a tile warehouse to illustrate how so many young men from his community were immune to hard work. How good jobs were impossible to fill because young men tossed them aside despite the benefits and health insurance.
Throughout the book, he criticized hillbillies for glorifying the good and ignoring the bad in themselves. The rhetoric of their “hard work” often conflicted with the reality on the ground, according to Vance. These folks liked to talk about hard work, but in places like Middletown, Ohio where Vance grew up, some 30% of the young men worked fewer than 20 hours per week and not a single one appeared to be aware of his own laziness (all according to Vance).
Vance was also acutely aware of the industry of conspiracy in his community back in 2016. How numerous people questioned basic verifiable facts like President Barack Obama’s origin of birth, “despite all evidence of the contrary”, as Vance said at the time.
For Vance, the “deep skepticism of the various institutions of our society” was to blame for this distrust in government and media. Yet he also highlighted:
“What separates the successful from the unsuccessful are the expectations that they have for their own lives. Yet the message of the right is increasingly: ‘It’s not your fault that you’re a loser. It’s the government‘s fault.’”
Vance had very reasonable takes on the problems facing working class Americans, but few solutions
The JD Vance of 2016 recognized the dangers of conspiracy theorists. Of people who disbelieve verifiable facts. He knew that this cycle of distrust in government was not entirely the government’s fault, but was a cultural issue for many working class Americans.
While his anecdotal evidence of laziness and people gaming the welfare system could be refuted to some degree, overall, Vance takes a very measured and balanced approach at diagnosing the economic and societal challenges facing many working class people. He’s light on solutions, but in fairness, most people still are, some 8 years after Hillbilly Elegy was written.
Vance is skeptical in the book on whether government has all the solutions for his people. Whether wiser public policy would serve them better than simply opening the hearts and minds of those at the lower rungs of society.
He notes how social mobility isn’t merely about money and economics, but is also about lifestyle. How successful people just feel and act different. How he didn’t fully understand this until he walked through the doors of Yale Law School.
JD Vance hasn’t looked back since.
Vice President JD Vance is not the guy who wrote Hillbilly Elegy in 2016
A few moments in particular have led to this conclusion for me. The first one being Vance’s complete reversal on Donald Trump.
He noted in his book that he voted third party in 2016 and how he had many reservations about Trump. Those reservations have been well-documented, including once comparing Trump to Hitler.
The related point that bothers me the most is that the JD Vance who wrote Hillbilly Elegy appeared to be a man of principles. He cared about objectifiable facts like the veracity of Obama’s birth certificate. He cared about the dangers in spreading misinformation, particularly within the community he embodied from Appalachia.
Yet Donald Trump time and again has been reckless at best with the truth. One only needs to look back a few months to the campaign where Trump spread the devastating lie that Haitian immigrants — who were in the U.S. legally — were eating the cats and dogs of Springfield, Ohio residents. Not only did JD Vance refuse to correct or explain Trump’s crazy statements on this topic during the debates, he amplified the falsehoods, causing a firestorm of xenophobia, racism, and hate.
In short, Vance did the very thing he strongly criticized in his book — he spread misinformation in a way that threatened American democracy during a presidential election. Except now he was an active participant as the running mate of the man he previously criticized at length when he was only a writer. Vance was in a position to either prevent or inflict harm, but instead of taking a principled approach, he defended the man who promised him power.
Apart from truth, Vance also knew that Trump was quick to undermine democratic institutions that got in his way. The most glaring example, of course, was January 6th and the days leading up to it. Trump’s actions and inactions during that period would have sent practically any average person to prison.
But the JD Vance of today refused to talk about January 6th. He thought there were reasonable questions on that day to the point where if he had been in Mike Pence’s shoes he wouldn’t have certified the election results (despite the Vice Presidential role being completely ceremonial with election certification).
Vance has clearly traded some of his principles for power.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the company he keeps today. Tech billionaires like Peter Thiel who financed his 2022 U.S. Senate run in Ohio. Many other tech and corporate moguls like some of the Silicon Valley co-hosts of the All-In Podcast, all of whom are a far cry from the hills of Appalachia.
Look, I will keep an open mind. I hope for America’s sake that JD Vance still has many of the same principles he espoused in his memoir (or rediscovers them soon).
Overall, Hillbilly Elegy was a good book about Appalachian life and the daily struggles of many working class Americans. My biggest problem with the book is not the book itself, but how the author has changed since originally writing it.
It’s hard to imagine that someone who has risen so astronomically beyond the daily struggles of working-class people can adequately meet their needs today. Vance even noted himself in the book how the populist rhetoric of Republicans, and primarily Trump’s campaigns, have not informed the party’s approach to governing. Vance warned that unless that changes, Republicans will pay a heavy political price.
We will see if and how that prognostication plays out. Namely, we will see if the real JD Vance will speak truth to power or act in a principled manner if needed.
Based on the politician he’s become in the years since publishing Hillbilly Elegy, I have my doubts.
On a lighter and tastier note…
I made a movie on Bulgarian food. While Italy and Greece get all of the attention, Bulgaria flies under the radar despite having some of the best food in Europe.
In 2025 I still plan to write regularly about politics and law, but I also want to use this newsletter to tell interesting stories that inspire, intrigue, and excite. When the world is uncertain and often in turmoil, great art can help us persevere and unite.
So expect more stories about life that spread positivity and love, while also encouraging us to think and live well.
I hope you enjoy.