Trump Doppelganger Millennial Generation Political Newcomer
Memoir 'Hillbilly Elegy' Gains Fame
From Anti-Trump to "Greatest President" Transformation
Hardline conservative J.D. Vance, a U.S. Senator from Ohio, was nominated on the 15th (local time) as the vice-presidential candidate for former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.
Vance, a freshman senator, is 39 years old this year and is a millennial politician. He is the youngest vice-presidential candidate since 1952. If former President Trump wins the election this November, Vance will become the third youngest vice president in U.S. history.
Although a political newcomer, Vance is regarded as a key 'pro-Trump' lawmaker and is on the rise. He shares views with former President Trump on major issues such as illegal immigration, climate change, and the Ukraine war.
Despite his short political career, he is considered a self-made figure who overcame difficult circumstances. Hailing from Ohio, a representative Rust Belt region (the declining industrial area around the Great Lakes in the U.S.), he spent a poor and disadvantaged childhood but became a symbol of the 'American Dream' by rising to become a lawyer, venture capitalist, and then a senator.
His 2016 autobiographical memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, resonated with Rust Belt Americans and gained nationwide recognition. The term hillbilly refers to poor white laborers. In the book, Vance addressed the realities, structural causes, and social issues faced by poor white people, creating a strong impact. It was also adapted into a film of the same name on Netflix. The NYT described Hillbilly Elegy as "a sociological analysis of the white lower class that helped propel the rise of former President Donald Trump."
Born in Middletown, Ohio, Vance described his childhood as "poverty was a family tradition" in his book, reflecting his disadvantaged upbringing. His parents divorced when he was young, and his mother was a drug addict. With the help of his grandmother, he barely graduated from high school, then enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in the Iraq War. After discharge, he graduated with honors from Ohio State University and entered the prestigious Yale Law School in 2013. During this time, he connected with Peter Thiel, a major Republican donor and co-founder of PayPal and Palantir. After graduating from law school, he worked as a lawyer at a large law firm, then moved to San Francisco in 2015 to work as a venture capitalist at Thiel’s Mithril Capital. He later sought a political career and was elected senator in November 2022.
During the 2016 election, Vance was known for his anti-Trump stance. He described himself as "someone who would never support Trump" and called Trump a "cultural heroin" who was leading white workers into darkness.
However, he suddenly changed his position while seeking a political career. In the 2020 presidential election, he voted for former President Trump and said, "Trump is the greatest president of my life." After running for the Senate, he apologized to Trump for his past remarks. Riding this momentum, he was elected Ohio senator in 2022 and has since been an active member of Trump’s close circle.
Vance politically aligns with former President Trump, opposing aid to Ukraine, supporting states’ rights to decide on abortion, and endorsing tough immigration policies. He also actively supported Trump during recent criminal proceedings and, following the assassination attempt on Trump on the 13th, criticized President Biden’s past remarks, saying, "Such statements led to an assassination attempt."
Kevin Roberts, chairman of the Heritage Foundation and a friend of Vance, told Bloomberg that Vance is "the potential running mate who is most ideologically aligned with Trump."
He is also known to be a close friend of Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of former President Trump, with whom he communicates daily.
The NYT analyzed that while voters express concerns about the ages of former President Trump and President Biden, Vance’s youth could be a significant asset to Trump. It also explained that Republicans see Vance as the ideal heir to Trump’s ideological legacy.
Bloomberg commented that "nominating Vance as a candidate breaks from the traditional electoral approach of choosing a running mate to provide ideological balance or to gain support from cautious voters."
On the first day of the Republican National Convention, former President Trump announced via his social media account Truth Social that after long consideration, he decided that the most suitable person to serve as vice president is Ohio Senator Vance.
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