I read J.D. Vance's memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, before he became a politician, and I really liked it. I live in Appalachia, and like Vance, I'm an "educated hillbilly." I love our region and aspects of its culture, but I'm ashamed of what we have become. For some people here, ignorance is a sort of valid excuse, but not for Vance.
It especially galls me that as an Ivy League graduate, he can use the trope of bashing "elites" with such success. Shortly after his book came out, I heard him bashing Hillary Clinton on NPR, and I couldn't believe it: he was accusing her of being too "elite," despite the fact that in some ways she came from a background like Vance's and had a similar trajectory. Shouldn't we celebrate and elevate people from humble backgrounds who work hard, make good grades, go to a good college, and then decide to serve their country rather than simply getting rich?
Now I realize it was just hypocrisy, and all along he was planning to betray his own family and class. But he has a lot of help from his own class: so many people from working-class Appalachia hate "elites" without exactly knowing why. But with Vance it's a calculated pose, not a mistake or just a poorly thought-out reflex.
You know why people like Vance turn on his own family and people?? Extremely insecure and feels like he does not belong in the circle to which he has entered. People like him (I have worked for people like this) are malignant narcissists because they have to cover their insecurities and “shame” because at his core he hates who is he and where he came from.
At the same time people like this pander to the rage and ignorance of people in their communities, seeming to "love" them while actually condescending to them.
Exactly! Manipulating their rage and ignorance while he robs them blind because he believe they are so dumb, they will not realize he is robbing them blind if not just today but any future they could have.
I think J.D. saw which way the wind was blowing, and he thought, "Ok, I know these people who love Trump. They're my people. I can play them easily." It's another way up the ladder of success, after Yale Law School, venture capital, etc.
Whether or not he actually hates “his people”, he certainly dislikes their low status, while at the same time done all he can to market their disadvantages—primarily for himself—in our new “Ignorant And Mighty Proud Of It” America.
I think you answered your statement with the affirmative he dislikes “their status”. If JD cared about them at all their status would. It matter and he would work to help them, and not take advantage of them and play them for idiots as he does.
I found the book self-serviing and condescending towards his own family members, not to mention poorly written. Vance is a fraud. And the comments about him and his book here are quite insightful. Thank you all!
A brilliant and genuine book about breaking away from a narrow-minded, intellectually oppressive environment is Educated by Tara Westover.
Part of that has to be the culture of highland Scots described by Thomas Sowell, brought to Appalachia in the 1700s. It was a culture anathema to work and routine. Part of it is envy of success, described by Helmut Schoek in his book Envy. I see it as a feeling of self-loathing and guilt projected onto others who, by their efforts, highlight one own deficiencies.
Plenty of Scots people have been hard working, which you need to be where they came from, but I expect the most enterprising among them sought “greener pastures” and better opportunities than Appalachia could provide. However, the ones who settled and stayed there, as well as other poor whites throughout the South, succumbed to poverty, and often malnutrition and pellagra too. None of that helped at all! I suppose hopelessness became belligerence, self justification and rationalization by othering and religion, while others can see what is going on, and can escape or create better circumstances too. No “ one size fits all” for any kind of Southerner or tranche of Southern culture.
Generally speaking I would say I “hate rednecks and their culure”, having lived and worked some in the South, but at the same time have found some if the funniest, nicest and most insightful people there too. You get the full range for sure!
Sowell distinguishes between the highland Scots and Lowland in the earlier 1700s because the former migrated before cultural change could embrace them. Therefore, a more violent group of early Scots planted that culture in a place they could survive: the colonial frontier. Personally I am proud of my Scottish heritage: my grandmother was born there. People change oft for the better!
It seemed pretty real. I recognized the kinds of people in it: their struggles, the way alcoholism wrecks families, the way grandparents save kids, even if they weren't great parents themselves, the migration out of Kentucky and TN to the Midwest in search of better jobs, the decline of the Midwest leading to disillusionment and despair, the talented, bookish kid growing up in a family that doesn't read or even own books, the feelings of loyalty conflicted with loathing when you look around at your community, the crucial role of one or two "good" adults or teachers as a way out.
I haven’t read the book. Interesting to me, the mention about alcoholism to Appalachia and Ohio. I wonder if he mentions opiate/OxyContin addiction as well? It seems these red counties and states, with the poor, less educated, unprepared for the new economy, are more vulnerable to addiction. It seems to me that JD Vance, being “politically impotent” chooses not to address the problem of addiction as another way to “prep the battlefield” for authoritarianism. Which is another similarity to Russia, where 55%+ of the men are alcoholics, and a hopelessness pervades. It’s so antithetical to the American Dream. But that’s the grievance I quess!
His mother had a bad drug addiction but it's not clear what all the drugs were. Some of them were prescription drugs, so probably some were opioids.
I worked as a teacher here in rural TN for a long time. My county is right at the western edge of classic Appalachia. A lot of kids here grow up like J.D. Vance, in families where there is domestic violence and alcoholism. I have a lot of sympathy for J.D's mother, who was beaten by her husbands, struggled as a single mom, etc. Even before he came out as a reactionary, I thought he didn't really understand how hard it must have been for her. But I also understand that kids don't have to forgive parents who totally failed them.
Like the J.D. of the book, too, I am often frustrated by the defeatism in some of my students and their parents. I feel like shaking them and saying, "Don't you realize that in other parts of the country, and the world, kids your age are working a lot harder to learn things than you are?!" There's a kind of inertia and laziness that can be infuriating. And it's not always in kids that are really poor: solidly middle-class kids whose parents drive nice cars and have good jobs are also incredibly lazy academically. You know it will come back to bite them in the ass, but they don't know and don't care, and they don't believe old lady teachers.
So I kind of get it that he "blames" his parents and the culture generally. This may be anathema to liberals, but it's not always true that people are entirely victims of their oppressors or their circumstances: sometimes they shoot themselves in the foot. By devaluing education, teachers, and educated people, the rural South does just that.
Thanks for all your comments Shannon. I help review applications for scholarships for my state delegate. I am always blown away how brilliant many of the first and 2nd generation immigrants are. How they hustle to get money for school because their parents can’t help them. I don’t know how we encourage this in all kids. Question of the ages.
I worked as an addictions and alcoholism counselor and found that a nearly standard feature was blaming others . But it is impossible to recover from this or many other problems without taking personal responsibility. There is an aspect of addiction and alcoholism that is a disease and another which on some level is choice.
Trump will never choose someone who might upstage him. Remember how when Mike Pence took over the COVID briefings and was so successful at it. Trump moved right in and took over, turning the briefings into his usual incoherent rambles. Vance has also proven himself to be one of the Trump opportunists, giving up all semblance of integrity for the promise of power. But like all the Trumpists, he would turn on Trump in a heartbeat if he thought it would be to his advantage.
