{"id":14221,"date":"2024-07-16T19:28:21","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T19:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=14221"},"modified":"2024-07-16T19:28:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-16T19:28:30","slug":"what-j-d-vance-really-believes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=14221","title":{"rendered":"What J.D. Vance really believes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“Vance has said that, had he been vice president in 2020, he would have carried out Trump\u2019s scheme for the vice president to overturn the election results<\/a>. He has fundraised for January 6 rioters<\/a>. He once called on the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation<\/a> into a Washington Post columnist who penned a critical piece about Trump.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This worldview translates into a very aggressive agenda for a second Trump presidency. In a podcast interview<\/a>, Vance said that Trump should \u201cfire every single mid-level bureaucrat\u201d in the US government and \u201creplace them with our people.\u201d If the courts attempt to stop this, Vance says, Trump should simply ignore the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou stand before the country, like Andrew Jackson did, and say the chief justice has made his ruling, now let him enforce it,\u201d he declares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President Jackson quote is likely apocryphal, but the history is real<\/a>. Vance is referring to an 1832 case, Worcester v. Georgia<\/em>, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the US government needed to respect Native legal rights to land ownership. Jackson ignored the ruling, and continued a policy of allowing whites to take what belonged to Natives. The end result was the ethnic cleansing of about 60,000 Natives \u2014 an event we now call the Trail of Tears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most Americans, this history is a deep source of shame: an authoritarian president trampling on the rule of law to commit atrocities. For Vance, it is a well of inspiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J.D. Vance is a man who believes that the current government is so corrupt that radical, even authoritarian steps, are justified in response<\/a>. He sees himself as the avatar of America\u2019s virtuous people, whose political enemies are interlopers scarcely worthy of respect. He is a man of the law who believes the president is above it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“J.D. Vance wasn\u2019t always like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He grew up poor in Middletown, Ohio \u2014 escaping a difficult childhood to make it to Yale Law and, subsequently, to the lucrative world of venture capital. This narrative served as the backbone of his 2016 book, Hillbilly Elegy<\/em>, that turned into a mega-bestseller: a book that seemed to explain Trump\u2019s appeal to America\u2019s downtrodden. It put Vance on the national map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Vance of Hillbilly Elegy<\/em> was very different politically. Back then, he took a conventional conservative line on poverty, describing the working class as beset by a cultural pathology encouraged by federal handouts<\/a> and the welfare state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2016 Vance was also an ardent Trump foe<\/a>. He wrote a New York Times op-ed titled \u201cMr. Trump Is Unfit For Our Nation\u2019s Highest Office,\u201d and wrote a text to his law school roommate<\/a> warning that Trump might be \u201cAmerica\u2019s Hitler.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight years later, Vance has metamorphosed into something else entirely. Today, he pitches himself as an economic populist and cosponsors legislation with Sen. Elizabeth Warren curtailing pay for failed bankers<\/a>. In an even more extreme shift, he has morphed into one of Trump\u2019s leading champions in the Senate \u2014 backing the former president to the hilt and even, at times, outpacing him in anti-democratic fervor.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“\u201cThe through line between former J.D. and current J.D. is anger,\u201d McLaurin told me. \u201cThe Trump turn can be understood as a lock-in on contempt as the answer to anger\u201d \u2014 specifically, contempt directed at Vance\u2019s political enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McLaurin\u2019s comments suggest that Vance\u2019s conversion to Trumpism is genuine. I\u2019m inclined to agree, though the timing of his MAGA conversion surely is convenient: He converted to right-wing populism just in time to run for a vacant seat in Trumpy Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, whether Vance truly believes what he\u2019s saying is secondary to the public persona he\u2019s chosen to adopt. Politicians are not defined by their inner lives, but the decisions that they make in public \u2014 the ones that actually affect law and policy. Those choices are deeply shaped by the constituencies they depend on and the allies they court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it is clear that Vance is deeply ensconced in the GOP\u2019s growing \u201cnational conservative\u201d faction, which pairs an inconsistent economic populism with an authoritarian commitment to crushing liberals in the culture war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vance has cited Curtis Yarvin<\/a>, a Silicon Valley monarchist blogger, as the source of his ideas about firing bureaucrats and defying the Supreme Court. His Senate campaign was funded by<\/a> Vance\u2019s former employer, Peter Thiel, a billionaire who once wrote<\/a> that \u201cI no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s a big fan of Patrick Deneen, a Notre Dame professor who recently wrote a book calling for \u201cregime change\u201d in America<\/a>. Vance spoke at an event for Deneen\u2019s book in Washington, describing himself<\/a> as a member of the \u201cpostliberal right\u201d who sees his job in Congress as taking an \u201cexplicitly anti-regime\u201d stance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vance is also an open admirer of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n, a right-wing politician who has systematically torn his country\u2019s democracy apart. Vance praised Orb\u00e1n\u2019s approach to higher education<\/a> in particular, saying he \u201cmade some smart decisions there that we could learn from in the United States.\u201d The policies in question involve using national dollars to impose state controls over universities<\/a>, turning them into vehicles for disseminating the government line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a profile of Vance, Politico reporter Ian Ward<\/a> quotes multiple leading Republican figures \u2014 specifically, the leaders of the faction trying to turn these postliberal ideas into practice \u2014 saying that they see Vance as a leading advocate for their cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top Trump advisor (and current federal inmate) Steve Bannon told Ward<\/a> that Vance is \u201cat the nerve center of this movement.\u201d Kevin Roberts, the president of the right-wing Heritage Foundation and the driving force behind Project 2025, told Ward that \u201che is absolutely going to be one of the leaders \u2014 if not the leader \u2014 of our movement.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There is little doubt that Vance will continue in this role if elected vice president. He would enable all of Trump\u2019s worst instincts, and put a brake on none \u2014 deploying his considerable intellectual and intrapersonal gifts toward bending the government to Trump\u2019s will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Trump\u2019s first term, he faced considerable opposition from inside his own administration. People like Defense Secretary James Mattis and Vice President Mike Pence served as brakes on Trump\u2019s most radical impulses, challenging or even refusing to implement his (illegal) directives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vance\u2019s ascendance represents the death of this \u201cadults in the room\u201d model. Backed by people drawn from the lists of loyal staffers being prepared by places like Heritage<\/a>, Vance would not only support Trump\u2019s radical impulses but seems likely to spearhead efforts to implement them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He would be a direct conduit from the shadowy world of far-right influencers, where Curtis Yarvin is a respected voice and Viktor Orb\u00e1n a role model, straight to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2004, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean described himself as hailing from \u201cthe Democratic wing of the Democratic party<\/a>.\u201d If the GOP under Trump has indeed evolved into an authoritarian party<\/a>, then Vance hails from its authoritarian wing.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/360283\/jd-vance-trump-vp-vice-president-authoritarian<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Vance has said that, had he been vice president in 2020, he would have carried out Trump\u2019s scheme for the vice president to overturn the election results. He has fundraised for January 6 rioters. He once called on the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into a Washington Post columnist who penned a critical piece about Trump.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“This worldview translates into a very aggressive agenda for a second Trump presidency. In a podcast interview, Vance said that Trump should \u201cfire every single mid-level bureaucrat\u201d in the US government and \u201creplace them with our people.\u201d If the courts attempt to stop this, Vance says, Trump should simply ignore the law.
\n\u201cYou stand before the country, like Andrew Jackson did, and say the chief justice has made his ruling, now let him enforce it,\u201d he declares.<\/p>\n

