Trump selected J.D. Vance as his running mate. He is not well-known. He grew up in Appalachia, and he wrote a bestseller called Hillbilly Elegy. He subsequently graduated from Yale Law School and became a hedge fund Manager.
Not so long ago, he derided Donald Trump. But subsequently, he changed his view and became a Trump fan. He didn’t just criticize Trump, he loathed him.
Rachel Maddow explains Vance’s dramatic transformation here.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
And yet, Vance is NOW, Trump’s running mate, so WHAT does that, tell the people, about the, characters of this, man???
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Same with the Muskovite! He was a Not a Trump Fan and now he kisses the ring and is talking about funding the orange fraudster (maybe?). It’s ALL about the $$$$$.
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So Harris is the DEI candidate? She worked her way up the political ladder in California. She was a tough DA, and she served two terms as attorney general before getting elected to the US Senate, in addition to her term as Biden’s VP. She had said she would compare her resume to J.D. Vance’s any time, any day. Vance wrote a memoir and then rode the coattails of his wealthy benefactor, Peter Thiel.
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Somewhere I read a criticism of his book, suggesting that he was the product of a very typical suburban upbringing. Whether true or not, the suggestion made me think of all the people I know whose grandparents grew up pretty rough, but whose parents received the benefits of a much more recent American economy. Many of these suburban dwellers that I know think like their rural grandparents, have the same inferiority complex as their grandparents, but grew up in circumstances that places them among the more successful of their own generation. They see themselves as persecuted from the vantage point of their expansive lawn.
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Vance grew up in Middletown, Ohio, in what would have been considered a middle class neighborhood, and had golf lessons.
From Golf Digest: “All of the other kids who played were more middle or even upper middle class, and I’ve often wondered whether that was part of the reason Mamaw wanted me to learn to golf: to get exposure to kids from a different background. I’m still close with many of the friends I made on the golf team.”
Vance took lessons at TPC Franklin (Ohio), the TPC in this case standing for The Practice Center. He later took a job as a cart boy at Shaker Run Golf Club in Lebanon, Ohio, site of the 2005 U.S. Amateur Public Links.”
Vance’s parents were out of the picture and there was certainly dysfunction and addiction in his family. But he went to Yale Law School, where professor Amy Chua (the Tiger Mom law professor who vouched for Brett Kavanaugh’s integrity when she loudly endorsed him as a terrific choice for Supreme Court) took Vance under her wing. Chua not only encouraged Vance to write his memoirs, but sent him to her agent AND used all of her connections to make the book a best seller:
“When the book first came out, she probably emailed every single television producer and personality in the United States of America,” Vance told The Atlantic in 2017.
“It’s true, I emailed everybody. There were these creepy emails to people like Tom Brokaw, with lots of smiley faces and exclamation points,” Chua said in the same interview.
The efforts ended up paying off, with “Hillbilly Elegy” becoming a bestseller in 2016.”
Vance barely practiced law for 2 years and then went to work for Peter Thiel. And became famous for trashing Kentucky.
Many people have dysfunction in their families, but they don’t exaggerate their background to get rich and do nothing for anyone but themselves and their rich friends.
Compare JD Vance’s life – with the big boost from Amy Chua and friends of Thiel – with someone else who came from a dysfunctional Ohio family but spend her life doing good, not getting rich.
Google Ohio native Dr. Amy Acton whose upbringing was arguably far more difficult than JD Vance, who didn’t have rich and famous mentors like Kavanaugh admirer Amy Chua, and didn’t fashion her career on “I rose above hardships”.
She spent her life making things better, not profiting out of citing her background. She is the anti-Vance.
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“They see themselves as persecuted from the vantage point of their expansive lawn.”
Brilliant!
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I read that review, too. I wish I could find it. Rachel really lays out how weak a V.P. he would make. of course Trump doesn’t want someone who might steal his thunder.