This is, then, a very powerful second reason for keeping Trump out of office. The right continually harps on Joe Biden’s age and supposed infirmities, but he takes far better care of himself than Trump ever has, making the odds very long that Trump himself would survive four more years in the highest stress job in the world with either his body or his mind intact (even if either is now, which is doubtful). So his VP have have to take over, a scenario at least as likely as Ms Harris, and we’d get Trump 2.5.
But Trump found being president glorious and nourishing rather than stressful. He is the only president who has aged more in his 3.5 years after the office than in it.
His father lived into his 90s with Alzheimer's. Clearly, Trump's brain will go (is going) before his body.
I know it seemed as if he gloried in it, and at times he certainly did, especially when it put him in the limelight, and during his rallies (which mirrored those of Hitler at Nuremberg), but I’m inclined to think that he came to rue his decision to take on the presidency because he never would have faced the legal challenges he does now if he’d stayed just a corrupt real estate mogul and TV celebrity in New York. Also, I suspect he knew he was in over his head in the Oval Office, though he never would have admitted it.
In fact, I’m thinking that his decision to run again was motivated not so much by a desire to be president again as it was a combination of ego vindication following his 2020 loss and the idea that the only way he was going to avoid legal sanction was if he could be re-elected and use the office to escape punishment.
That’s all just my reading, of course, but while I don’t credit him with vast intelligence (more like just vast cunning and the ability to read a crowd) one can’t help wondering if, once he faced all the varied challenges and responsibilities of being the president of the United States, he realized in his own heart just how unprepared he was. He never really had a real presidential agenda - he is too impulsive, transactional, and self-serving. There must have been times when he began to understand just how consequential his actions could be, not just for the US but for the larger world as well. Again, it’s not something he ever would have admitted, but his present and clear desperation to be re-elected as he feels the various nooses approaching him is not that of a man who wants the ‘glory’ of being president, but rather the increasingly manic words and actions of someone facing, for the first time in his life, forces he can’t outlawyer, outlast, outbuy, or outtalk.
I don't think he is able to suppress his narcissistic impulses enough to acknowledge that he was ever in over his head, or that he wouldn't be facing a potential Prison sentence if he had never come down that escalator.
I agree with your informed speculation that Trump was surprised at his election in 2016 (as virtually all of us were) and probably recognized both his lack for qualifications for, and even interest in, actually exercising the responsibilities of the office of President of the United States. I also suspect that that insecurity prompted him to seek/appoint the aid and support of “my generals” and other persons of independent capacity and judgment, all of whom he either fired or who left voluntarily when they realized what a “naked emperor” he is (and was).
I would agree with you if I hadn’t learned how thoroughly abnormal his type of narcissist is. The biggest draw for him, someone reported, was simply living in the White House—the ultimate status symbol!
The vulnerability of the human brain is that it's very much part of the body, dependent on every other system in the body which can be damaged or go wrong at any time.
Trump is a chaos agent and he loves it! He didn’t age a bit in office, but Biden looks like a walking cadaver compared to what he looked like 4 years ago (photos from their last presidential debate). No way will Biden live to see the end of his next term.
Biden may be aging physically before our eyes (I believe I've heard he has arthritis in his back, which would explain his stiff, shuffling gait). But, my god, Trump is mentally and verbally so much less coherent than he was while he was "president." The disintegration is remarkable. Listen to him speaking, even from two or three years ago. Now he can barely string together enough words to form a sentence.
I am not sure it matters, sadly. If he died, his followers would stuff the cadaver and follow that. The whole thing is an insane spectacle, which most of the world can clearly see.
Trump is far too insecure to choose anybody who could in any way upstage him. He cannot stand not being the center of attention at all times, regardless of his incompetence and incoherence.
As for the “vice” candidates. Marco Rubio is perfect. He too is weak and always has been even in his time in the Florida legislature. I know as I have witnessed his rise. He is insecure as hell. Meet him in person and he exudes insecurity. He is intellectually small. He cannot stand to be challenged and when he is, he folds like a cheap suit. He has no fight and is afraid to engage when challenged.
Maybe Tim Scott fills this bill too…but unlike Rubio who looks physically small next to Trump, Scott makes Trump look old and fat…Trump cannot stand that.
IMO, Trump will never choose Little Marco. Trump never forgives and especially never forgets an insult. He's toying with Rubio the way he toyed with Romney about a cabinet position. Trump will never forgive Rubio's joke about Trump's little hands.
My definition of Hell: Serving as Vice President for The Bloated Yam. My definition of a greater Hell: Having to listen to these trolls extol praises on The Bloated Yam.
Another masterpiece of a commentary! These intelligent, insightful, even humorous observations are very much appreciated. Thank you, Professor Timothy Snyder. I will be sharing this with friends and "foes" alike. I implore you to keep it coming!
Vance knows the path to trump's heart runs through the Kremlin, where trump's boss and benefactor reigns. Very smart. Vance shows trump that he, too, will bend the knee to Putin and give trump no problems on that front, and he captures a crucial consistency for the ticket, "Christian" nationalists, that trump sorely needs. I think trump will choose Vance, and it scares me to death.
Two points (1) the review of Vance is absolutely right and needed. Douthat of the NYT recently published an awful column on his interview with Vance which in now typical New York Times fashion deals solely with Vance’s intellectual and philosophy pondering and doesn’t touch the implications of his pro authoritarian cultism (it sure feels as though the view of the NYT executive editor that democratic isn’t an important issue is quickly being adopted,by the working journalists) (2) we are losing. I don’t think we can console ourselves anymore that this is an essentially tied race. It’s not. I’m very afraid that the Economist poll giving Trump,a 66% win probability is correct.
I stopped reading Douthat long ago, and never cease to be amazed that the Times continues to give precious space on its platform to Douthat's vacuous pseudointellectual navel gazing. If someone, such as Vance, is a religious conservative, Ross is a fan, regardless of any other characteristics that person may have.
More troubling to me is the increased frequency recently of opinion pieces in the Times (very much including the one by Vance) that serve up the defeatist-appeasement line on Ukraine dressed up as "realpolitik." WaPo went off in that direction months ago (at which point I dropped it after many years as a subscriber).
While I often disagree with Mr. Douthat, I think it worthwhile to graze regularly in some very different meadows. I regularly read the OpEd columns in the Wall Street Journal as often as I do the Times and the Post as well as the Guardian and some others. And yes, there are times when I wish I could reach into the page and wring someone’s neck. But as one who taught American history for over 40 years (a good half of that time at a NYC independent school which most would call irretrievably elitist) I think it is important read across a wide spectrum.
