Vice President Nominee 'Trump Doppelganger' Vance... Available on Netflix

Trump Era Vice Presidential Pick Born in 1984
From Difficult Family Background to Marine Corps and Yale
Former Trump Opponent Turned Supporter in Reelection
Autobiography 'Hillbilly Elegy' Also Famous... Adapted into Film

Former President Donald Trump (left), officially nominated as the Republican presidential candidate, and J.D. Vance, U.S. Senator from Ohio, nominated as the vice-presidential candidate, stand side by side at the Republican National Convention held in Milwaukee on the 15th (local time). [Image source=Yonhap News]

J.D. Vance, a U.S. Senator nominated as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, is called a "Trump clone." Like Trump, Vance is an ultra-right, hardline conservative who champions America First. You can somewhat satisfy your curiosity about Vance in just two hours. On Netflix, there is his autobiography and the movie of the same name, Hillbilly Elegy. The 1 hour 57 minute film was directed by Ron Howard, who also directed Backdraft, Far and Away, Apollo 13, and The Da Vinci Code, and stars famous actors such as Amy Adams, Glenn Close, and Haley Bennett. The role of Vance is played by Gabriel Basso, known domestically for The Night Agent.

Hillbilly is an old folk song that originated among farmers and lumberjacks in the Appalachian Mountains region of eastern United States. The term "hillbilly" refers to songs with strong regional dialects from this area, and originally, it was a term used to describe the people of this region as country bumpkins. Hillbilly Elegy can be understood as a song of a remote rural village or a backwoods song.

A scene capture from 'Hillbilly Elegy' released on Netflix. Glenn Close is the grandmother, and the child is J.D. Vance.

According to the description on Namuwiki, Hillbilly Elegy is a memoir and a reflection on American society written by J.D. Vance, a young entrepreneur who graduated from Yale Law School and became a self-made billionaire in Silicon Valley. It tells the story of Vance, who was born in the Rust Belt, a declining industrial area, and experienced parents who either fell into drug addiction or completely gave up custody of their children, his childhood poverty and repeated domestic violence, and how he overcame personal depression and anxiety to graduate from Yale Law School and achieve great success.

Namuwiki states, "Many people began to understand the low-income white working-class Americans who became the most powerful force behind Trump’s overwhelming defeat of mainstream Republican politicians and his victory over Hillary Clinton to become U.S. president through Hillbilly Elegy." Vance himself said, "The population of white working-class people living in extreme poverty is steadily increasing. In 1970, 25% of white children lived in neighborhoods with poverty rates above 10%. By 2000, that figure had risen to 40%. The current figure is certainly much higher."

Songbook Cover of Hillbilly

Reviews of the movie are mixed. American critics criticized it as much worse than the original book. However, domestic critics and audiences gave it many positive reviews. Regarding the original autobiography, Bill Gates said, "This book gave me a new perspective on the multifaceted nature of the culture that causes poverty and the importance of family." The New York Times called it "a book that must be read at this moment in history." Peter Thiel, PayPal founder, praised it as "a convincing portrayal of the real experiences of people living in places overlooked by armchair theorists."

J.D. Vance was born in 1984 in Middletown, Ohio. After his parents divorced, he was exposed to domestic violence in a troubled home environment, and with nowhere to sleep, he eventually ran away and lived with his grandmother. His grandmother was known locally as a foul-mouthed woman but was the only person who encouraged Vance to study. Unusually for the area, Vance developed a dream of going to college.

A scene capture from 'Hillbilly Elegy' released on Netflix. From left to right, Vance's sister, Vance, and Vance's mother.

After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served five years as an enlisted soldier, including deployment to Iraq. After completing his service, he used veterans' benefits to earn a bachelor's degree from Ohio State University and then graduated from Yale Law School. He later worked as a lawyer and founded a venture capital firm, becoming self-made. He gained fame as an author by publishing his memoir Hillbilly Elegy. He began his political career as a Republican in 2016. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, he harshly criticized Donald Trump and expressed support for candidate Evan McMullin. He mocked Trump by calling him "America's Hitler" and a "fool." However, he changed his stance two years later. In February 2018, in an interview with the Financial Times, he mentioned Trump as one of the few politicians who recognized the widespread frustration among Americans in regions like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and eastern Kentucky. In the 2020 U.S. presidential election, he supported Trump's re-election.

In November 2022, he was elected as a federal senator, and on July 15, 2024, he was nominated as Trump's running mate. He is the youngest vice-presidential candidate since Richard Nixon in 1952, and if elected, he will become the third youngest vice president in U.S. history.