The JD Vance File: Shillbilly Elegy

Grifters unite!

He’s not the candidate most Trump advisors wanted, and now there’s a lot of friction dragging down JD Vance. Of his inner circle, only Don Jr. lobbied for JD. Don Sr. saw the logic of having a guy with access to Tech Bro money as well as having someone with appeal to the theocratic far-right. That inspired The Boston Globe’s political cartoonist, Christopher Weyant, to rechristen the Vance book “Shillbilly Elegy.”

One of the best/worst things about life is surprise. The huge money raised by the Harris campaign in the last two weeks comes as a big surprise. It’s part relief at Joe Biden stepping aside, and part the alarm many young people and women feel about the Vance addition to an already creepy ticket. He’s doubling down on the past statements that make people who don’t have a taste for Kool-Aid nervous.

Somehow—inexplicably—the Trump campaign convinced itself Ol’ Joe would never relinquish power, because, after all, their boss never would. Vance might have been the right choice in the battle between two old men, but now that the orthopedic shoe is on the other foot, not so much. And speaking of feet, how does JD walk and talk with one firmly implanted in his mouth?

From Media Matters: “In a private speech in 2021, Vance said that the far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ‘is a better source of information than Rachel Maddow, the MSNBC gal,’ which he described as a ‘plainly obvious observation.’” I guess Sandy Hook conspiracy theories don’t count in the battle for credibility.

Add that to the remarkably tone-deaf Vance statement that, “We are effectively run in this country…by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made. And so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.” He can now check the “alienate women” box.

He’s not exactly helped by guys like Ohio state senator George Lang, who told a hometown rally, "I believe wholeheartedly Donald Trump and Butler County's JD Vance are the last chance to save our country politically. I'm afraid if we lose this one, it's going to take a civil war to save the country, and it will be saved." You may now check the “start a civil war” box.

According to Liz Cheney, the transition From Republican Party to Party of Trump is complete: “JD Vance has pledged he would do what Mike Pence wouldn’t—overturn an election and illegally seize power. He says the president can ignore the rulings of our courts. He would capitulate to Russia and sacrifice the freedom of our allies in Ukraine. The Trump GOP is no longer the party of Lincoln, Reagan or the Constitution.”

It will turn out in the end that Vance was a bad choice. In this new race, Trump/Vance needs to expand its base, and that is not going to happen with Trump depicting a rotting America that only he can save, and Vance talking about jailing women who travel interstate for legal abortions. The base is simply not big enough for those arguments to win the day.

It’s almost comical to watch the Republicans flailing about how the Democratic Party is cheating—that they somehow are not allowed to change candidates. They were well prepared—coasting, even—to beat a Biden/Harris ticket, but are now back on their heels, wondering how to address the age problem, which is newly theirs, or the idea problem, what with the malodorous Project 2025 hanging around their necks. It’s worth noting that its lead author, Kevin Roberts, said the revolution will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.” (Recheck the civil war box.)

Can Vance out-Palin Palin? She was the not-ready-for-prime-time running mate of John McCain whose ill-considered and unserious remarks sank his chances at winning the presidency. Presumably, it’s the same with denigrating childless people as bad role models and bad politicians. That’s an unforced error. Different than a gaffe, which Michael Kinsley defined as a politician accidentally telling the truth. The unforced error doesn’t rely on truth or lies, it’s just dumb and has zero chance of being an effective vote-getting strategy.

JD is a young liar who has not mastered Trump’s ambiguity that always leaves wiggle room. It will be interesting to see if he reels himself in. He missed a chance the other morning, when he doubled down on his crack about single cat ladies by saying he likes cats, and by implication, not childless women. We’re talking acute foot-in-mouth disease here.

A guy who says with a straight face that Alex Jones is more trustworthy than anyone, let alone Rachel Maddow, is…adjustable. Adjustable in his powers of observation, and adjustable in his integrity and ethics.

©2024 Jon Sinton