Perhaps you are aware of Ken Burns’s remarkable graduation speech at Brandeis this year. He made a point of reminding the graduates that as far as the United States goes, there is only ‘us’. Douthat is one of ‘us’, as is Vance and Trump and Biden and O'Bama, and all the rest going back to our very recent beginnings. We are so new at this democracy business. I’m 79, and so I could have talked to a man who fought in the Civil War. And he could have talked to a man who fought in the Revolution. And so on. It took us humans over two thousand years of top down rule to try out democracy in any political state (Athens) and another two thousand before we created a country based on its precepts. As Americans we’ve been at it for only a little over 200 years, so in human terms we are still neophytes at this kind of government. So it is hardly surprising that we have not yet got it close enough to right to really call ourselves exceptional. But the Constitution was an optimistic promise, not a given. And we are all a part of it. I think we need to remind ourselves with some frequency of that.
Thank you for this thoughtful comment, James. Well said. I tried to read Douthat for a long time to see what conservatives were thinking. Finally, too many columns struck me as gaslighting, so I gave up. In contrast to Douthat, David French is an excellent conservative addition to the Times editorial page. There are also outstanding conservative writers at the avidly pro-democracy site The Bulwark, including William Kristol, whose evolution in the trump era is fascinating.
Thanks also for your service to education. I'm a learner here at "Thinking About." I am also a student of the American history professor Heather Cox Richardson at her Substack, "Letters From an American."
Yes, I read Dr Richardson’s letter daily. And I often agree with David French, although not always. His last column on his separation from the church of his youth was particularly telling. The Bulwark in all its manifestations is always interesting. Joyce Vance’s letter is another of my favorites, although I confess I sometimes get lost in the legal complexities.
I often wish there had been such availability and variety when I was growing up back in the dark ages. We didn’t even get a TV until I was eleven, but I was raised by avid readers, and that, as in the words of Robert Frost, has made all the difference.
You’ll perhaps forgive me if I posit that human beings have and will always consider our rights to be whatever we say they are. The only real issue in their definition and implementation is how well we can back up our claims.
At the same time, I am completely with Abraham Lincoln in believing that the system we created here is ‘the last best hope of earth’.
We agree with Abe. We were so lucky to have a principled person at the moment of our greatest crisis. Yet Abe's touchstone was the Declaration. All of his arguments against slavery came back to the natural rights doctrine in that document.
I still support WaPo because there are still some good journalists. I also still support The Baltimore Sun which has been bought by David Smith the power behind Sinclair for the same reason: there are still some decent journalists.
I think the best news sources right now are The Guardian and sometimes the Daily Beast.
Yes, I have been closely following the Murdoch crowd's takeover of WaPo. Shocking and very sad. trump tried to target Amazon the first time around, so Bezos evidently wants to buy some insurance. However, the right turn at WaPo started after Marty Barron retired, when Fred Ryan became publisher. Ryan came from Reagan world.
Good on you for supporting the Sun (I grew up in Baltimore County). For me, it's the Philadelphia Inquirer. When I dropped WaPo, I switched to the Guardian and never looked back. For the price of a WaPo subscription, I can read the Guardian ad-free. The Guardian has no paywall; I choose the ad-free reading.
I am not aware that Murdoch or his crowd have taken over the WAPO. We subscribe and it can be good. Do you mean WSJ (Wall Street Journal)? The Guardian is good.
It’s a darn shame that James Smith got his grubby hands on it. Of course, Alden had it before him. Destroying the newspapers is a Strongman and Authoritarian tactic- and guess what- they DON’t care if newspaper fail. The more that fail the more they control what people read and hear.
There certainly seems to be some of that going on. So perhaps that applies to the corporatized part of journalism. If so, hopefully, it takes some time to penetrate down tot he newsroom level....
I don't know (care) how he pronounces his name, "Doubt That" is what I hear every time he is mentioned on a Substack post. I have never read anything positive by or about the man.
What a piece of work that guy is! In typical Republican fashion, it took him getting a serious immune system problem to figure out that our healthcare system should be more socialized let's say! Just like David Brooks had to be personally flown over receding glaciers to finally admit climate change is a problem. They have no ability to be outside themselves. Until it happens to them but can't put themselves in other people's shoes or they certainly don't seem to want to!
I see him,differently and more cynically. He is a smart used-to-be mainline conservative who often put his conservative policy views in quite interesting contexts. I liked reading him and while rarely agreeing with him I would have named him,as one of the models for the kind of civil debate that could be possible. He is rapidly moving to another place. As the Vance interview shows clearly he is no longer willing to consider context - such as the fact that Vance has bought completely into an alignment with the most dangerous person to run for president perhaps ever - and wants to avoid any consideration of context. This may allow him to be a fringe member of the intellectual circle forming around Trump.
Donald Trump's lead over Joe Biden is small, but real. Last updated on June 13th 2024. Chance of winning the electoral college. Joe Biden has about a 1 in 3 ...
This is the Economist’s most recent full analysis. This is different from their head to head national poll. In this one they run multiple scenarios of all the close states. So my 34/66 point is just a quote from them. I hate it but haven’t seen a p,audible argument against it.
You wonder how much Medhi Hassan has influenced that. He’s a powerful and charismatic opinion person. Lately, on his newish site, Zeteo, it’s supporting the folks who tag Biden “Genocide Joe” and you’d think that the Palestinian problem was the end of times. It’s terrible, yes, and there is also genocide in Ukraine and Sudan and terrible crime going on in Central and South America. I just hope he is just trying to get Biden to acknowledge and act on the plight of the Palestinians and the long-time apartheid actions of Israel against Palestinians. I hope that he realizes that if Joe Biden loses, it’s curtains for free speech and any possibility of positive change for the world.
I don’t think it is holy script but it is different than a regular head to head poll. It is a look at probabilities of the overall election including the six swing states. So …. Yes, it’s only a moment in time and could change. But it ought to be a severe wake up call - right now if you are looking at the electoral college you have to conclude that Biden is behind by more than the head to,had polls suggest.
Who is getting people out to vote? I note a definite flatness in the electorate compared to 2020. I can’t even find yard signs to put out. It’s like everyone is tired or afraid or both!
As I said it’s not holy script. The economist is saying that their polling and their scenarios suggest that Biden is no longer in a dead heat but is clearly behind I hate that but it feels right to me regardless of the 66/34 number.