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I read about some of the MAGA cult members in congress using the DEI slur to attack Harris.
One way to counterattack those fascists/racists may be to reveal who Kamala’ parents were.
Kamala’s mother:
Shyamala Gopalan[a] (December 7, 1938 – February 11, 2009) was an Indian biomedical scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,[5] whose work in isolating and characterizing the progesterone receptor gene stimulated advances in breast biology and oncology.
Her father:
Donald Jasper Harris, OM (born August 23, 1938) is a Jamaican and American economist and professor emeritus at Stanford University, known for applying post-Keynesian ideas to development economics.[1]
The New York times described him as “a prominent critic of mainstream economic theory from the left”.[2] Throughout his career, Harris has worked on economic analysis and policy regarding the economy of Jamaica, his native country.[3] He served in Jamaica, at various times, as economic policy consultant to the government and as economic adviser to successive prime ministers.[4][5] On October 18, 2021, he was honored with the Order of Merit, Jamaica’s National Honor award, “for his outstanding contribution to national development”.[6]
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Tangentially, Rachel Maddow’s podcast ULTRA is rivetingly informative, particularly season 2: https://www.rachelmaddow.com/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra/
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What’s True
Vance did not grow up in Appalachia, but in suburban Ohio, in a house in a neighborhood considered “middle class” at the time he was growing up. He took golf lessons and also went to Yale for law school.
verified by Snopes
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Vance is a phony, and “Hillbilly Elegy” is a “memoir” despised by Southerners, who find Vance’s insulting tropes around Appalachia as nothing more than income-generating poverty porn. Hope Junior and Eric have fun having JD as their temporary playmate. Apparently, they were the ones that influenced DJT to choose Vance (matching facial hair!). By doing so, DJT may have just put the last nail in his election coffin.
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Jon Stewart did a bit showing JD and Don Jr. side by side. Peas in a pod.
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I’m registered as Independent. Monday, I got a text from the Republican party so I opened it for curiosity sake. It was a picture of DJT Junior asking me to contribute and vote. I deleted it and reported it as spam.
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You’re absolutely correct Oakland_mom. J.D. Vance is NOT from Appalachia, and his parents were NOT from Appalachia either. It’s his grandparents who ARE from Appalachia, and they moved to Middletown, Ohio. Vance tries to say he has Appalachian credibility because he spent childhood summers there. My late mother was born and raised in Appalachia (Eastern KY) and said Vance overgeneralized his family to all of Appalachia.
Appalachia is much more diverse than people realize, and I highly recommend a short book What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Cate
There’s also an edited collection called Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy
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I grew up near Appalachian territory and moved to the Blue Ridge for four years of my young life. I can vouch for the generalization of Appalachian stereotypes. From music to moonshine, people always get it wrong. Like any other place, stereotypes of Appalachian people are damming to all.
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We have Amy Chua – the “Tiger Mom” Yale professor and sexual harrasser’s wife to thank for both Brett Kavanaugh and JD Vance.
How soon before Chua vouches for JD Vance’s integrity? She worked very hard to get his book published and then worked hard to make sure it got a lot of publicity.
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I also loathed Donald Trump when he ran in 2016 because I was for Ted Cruz. I had never watched his reality show; I only saw some interviews over the years. The only reason I ended up voting for him was that I found Hillary Clinton twice as loathsome.
My main worry about Trump was that he would be too liberal. It took me about a year to fully come around. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that J.D. Vance would change his mind, and I’m glad he did. Vance will be a fantastic V.P. I hope Trump makes him his border czar because he will get ‘er done.
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Understandable. It wouldn’t surprise me if everyone who believes the 2020 election was stolen from their great leader Trump is a huge fan of JD Vance now.