The President Jackson quote is likely apocryphal, but the history is real. Vance is referring to an 1832 case, Worcester v. Georgia, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the US government needed to respect Native legal rights to land ownership. Jackson ignored the ruling, and continued a policy of allowing whites to take what belonged to Natives. The end result was the ethnic cleansing of about 60,000 Natives \u2014 an event we now call the Trail of Tears.<\/p>\n

For most Americans, this history is a deep source of shame: an authoritarian president trampling on the rule of law to commit atrocities. For Vance, it is a well of inspiration.<\/p>\n

J.D. Vance is a man who believes that the current government is so corrupt that radical, even authoritarian steps, are justified in response. He sees himself as the avatar of America\u2019s virtuous people, whose political enemies are interlopers scarcely worthy of respect. He is a man of the law who believes the president is above it.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“J.D. Vance wasn\u2019t always like this.<\/p>\n

He grew up poor in Middletown, Ohio \u2014 escaping a difficult childhood to make it to Yale Law and, subsequently, to the lucrative world of venture capital. This narrative served as the backbone of his 2016 book, Hillbilly Elegy, that turned into a mega-bestseller: a book that seemed to explain Trump\u2019s appeal to America\u2019s downtrodden. It put Vance on the national map.<\/p>\n

The Vance of Hillbilly Elegy was very different politically. Back then, he took a conventional conservative line on poverty, describing the working class as beset by a cultural pathology encouraged by federal handouts and the welfare state.<\/p>\n