VP Hopefuls” in either WaPo or NYT. The article was typical of news reporting lately: only emphasizing their complete capitulation to Trump’s Big Lie without any characterization. I appreciate the perspective Prof. Snyder gives through the lens of history. This is a very smart piece that I hope MSM picks up on.
Norman Mailer famously wrote, "You just can't stop people who are never embarrassed by themselves." But even he would be shocked at the depths of shamelessness to which these supplicants have sunk.
Trump is paranoid. He will worry about being stabbed in the back at every turn. Given that, I expect he will pick either a total nobody or a woman that he thinks is hot... That disqualifies all of the current hopefuls. My earlier bet was on Noem but she made herself toxic.
Thank you, Timothy Snyder, for all of your posts, which fortunately are coming more frequently of late.
The politics of impotence explains so much. We can’t even ban bump stocks to kill fewer people, because our founding fathers didn’t mention them, but really because government agencies (responsible to our elected leaders, and charged with promoting the general welfare) really should be kept from doing things that do not please the powerful donors.
Impotence politics is doing its work on efforts to combat global warming. A friend (with grandchildren!) has stated that the Earth will go on just fine, with or without us. If we try solar panels and wind mills, she argues, doesn’t their manufacture add to emissions and environmental damage? And when they are worn out, there is a disposal problem. Positive and negative effects balance out. This is her position, justifying inaction. (No need to check the data, it might not support her justification of inaction.)
Prof. Snyder was spot on about politicians whose role is to explain why nothing can be done.
We can ban bump stocks and did. Trump did. We banned assault weapons for 10 years. There are still weapons that are banned. Our governmental systems have problems, and they need fixes. But now is not the time to give in to the temptation of being nihilistic about doing something.
Certainly, the drawbacks of fossil fuels have to be addressed, but on balance their use has been a great blessing to the societies that have adopted them. The wealth creation this energy has facilitated allows us to build safer and cleaner human environments.
The wealth creation is just on loan. The billions of dollars repairing flood zones and hurricane damage are going to go into the trillions. It's not going to be the fossil fuel industry that pays that one. Nobody considers the coming bill! You are living under the fantasy that the shit isn't going to hit the fan and quite soon!
I try not to live in fantasy, but in truth, as Vaclav Havel wrote. In any case, perhaps you would agree that our ability to deal with hurricanes and floods has vastly improved in the last hundred years. I think it will go on improving too.
Of course it’s not just hurricanes and floods. Sea level is rising. Coastal cities will feel it more and more. We already see migrants from Central America whom we should be calling climate refugees, because droughts have ended their ability to make a living by farming.
Are you kidding? What I'm talking about is the extremely high price that the taxpayers pay that the fossil fuel companies pawn off on us. Do we get any of the profits?
They already paid virtually no taxes. Subsidies! It's always privatize the gains and socialize the losses with you guys! I think you're a troll. You might as well be a very nice person but in that case you're just misguided
If Trump is elected, the veep becomes all powerful because Trump is in full blown dementia. Even if the body he so neglects survives another four years in office, his dementia will result in his being removed from office as UNFIT as Amendment #25 will be enacted and the second in line, the unqualified veep, will ascend to the presidency. This entire scenario horrifies me for not only the USA but for nations worldwide with which we are allies and have treaties on many issues. I hold onto hope that Biden will prevail. I cannot imagine a “dictator” on day one or ever of my beloved nation. I will do all that I am able to prevent such an outcome and know that my “tribe” will do so as well. ❤️🇺🇸🕊️
Brilliant cogent analysis, I personally thought Tim Scott or Elise Stefanik but you make a strong argument for Vance. I do think Vance's youth maybe unsettling to Trump (after all you can't out vigor the Orange il Duce) . But I think in the long run Vance, Gaetz, Mike Johnson and Josh Hawley are going to be bigger threats as they are smarter and younger.
Point taken, Vance is the guy of the moment because of Hillbilly Elegy and because he can make hay with the rural Americans. But I think those four are going to be ones that will take it to the next level once Trump runs his course (meaning over a time horizon of the next decade or two). I think Gaetz is as slippery as his hair cream and is much smarter than most. Johnson is smart because he knows what not to say and he is one of them...a neochristian supremacist. Josh Hawley looks like a character out of the handmaids tale, he just needs to add a beard.
"Felon Seeks Vice" is full of what to absorb and talk about. Very insightful. Thank you. You do not mention Stefanik or some other females, only males. I have thought Trump might do well with a female. I still cannot get past the fact that Trump is actually ineligible to be POTUS and am at least hopeful that this point would be pushed more to the voters.. that he is an oath-breaking insurrectionist. He is mentally off as well. How can he be trusted with the power that goes with that office ever again as he seeks revenge and retribution ( and destruction)? But pardon me; maybe that boat has sailed. The VP wannabe's, those that are smart, educated, but who left their morals in a hard to find place, are interested in glomming themselves onto a charismatic (seemingly) person whereas they are not. Between their own ambition, and Trump's it's no wonder Trump is and will have a hard time settling for someone. The "crassity" that is floating around Trump is continually astounding me; it keeps getting refreshed after it goes stale for a bit.
I read J.D. Vance's memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, before he became a politician, and I really liked it. I live in Appalachia, and like Vance, I'm an "educated hillbilly." I love our region and aspects of its culture, but I'm ashamed of what we have become. For some people here, ignorance is a sort of valid excuse, but not for Vance.
It especially galls me that as an Ivy League graduate, he can use the trope of bashing "elites" with such success. Shortly after his book came out, I heard him bashing Hillary Clinton on NPR, and I couldn't believe it: he was accusing her of being too "elite," despite the fact that in some ways she came from a background like Vance's and had a similar trajectory. Shouldn't we celebrate and elevate people from humble backgrounds who work hard, make good grades, go to a good college, and then decide to serve their country rather than simply getting rich?
Now I realize it was just hypocrisy, and all along he was planning to betray his own family and class. But he has a lot of help from his own class: so many people from working-class Appalachia hate "elites" without exactly knowing why. But with Vance it's a calculated pose, not a mistake or just a poorly thought-out reflex.
You know why people like Vance turn on his own family and people?? Extremely insecure and feels like he does not belong in the circle to which he has entered. People like him (I have worked for people like this) are malignant narcissists because they have to cover their insecurities and “shame” because at his core he hates who is he and where he came from.
At the same time people like this pander to the rage and ignorance of people in their communities, seeming to "love" them while actually condescending to them.
Exactly! Manipulating their rage and ignorance while he robs them blind because he believe they are so dumb, they will not realize he is robbing them blind if not just today but any future they could have.