Although it’s funny you said you were for Ted Cruz. Trump said Ted Cruz father helped assassinate JFK and made nasty comments about Cruz’ wife. Cruz was a role model for sycophants everywhere – including JD Vance – when he showed that he was more than happy to bend the knee to Trump after Trump smeared his family. JD Vance also bent the knee because his billionaire backers knew Trump would do what he did in his first term — give big tax breaks to billionaires, drive the deficit sky high, and hurt everyone else. Trump had his chance to build his wall – he had a Republican House and Senate – but he chose to reward his billionaire funders instead. JD Vance will certainly help Trump continue to help the rich at everyone else’s expense. I am not surprised that a 2020 Election Denier would approve. Trump knew you would.
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Kamala called Joe Biden a racist when they were in the primary 2020, and yet here we are. Kamala did what she always does; fail upward.
Biden said Barack was a clean articulate black man and eulogized a grand kleagle in the KKK, and yet BHO picked him as V.P. People say things in campaigns.
I remember when all the democrats, and I mean ALL, believed and ran on the belief that marriage is between a man and a woman (we knew they were liars) until BHO “changed his mind,” and then, like a flock of birds all the democrats fell in line, that is their gift or curse.
Democrats have been calling Trump and Trump voters racist, white supremacists, bigots, etc. If you want a complete list of the epithets, ask Bob Shepherd. He regularly uses them. Those words roll off my back like water.
Trump won the election; he beat Biden so severely that the democrat machine forced out Biden. We aren’t running against Kamala; we are running against the democrat machine, which includes the media. Amazingly, the Democrats stole your candidate for president by strong-arming him to drop out, and Democrats fell in line, lock-step. The democrat machine knew you would.
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Jackie,
I hate to be the one to break the news to you: Trump lost the election in 2020. There was no evidence of fraud. None. His lawyers claimed fraud in 60+ courts. They lost in every court. They lost before judges appointed by Trump. They lost twice in the Supreme Court.
Trump lost. He is a con man, a huckster, a sore loser.
You are his mark.
Sorry.
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I’m sorry for you, Diane, People you trusted put up a dementia patient as president and lied to you and are STILL lying to you. With a total disregard for the American people. You are their mark, sorry.
The courts never heard the cases, so no investigations were done. We believe the election was stolen. Many democrats believe 2000, and 2016 were stolen, oh well. Staci Abrams still claims she won Georgia. I know what I know. It is useless to argue this point.
Seeing what the democrats have done to cover up the deteriorating health of “dear leader,” makes more and more people realize that democrats will do anything for party and power.
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The courts never heard the cases because there was no evidence, zero, supporting these baseless claims. Mike Lindell and Rudy Ghouliani are STILL saying that they have evidence that they are going to produce any day now. ROFL. You Trumpsters are so freaking gullible. And yes, the people around Biden have a lot to answer for, for hiding his condition, which they didn’t do very well, I might add. I thought that his failing condition was glaringly obvious.
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Did you see President Biden on TV tonight? He was crystal clear and wonderful. He is a good man.
Sorry I can’t say the same for Trump. He is not a good man. He is a serial sex abuser. He was a good friend of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. He has cheated people all his life. He evaded the draft by claiming “bone spurs.” None of his sons ever wore our country’s uniform. He created a fake university to cheat war widows and veterans, promising to teach them the secrets of his success; he had to pay $25 million to students who were defrauded. Did you ever buy Trump wine, Trump steaks, Trump bibles, Trump sneakers. He’s a con man.
He lost the election in 2020 by 7 million votes. He never had any evidence of fraud. He filed challenges in more than 60 courts. All his challenges were dismissed because he had no evidence. The U.S. Supreme Court denied his appeals twice, even with a 6-3 Republican majority.
FOX News had to pay Dominion Systems almost $800 million because FOX defamed Dominion and had no proof of its lies.
Rudy Giuliani made a fool of himself and has been ordered to pay election workers in Georgia almost $150 million for defaming them.
There is not one scintilla of proof that any votes were stolen. Trump lost and he’s a crybaby.