2016 Vance was also an ardent Trump foe. He wrote a New York Times op-ed titled \u201cMr. Trump Is Unfit For Our Nation\u2019s Highest Office,\u201d and wrote a text to his law school roommate warning that Trump might be \u201cAmerica\u2019s Hitler.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eight years later, Vance has metamorphosed into something else entirely. Today, he pitches himself as an economic populist and cosponsors legislation with Sen. Elizabeth Warren curtailing pay for failed bankers. In an even more extreme shift, he has morphed into one of Trump\u2019s leading champions in the Senate \u2014 backing the former president to the hilt and even, at times, outpacing him in anti-democratic fervor.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“\u201cThe through line between former J.D. and current J.D. is anger,\u201d McLaurin told me. \u201cThe Trump turn can be understood as a lock-in on contempt as the answer to anger\u201d \u2014 specifically, contempt directed at Vance\u2019s political enemies.<\/p>\n

McLaurin\u2019s comments suggest that Vance\u2019s conversion to Trumpism is genuine. I\u2019m inclined to agree, though the timing of his MAGA conversion surely is convenient: He converted to right-wing populism just in time to run for a vacant seat in Trumpy Ohio.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, whether Vance truly believes what he\u2019s saying is secondary to the public persona he\u2019s chosen to adopt. Politicians are not defined by their inner lives, but the decisions that they make in public \u2014 the ones that actually affect law and policy. Those choices are deeply shaped by the constituencies they depend on and the allies they court.<\/p>\n

And it is clear that Vance is deeply ensconced in the GOP\u2019s growing \u201cnational conservative\u201d faction, which pairs an inconsistent economic populism with an authoritarian commitment to crushing liberals in the culture war.<\/p>\n

Vance has cited Curtis Yarvin, a Silicon Valley monarchist blogger, as the source of his ideas about firing bureaucrats and defying the Supreme Court. His Senate campaign was funded by Vance\u2019s former employer, Peter Thiel, a billionaire who once wrote that \u201cI no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a big fan of Patrick Deneen, a Notre Dame professor who recently wrote a book calling for \u201cregime change\u201d in America. Vance spoke at an event for Deneen\u2019s book in Washington, describing himself as a member of the \u201cpostliberal right\u201d who sees his job in Congress as taking an \u201cexplicitly anti-regime\u201d stance.<\/p>\n

Vance is also an open admirer of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n, a right-wing politician who has systematically torn his country\u2019s democracy apart. Vance praised Orb\u00e1n\u2019s approach to higher education in particular, saying he \u201cmade some smart decisions there that we could learn from in the United States.\u201d The policies in question involve using national dollars to impose state controls over universities, turning them into vehicles for disseminating the government line.<\/p>\n

In a profile of Vance, Politico reporter Ian Ward quotes multiple leading Republican figures \u2014 specifically, the leaders of the faction trying to turn these postliberal ideas into practice \u2014 saying that they see Vance as a leading advocate for their cause.<\/p>\n

Top Trump advisor (and current federal inmate) Steve Bannon told Ward that Vance is \u201cat the nerve center of this movement.\u201d Kevin Roberts, the president of the right-wing Heritage Foundation and the driving force behind Project 2025, told Ward that \u201che is absolutely going to be one of the leaders \u2014 if not the leader \u2014 of our movement.\u201d”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“There is little doubt that Vance will continue in this role if elected vice president. He would enable all of Trump\u2019s worst instincts, and put a brake on none \u2014 deploying his considerable intellectual and intrapersonal gifts toward bending the government to Trump\u2019s will.<\/p>\n

In Trump\u2019s first term, he faced considerable opposition from inside his own administration. People like Defense Secretary James Mattis and Vice President Mike Pence served as brakes on Trump\u2019s most radical impulses, challenging or even refusing to implement his (illegal) directives.<\/p>\n

Vance\u2019s ascendance represents the death of this \u201cadults in the room\u201d model. Backed by people drawn from the lists of loyal staffers being prepared by places like Heritage, Vance would not only support Trump\u2019s radical impulses but seems likely to spearhead efforts to implement them.<\/p>\n

He would be a direct conduit from the shadowy world of far-right influencers, where Curtis Yarvin is a respected voice and Viktor Orb\u00e1n a role model, straight to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.<\/p>\n

In 2004, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean described himself as hailing from \u201cthe Democratic wing of the Democratic party.\u201d If the GOP under Trump has indeed evolved into an authoritarian party, then Vance hails from its authoritarian wing.” <\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/360283\/jd-vance-trump-vp-vice-president-authoritarian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1564,221,372,2082,222,170,1389],"class_list":["post-14221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-beliefs","tag-donald-trump","tag-election","tag-jd-vance","tag-president","tag-trump","tag-vice-president"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14222,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14221\/revisions\/14222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}