I think J.D. saw which way the wind was blowing, and he thought, "Ok, I know these people who love Trump. They're my people. I can play them easily." It's another way up the ladder of success, after Yale Law School, venture capital, etc.
Whether or not he actually hates “his people”, he certainly dislikes their low status, while at the same time done all he can to market their disadvantages—primarily for himself—in our new “Ignorant And Mighty Proud Of It” America.
I think you answered your statement with the affirmative he dislikes “their status”. If JD cared about them at all their status would. It matter and he would work to help them, and not take advantage of them and play them for idiots as he does.
I found the book self-serviing and condescending towards his own family members, not to mention poorly written. Vance is a fraud. And the comments about him and his book here are quite insightful. Thank you all!
A brilliant and genuine book about breaking away from a narrow-minded, intellectually oppressive environment is Educated by Tara Westover.
Educated is a fabulous book. And Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead is such an empathetic rendering of Appalachia.
Thanks for the tip on Kingsolver.
I did not like J D Vance or his book. I read it after working in Appalachia but he is not genuine nor admirable.
Part of that has to be the culture of highland Scots described by Thomas Sowell, brought to Appalachia in the 1700s. It was a culture anathema to work and routine. Part of it is envy of success, described by Helmut Schoek in his book Envy. I see it as a feeling of self-loathing and guilt projected onto others who, by their efforts, highlight one own deficiencies.
What book of Sowell's deals with the highland Scots? I'd be interested...
Black Rednecks and White Liberals. I got it free with my Audible. It is also free on Youtube. Hugh Mann does a great job narrating.
Plenty of Scots people have been hard working, which you need to be where they came from, but I expect the most enterprising among them sought “greener pastures” and better opportunities than Appalachia could provide. However, the ones who settled and stayed there, as well as other poor whites throughout the South, succumbed to poverty, and often malnutrition and pellagra too. None of that helped at all! I suppose hopelessness became belligerence, self justification and rationalization by othering and religion, while others can see what is going on, and can escape or create better circumstances too. No “ one size fits all” for any kind of Southerner or tranche of Southern culture.
Generally speaking I would say I “hate rednecks and their culure”, having lived and worked some in the South, but at the same time have found some if the funniest, nicest and most insightful people there too. You get the full range for sure!
Sowell distinguishes between the highland Scots and Lowland in the earlier 1700s because the former migrated before cultural change could embrace them. Therefore, a more violent group of early Scots planted that culture in a place they could survive: the colonial frontier. Personally I am proud of my Scottish heritage: my grandmother was born there. People change oft for the better!
I am proud of my Scottish ancestry too.
What did you like about Vance's book?
It seemed pretty real. I recognized the kinds of people in it: their struggles, the way alcoholism wrecks families, the way grandparents save kids, even if they weren't great parents themselves, the migration out of Kentucky and TN to the Midwest in search of better jobs, the decline of the Midwest leading to disillusionment and despair, the talented, bookish kid growing up in a family that doesn't read or even own books, the feelings of loyalty conflicted with loathing when you look around at your community, the crucial role of one or two "good" adults or teachers as a way out.
I haven’t read the book. Interesting to me, the mention about alcoholism to Appalachia and Ohio. I wonder if he mentions opiate/OxyContin addiction as well? It seems these red counties and states, with the poor, less educated, unprepared for the new economy, are more vulnerable to addiction. It seems to me that JD Vance, being “politically impotent” chooses not to address the problem of addiction as another way to “prep the battlefield” for authoritarianism. Which is another similarity to Russia, where 55%+ of the men are alcoholics, and a hopelessness pervades. It’s so antithetical to the American Dream. But that’s the grievance I quess!
His mother had a bad drug addiction but it's not clear what all the drugs were. Some of them were prescription drugs, so probably some were opioids.
I worked as a teacher here in rural TN for a long time. My county is right at the western edge of classic Appalachia. A lot of kids here grow up like J.D. Vance, in families where there is domestic violence and alcoholism. I have a lot of sympathy for J.D's mother, who was beaten by her husbands, struggled as a single mom, etc. Even before he came out as a reactionary, I thought he didn't really understand how hard it must have been for her. But I also understand that kids don't have to forgive parents who totally failed them.
Like the J.D. of the book, too, I am often frustrated by the defeatism in some of my students and their parents. I feel like shaking them and saying, "Don't you realize that in other parts of the country, and the world, kids your age are working a lot harder to learn things than you are?!" There's a kind of inertia and laziness that can be infuriating. And it's not always in kids that are really poor: solidly middle-class kids whose parents drive nice cars and have good jobs are also incredibly lazy academically. You know it will come back to bite them in the ass, but they don't know and don't care, and they don't believe old lady teachers.
So I kind of get it that he "blames" his parents and the culture generally. This may be anathema to liberals, but it's not always true that people are entirely victims of their oppressors or their circumstances: sometimes they shoot themselves in the foot. By devaluing education, teachers, and educated people, the rural South does just that.
Thanks for all your comments Shannon. I help review applications for scholarships for my state delegate. I am always blown away how brilliant many of the first and 2nd generation immigrants are. How they hustle to get money for school because their parents can’t help them. I don’t know how we encourage this in all kids. Question of the ages.
Shannon, thank you for your service!
There seems to be a trend with family trauma ( addiction/abuse) that pairs well with the politics of grievance and the demagogues that administer it.
I worked as an addictions and alcoholism counselor and found that a nearly standard feature was blaming others . But it is impossible to recover from this or many other problems without taking personal responsibility. There is an aspect of addiction and alcoholism that is a disease and another which on some level is choice.
Trump will never choose someone who might upstage him. Remember how when Mike Pence took over the COVID briefings and was so successful at it. Trump moved right in and took over, turning the briefings into his usual incoherent rambles. Vance has also proven himself to be one of the Trump opportunists, giving up all semblance of integrity for the promise of power. But like all the Trumpists, he would turn on Trump in a heartbeat if he thought it would be to his advantage.
This is, then, a very powerful second reason for keeping Trump out of office. The right continually harps on Joe Biden’s age and supposed infirmities, but he takes far better care of himself than Trump ever has, making the odds very long that Trump himself would survive four more years in the highest stress job in the world with either his body or his mind intact (even if either is now, which is doubtful). So his VP have have to take over, a scenario at least as likely as Ms Harris, and we’d get Trump 2.5.
But Trump found being president glorious and nourishing rather than stressful. He is the only president who has aged more in his 3.5 years after the office than in it.
His father lived into his 90s with Alzheimer's. Clearly, Trump's brain will go (is going) before his body.