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Astonishingly, Trump voters will continue to believe whatever he says based on zero evidence. I have come to think that there is no proposition so idiotic that large numbers of Republicans can’t be convinced that it’s true.
Unborn baby sings like Elvis
Spaceport under Vatican delivers invisible, shape-shifting reptilian spies from Alpha Draconis
Secret cabal of school librarians spreading pornography and Marxism
Chemtrails used by Biden woke military to spread chemical that turns high-school kids transgender
Horse tranquilizer cures Covid and cancer, especially if used in conjunction with Reverend Bakker’s Silver Solution colloidal silver
Joe Biden stole election with help from dead Venezuelan dictator
Hillary Clinton running Washington pizza parlor with pedo dungeon
That sort of thing.
Wack jobs believe this stuff. It’s a cult. No convincing them that such insane stuff isn’t real.
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So now you have decided that every person you know who isn’t anti-gay marriage like you and JD Vance supported gay marriage since they were children?
People change their political and cultural views. But they don’t change their integrity. Ugly insults are ugly insults – they are NOT political views that change.
You probably never knew this, but there was a time when women couldn’t vote! People changed their minds about that. That’s okay.
But throwing the ugliest personal insults at someone and their family and then having them bend the knee is different than accepting that a person has genuinely changed some of their political views over time like almost all of us have.
Your vision of Trump as the ideal Christian is off. You have made excuse after excuse for his most abhorrent actions.
But the Dems should ignore everything you say, since you are always going to vote for the insurrectionist/felon/sexual assaulter.
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You like to put words in my mouth that I did NOT say, making your argument incoherent. The worst insult you can throw at someone these days is raaaacist! Which is what Kamala did to old Joe.
Yes, I will vote for Trump based on his policies. I never said Trump was a perfect Christian. If you knew anything about Christianity, you would know that we are ALL sinners.
Kamala broke up a family and slept with a married man, but I would never vote for her because of her far-left views, even if she was a saint.
I wouldn’t vote for Joe because of his car left agenda, not because he showered with his daughter, raped Tara Reade, sniffs little girls, eulogized a KKK member, made millions through corruption, stole classified documents, didn’t recognize one of his grandchildren, etc. It’s his policies that I reject.
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Saying “we are all sinners” is very different than implying that it is Christian to regularly lie and insult political rivals, especially lying that the father of one of them helped assassinate JFK, and lying about having proof that the other one was an illegitimate president and getting your acolytes to hate him.
There is a difference between being a sinner and feeling remorse, and not being at all sorry that you conned people out of their hard earned money to enrich yourself.
Trump may have told you he won the 2020 election but that doesn’t make it true. Trump actually said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and his supporters would be okay with it. Trump said that. Whether or not it is true, only his supporters know. Whether or not Trump believes it or not, even saying such a thing reveals something about his character. And it reveals something about what Trump believes about the character of his supporters. And it is not pretty. And it’s not funny.
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Jackie,
I hope you don’t have a daughter who wants to get an abortion.
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Folks: read Jacquilehardt’s notes to find a lesson in how to apply politically prefabricated cliches to real people that you know nothing about. CBK
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Addendum to my “Folks” note: Read J further and you’ll find that Diane Ravitch doesn’t know how to think for herself.
For myself, I think that, for MAGA and for J, the term Republican at present is Orwellian double-speak for projection. CBK
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My theory about the pick — XLV was so confident he had a slam dunk, but knew he’d be impeached on day 2 if not day 1, that he picked Vance as a guard against that.
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Trump has zero risk of an impeachment conviction, though.
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How can Trump be impeached when the Supreme Court ruled that a president is above the law, according to the Constitution?
Trump would just ignore the impeachment and the Supreme Court would say “well, the Constitution doesn’t say he can’t do that and does give the president immunity, so it’s all fine.”
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If You Are Against —
Diversity, Equality, Inclusion
Then You Are For —
Conformity, Inequality, Exclusion
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