I know it seemed as if he gloried in it, and at times he certainly did, especially when it put him in the limelight, and during his rallies (which mirrored those of Hitler at Nuremberg), but I’m inclined to think that he came to rue his decision to take on the presidency because he never would have faced the legal challenges he does now if he’d stayed just a corrupt real estate mogul and TV celebrity in New York. Also, I suspect he knew he was in over his head in the Oval Office, though he never would have admitted it.
In fact, I’m thinking that his decision to run again was motivated not so much by a desire to be president again as it was a combination of ego vindication following his 2020 loss and the idea that the only way he was going to avoid legal sanction was if he could be re-elected and use the office to escape punishment.
That’s all just my reading, of course, but while I don’t credit him with vast intelligence (more like just vast cunning and the ability to read a crowd) one can’t help wondering if, once he faced all the varied challenges and responsibilities of being the president of the United States, he realized in his own heart just how unprepared he was. He never really had a real presidential agenda - he is too impulsive, transactional, and self-serving. There must have been times when he began to understand just how consequential his actions could be, not just for the US but for the larger world as well. Again, it’s not something he ever would have admitted, but his present and clear desperation to be re-elected as he feels the various nooses approaching him is not that of a man who wants the ‘glory’ of being president, but rather the increasingly manic words and actions of someone facing, for the first time in his life, forces he can’t outlawyer, outlast, outbuy, or outtalk.
I don't think he is able to suppress his narcissistic impulses enough to acknowledge that he was ever in over his head, or that he wouldn't be facing a potential Prison sentence if he had never come down that escalator.
I agree with your informed speculation that Trump was surprised at his election in 2016 (as virtually all of us were) and probably recognized both his lack for qualifications for, and even interest in, actually exercising the responsibilities of the office of President of the United States. I also suspect that that insecurity prompted him to seek/appoint the aid and support of “my generals” and other persons of independent capacity and judgment, all of whom he either fired or who left voluntarily when they realized what a “naked emperor” he is (and was).
Excellent summing up. He didn't understand the office and didn't care and so he just improvised and came close to wrecking the institution.
I would agree with you if I hadn’t learned how thoroughly abnormal his type of narcissist is. The biggest draw for him, someone reported, was simply living in the White House—the ultimate status symbol!
He likes/liked the gaudiness of the Trump Tower better. But he did like the status of being Mr. President and still does. Such a disgrace.
From listening to Felon 34/45’s latest speeches, his brain has already left the building.
What a great expression! I like an English one too, “lost the plot”.
The vulnerability of the human brain is that it's very much part of the body, dependent on every other system in the body which can be damaged or go wrong at any time.
Trump is a chaos agent and he loves it! He didn’t age a bit in office, but Biden looks like a walking cadaver compared to what he looked like 4 years ago (photos from their last presidential debate). No way will Biden live to see the end of his next term.
Biden may be aging physically before our eyes (I believe I've heard he has arthritis in his back, which would explain his stiff, shuffling gait). But, my god, Trump is mentally and verbally so much less coherent than he was while he was "president." The disintegration is remarkable. Listen to him speaking, even from two or three years ago. Now he can barely string together enough words to form a sentence.
I am not sure it matters, sadly. If he died, his followers would stuff the cadaver and follow that. The whole thing is an insane spectacle, which most of the world can clearly see.
Brilliant, Dr. Snyder. You have motivated me to write another hundred postcards for Joe Biden.
Trump is far too insecure to choose anybody who could in any way upstage him. He cannot stand not being the center of attention at all times, regardless of his incompetence and incoherence.
As for the “vice” candidates. Marco Rubio is perfect. He too is weak and always has been even in his time in the Florida legislature. I know as I have witnessed his rise. He is insecure as hell. Meet him in person and he exudes insecurity. He is intellectually small. He cannot stand to be challenged and when he is, he folds like a cheap suit. He has no fight and is afraid to engage when challenged.
Maybe Tim Scott fills this bill too…but unlike Rubio who looks physically small next to Trump, Scott makes Trump look old and fat…Trump cannot stand that.
IMO, Trump will never choose Little Marco. Trump never forgives and especially never forgets an insult. He's toying with Rubio the way he toyed with Romney about a cabinet position. Trump will never forgive Rubio's joke about Trump's little hands.
My definition of Hell: Serving as Vice President for The Bloated Yam. My definition of a greater Hell: Having to listen to these trolls extol praises on The Bloated Yam.
Another masterpiece of a commentary! These intelligent, insightful, even humorous observations are very much appreciated. Thank you, Professor Timothy Snyder. I will be sharing this with friends and "foes" alike. I implore you to keep it coming!
Vance knows the path to trump's heart runs through the Kremlin, where trump's boss and benefactor reigns. Very smart. Vance shows trump that he, too, will bend the knee to Putin and give trump no problems on that front, and he captures a crucial consistency for the ticket, "Christian" nationalists, that trump sorely needs. I think trump will choose Vance, and it scares me to death.
Two points (1) the review of Vance is absolutely right and needed. Douthat of the NYT recently published an awful column on his interview with Vance which in now typical New York Times fashion deals solely with Vance’s intellectual and philosophy pondering and doesn’t touch the implications of his pro authoritarian cultism (it sure feels as though the view of the NYT executive editor that democratic isn’t an important issue is quickly being adopted,by the working journalists) (2) we are losing. I don’t think we can console ourselves anymore that this is an essentially tied race. It’s not. I’m very afraid that the Economist poll giving Trump,a 66% win probability is correct.
I stopped reading Douthat long ago, and never cease to be amazed that the Times continues to give precious space on its platform to Douthat's vacuous pseudointellectual navel gazing. If someone, such as Vance, is a religious conservative, Ross is a fan, regardless of any other characteristics that person may have.
More troubling to me is the increased frequency recently of opinion pieces in the Times (very much including the one by Vance) that serve up the defeatist-appeasement line on Ukraine dressed up as "realpolitik." WaPo went off in that direction months ago (at which point I dropped it after many years as a subscriber).
While I often disagree with Mr. Douthat, I think it worthwhile to graze regularly in some very different meadows. I regularly read the OpEd columns in the Wall Street Journal as often as I do the Times and the Post as well as the Guardian and some others. And yes, there are times when I wish I could reach into the page and wring someone’s neck. But as one who taught American history for over 40 years (a good half of that time at a NYC independent school which most would call irretrievably elitist) I think it is important read across a wide spectrum.
Perhaps you are aware of Ken Burns’s remarkable graduation speech at Brandeis this year. He made a point of reminding the graduates that as far as the United States goes, there is only ‘us’. Douthat is one of ‘us’, as is Vance and Trump and Biden and O'Bama, and all the rest going back to our very recent beginnings. We are so new at this democracy business. I’m 79, and so I could have talked to a man who fought in the Civil War. And he could have talked to a man who fought in the Revolution. And so on. It took us humans over two thousand years of top down rule to try out democracy in any political state (Athens) and another two thousand before we created a country based on its precepts. As Americans we’ve been at it for only a little over 200 years, so in human terms we are still neophytes at this kind of government. So it is hardly surprising that we have not yet got it close enough to right to really call ourselves exceptional. But the Constitution was an optimistic promise, not a given. And we are all a part of it. I think we need to remind ourselves with some frequency of that.
Thank you for this thoughtful comment, James. Well said. I tried to read Douthat for a long time to see what conservatives were thinking. Finally, too many columns struck me as gaslighting, so I gave up. In contrast to Douthat, David French is an excellent conservative addition to the Times editorial page. There are also outstanding conservative writers at the avidly pro-democracy site The Bulwark, including William Kristol, whose evolution in the trump era is fascinating.
Thanks also for your service to education. I'm a learner here at "Thinking About." I am also a student of the American history professor Heather Cox Richardson at her Substack, "Letters From an American."
Yes, I read Dr Richardson’s letter daily. And I often agree with David French, although not always. His last column on his separation from the church of his youth was particularly telling. The Bulwark in all its manifestations is always interesting. Joyce Vance’s letter is another of my favorites, although I confess I sometimes get lost in the legal complexities.
I often wish there had been such availability and variety when I was growing up back in the dark ages. We didn’t even get a TV until I was eleven, but I was raised by avid readers, and that, as in the words of Robert Frost, has made all the difference.
Burn's speech was great.
I do think positing independence on the idea of natural rights was a truly exceptional moment in human history.
You’ll perhaps forgive me if I posit that human beings have and will always consider our rights to be whatever we say they are. The only real issue in their definition and implementation is how well we can back up our claims.
At the same time, I am completely with Abraham Lincoln in believing that the system we created here is ‘the last best hope of earth’.
We agree with Abe. We were so lucky to have a principled person at the moment of our greatest crisis. Yet Abe's touchstone was the Declaration. All of his arguments against slavery came back to the natural rights doctrine in that document.
Good food for thought. Thank you for sharing.
And have you seen the latest on the scandal surrounding the new WaPo Publisher, Lewis, and the soon-to-be new Editor, Winnett? https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/15/world/europe/will-lewis-records-uk-editor.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
I still support WaPo because there are still some good journalists. I also still support The Baltimore Sun which has been bought by David Smith the power behind Sinclair for the same reason: there are still some decent journalists.
I think the best news sources right now are The Guardian and sometimes the Daily Beast.
Yes, I have been closely following the Murdoch crowd's takeover of WaPo. Shocking and very sad. trump tried to target Amazon the first time around, so Bezos evidently wants to buy some insurance. However, the right turn at WaPo started after Marty Barron retired, when Fred Ryan became publisher. Ryan came from Reagan world.
Good on you for supporting the Sun (I grew up in Baltimore County). For me, it's the Philadelphia Inquirer. When I dropped WaPo, I switched to the Guardian and never looked back. For the price of a WaPo subscription, I can read the Guardian ad-free. The Guardian has no paywall; I choose the ad-free reading.
I am not aware that Murdoch or his crowd have taken over the WAPO. We subscribe and it can be good. Do you mean WSJ (Wall Street Journal)? The Guardian is good.
Lewis and the editorial executives he's being allowed to hire are Murdoch alumni (e.g., Winnett). It's a takeover of editorial control.
Something going on but we have not noticed a change… so far.
Worth caution and watching. He did have a respectable stint of high-quality Pulitzer-Prize winning journalism at WSJ for 6 years.
I am going to let my Baltimore Sun subscription lapse. Especially since they said oh by the way we are raising your price and just did it.
It’s a darn shame that James Smith got his grubby hands on it. Of course, Alden had it before him. Destroying the newspapers is a Strongman and Authoritarian tactic- and guess what- they DON’t care if newspaper fail. The more that fail the more they control what people read and hear.
That's why we have to go elsewhere for the news. I think I'll pick up the Guardian.
I think the mainstream papers or at least these two are preparing themselves for a a Trump win.
I am afraid you are correct, Bowman. Obedience in advance.
There certainly seems to be some of that going on. So perhaps that applies to the corporatized part of journalism. If so, hopefully, it takes some time to penetrate down tot he newsroom level....
I've had to drop both EaPo and NYT over their pandering and bothsiderism.
Please, we implore you, to stop reading anything by Douthat. His name is just missing the “b” in “Douthat”His writing is a vortex of nihilism.
I’ll have to remember his name like do this but don’t Douthat.
Good one!
Or how about: “Doubt That”
I don't know (care) how he pronounces his name, "Doubt That" is what I hear every time he is mentioned on a Substack post. I have never read anything positive by or about the man.
Even more better!
What a piece of work that guy is! In typical Republican fashion, it took him getting a serious immune system problem to figure out that our healthcare system should be more socialized let's say! Just like David Brooks had to be personally flown over receding glaciers to finally admit climate change is a problem. They have no ability to be outside themselves. Until it happens to them but can't put themselves in other people's shoes or they certainly don't seem to want to!
I see him,differently and more cynically. He is a smart used-to-be mainline conservative who often put his conservative policy views in quite interesting contexts. I liked reading him and while rarely agreeing with him I would have named him,as one of the models for the kind of civil debate that could be possible. He is rapidly moving to another place. As the Vance interview shows clearly he is no longer willing to consider context - such as the fact that Vance has bought completely into an alignment with the most dangerous person to run for president perhaps ever - and wants to avoid any consideration of context. This may allow him to be a fringe member of the intellectual circle forming around Trump.
If that’s what Douthat is doing, he’s not very bright.
I am reading today’s (June 16th) Economist that shows Trump ahead by 1 percent.
The Economist
https://www.economist.com › interactive › president
Donald Trump's lead over Joe Biden is small, but real. Last updated on June 13th 2024. Chance of winning the electoral college. Joe Biden has about a 1 in 3 ...
This is the Economist’s most recent full analysis. This is different from their head to head national poll. In this one they run multiple scenarios of all the close states. So my 34/66 point is just a quote from them. I hate it but haven’t seen a p,audible argument against it.
You wonder how much Medhi Hassan has influenced that. He’s a powerful and charismatic opinion person. Lately, on his newish site, Zeteo, it’s supporting the folks who tag Biden “Genocide Joe” and you’d think that the Palestinian problem was the end of times. It’s terrible, yes, and there is also genocide in Ukraine and Sudan and terrible crime going on in Central and South America. I just hope he is just trying to get Biden to acknowledge and act on the plight of the Palestinians and the long-time apartheid actions of Israel against Palestinians. I hope that he realizes that if Joe Biden loses, it’s curtains for free speech and any possibility of positive change for the world.
One poll. Worth what?
I don’t think it is holy script but it is different than a regular head to head poll. It is a look at probabilities of the overall election including the six swing states. So …. Yes, it’s only a moment in time and could change. But it ought to be a severe wake up call - right now if you are looking at the electoral college you have to conclude that Biden is behind by more than the head to,had polls suggest.
I am hopeful that the cure is getting people out to vote who don't take time to answer pollsters...
Who is getting people out to vote? I note a definite flatness in the electorate compared to 2020. I can’t even find yard signs to put out. It’s like everyone is tired or afraid or both!
If this fear mongering does not get people out then we will have what comes after… and may deserve it.
Who reads Thinking About? How can its message get out to the general public?
I didn’t think I was ‘fear mongering’ I was citing a legitimate forecast by a reputable source
No Way! 66% the number alone screams problematic
As I said it’s not holy script. The economist is saying that their polling and their scenarios suggest that Biden is no longer in a dead heat but is clearly behind I hate that but it feels right to me regardless of the 66/34 number.
I read something on the Trump “
VP Hopefuls” in either WaPo or NYT. The article was typical of news reporting lately: only emphasizing their complete capitulation to Trump’s Big Lie without any characterization. I appreciate the perspective Prof. Snyder gives through the lens of history. This is a very smart piece that I hope MSM picks up on.
Norman Mailer famously wrote, "You just can't stop people who are never embarrassed by themselves." But even he would be shocked at the depths of shamelessness to which these supplicants have sunk.
Good observation!
Trump is paranoid. He will worry about being stabbed in the back at every turn. Given that, I expect he will pick either a total nobody or a woman that he thinks is hot... That disqualifies all of the current hopefuls. My earlier bet was on Noem but she made herself toxic.
Thank you, Timothy Snyder, for all of your posts, which fortunately are coming more frequently of late.
The politics of impotence explains so much. We can’t even ban bump stocks to kill fewer people, because our founding fathers didn’t mention them, but really because government agencies (responsible to our elected leaders, and charged with promoting the general welfare) really should be kept from doing things that do not please the powerful donors.
Impotence politics is doing its work on efforts to combat global warming. A friend (with grandchildren!) has stated that the Earth will go on just fine, with or without us. If we try solar panels and wind mills, she argues, doesn’t their manufacture add to emissions and environmental damage? And when they are worn out, there is a disposal problem. Positive and negative effects balance out. This is her position, justifying inaction. (No need to check the data, it might not support her justification of inaction.)
Prof. Snyder was spot on about politicians whose role is to explain why nothing can be done.
We can ban bump stocks and did. Trump did. We banned assault weapons for 10 years. There are still weapons that are banned. Our governmental systems have problems, and they need fixes. But now is not the time to give in to the temptation of being nihilistic about doing something.
Certainly, the drawbacks of fossil fuels have to be addressed, but on balance their use has been a great blessing to the societies that have adopted them. The wealth creation this energy has facilitated allows us to build safer and cleaner human environments.
The wealth creation is just on loan. The billions of dollars repairing flood zones and hurricane damage are going to go into the trillions. It's not going to be the fossil fuel industry that pays that one. Nobody considers the coming bill! You are living under the fantasy that the shit isn't going to hit the fan and quite soon!
I try not to live in fantasy, but in truth, as Vaclav Havel wrote. In any case, perhaps you would agree that our ability to deal with hurricanes and floods has vastly improved in the last hundred years. I think it will go on improving too.
Of course it’s not just hurricanes and floods. Sea level is rising. Coastal cities will feel it more and more. We already see migrants from Central America whom we should be calling climate refugees, because droughts have ended their ability to make a living by farming.
Are you kidding? What I'm talking about is the extremely high price that the taxpayers pay that the fossil fuel companies pawn off on us. Do we get any of the profits?
They already paid virtually no taxes. Subsidies! It's always privatize the gains and socialize the losses with you guys! I think you're a troll. You might as well be a very nice person but in that case you're just misguided
If Trump is elected, the veep becomes all powerful because Trump is in full blown dementia. Even if the body he so neglects survives another four years in office, his dementia will result in his being removed from office as UNFIT as Amendment #25 will be enacted and the second in line, the unqualified veep, will ascend to the presidency. This entire scenario horrifies me for not only the USA but for nations worldwide with which we are allies and have treaties on many issues. I hold onto hope that Biden will prevail. I cannot imagine a “dictator” on day one or ever of my beloved nation. I will do all that I am able to prevent such an outcome and know that my “tribe” will do so as well. ❤️🇺🇸🕊️
Thank You Tim.....at every turn it becomes more frightening ... Vance by far is the most dangerous.. it's all disgusting .
Brilliant cogent analysis, I personally thought Tim Scott or Elise Stefanik but you make a strong argument for Vance. I do think Vance's youth maybe unsettling to Trump (after all you can't out vigor the Orange il Duce) . But I think in the long run Vance, Gaetz, Mike Johnson and Josh Hawley are going to be bigger threats as they are smarter and younger.
Those three, smarter than Vance? True, Johnson was smart enough to distance himself partially from the pro-Putin wing.
Point taken, Vance is the guy of the moment because of Hillbilly Elegy and because he can make hay with the rural Americans. But I think those four are going to be ones that will take it to the next level once Trump runs his course (meaning over a time horizon of the next decade or two). I think Gaetz is as slippery as his hair cream and is much smarter than most. Johnson is smart because he knows what not to say and he is one of them...a neochristian supremacist. Josh Hawley looks like a character out of the handmaids tale, he just needs to add a beard.
"Felon Seeks Vice" is full of what to absorb and talk about. Very insightful. Thank you. You do not mention Stefanik or some other females, only males. I have thought Trump might do well with a female. I still cannot get past the fact that Trump is actually ineligible to be POTUS and am at least hopeful that this point would be pushed more to the voters.. that he is an oath-breaking insurrectionist. He is mentally off as well. How can he be trusted with the power that goes with that office ever again as he seeks revenge and retribution ( and destruction)? But pardon me; maybe that boat has sailed. The VP wannabe's, those that are smart, educated, but who left their morals in a hard to find place, are interested in glomming themselves onto a charismatic (seemingly) person whereas they are not. Between their own ambition, and Trump's it's no wonder Trump is and will have a hard time settling for someone. The "crassity" that is floating around Trump is continually astounding me; it keeps getting refreshed after it goes stale for a bit.