What J. D. Vance Once Knew

[dalton99a]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/07/jd-vance-trump-independence-day/687779/

https://archive.ph/d3TZ5

What J. D. Vance Once Knew
Ten years ago, the vice president wrote that one day, voters would realize the truth about Donald Trump. That day has now arrived.
By Peter Wehner
July 4, 2026, 6 AM ET

TEN YEARS AGO TODAY, in the middle of the presidential campaign, an essay in The Atlantic set out to explain the appeal of Donald Trump. Its author traced that appeal to the social decline and cultural trauma he had known firsthand, in an impoverished childhood.

The author, J. D. Vance, had only days earlier published Hillbilly Elegy, which went on to sell roughly 3 million copies and made him, almost overnight, the country’s designated interpreter of working-class grievances. And he was quite good at it.

In the July 4, 2016, essay, Vance described the places from which the pain came—factories that downsized or ceased to exist, along with the jobs they had provided; the aesthetic decline in once beautiful and vibrant towns; families that were shattering or never forming in the first place; and anger and frustration with a government that had broken the trust with the people it was meant to serve. “During this election season,” Vance wrote, “it appears that many Americans have reached for a new pain reliever.” His name was Donald Trump.

In the midst of a social crisis, Vance observed, Trump offered “an easy escape from the pain. To every complex problem, he promises a simple solution.” But, he argued, such promises were a cheap high. “He never offers details for how these plans will work, because he can’t. Trump’s promises are the needle in America’s collective vein.”

“Trump is cultural heroin,” Vance wrote. “He makes some feel better for a bit. But he cannot fix what ails them, and one day they’ll realize it.”

“One day” is today.

....

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Vance was a singular genius with incredible foresight

[MIButterfly]

1. I don't get it

All those comments from leading Republicans back then and today they all have their heads so far up his ass they can't see straight. What the hell happened to make them make such a drastic turnaround? Money? They all have money. Power? They have their own power. Blackmail? How could he have so much on every single one of them? I guess I'm asking what's in it for them?

I've changed my mind about things in my life but never have I ever thought someone was despicable and then later came to think they were the greatest person on earth.

[Trueblue Texan]

2. He is Satan offering everything, delivering only pain and destruction.

Everything he touches dies. Our nation is living proof as we struggle for our last breath.

[erronis]

3. The only one thing that trump/putin can have on all of these rats is blackmail and threats

threats of life and limb and/or threats to family and their future.

[Ilsa]

5. They are mostly just happy about his SCOTUS choices,

I think. But stripping government programs and watching personal wealth increase makes them feel better.

[Ohioboy]

6. I don't get it either, but look up The Asch Conformity Theory

Here's a link to a google search:

https://share.google/R6q7VqGJoX6uEn6BP

Experiments have showed that an alarming 75% of people will go along with an obviously wrong answer just to gain the comfort of conformity. They will literally question their own eyes to go along with the group, even after first giving the correct answer.

[BComplex]

9. I just don't believe 75% of the country are republicans. THEY are the sheep.

Democrats don't automatically go along with much because they, by nature, are not mentally lazy.

[Ohioboy]

11. I think the 75% was for a specific case. I think the average for conformity is lower but still concerning

[GiqueCee]

4. And look...

... at those fawning, sycophantic weasel-dicks now. They make a normally kind and thoughtful person wanna get medieval on their cowardly asses.

[Martin68]

7. So Vance decided to give the cultural heroin a try, and he got addicted. The power feels so good!

[BComplex]

8. Phony, fraud, coward, cancer, amoral, pathological liar....one who happens

to have compromat on you OTHER phonies, frauds, cowards, cancer, amoral pathological liars, who have 100% helped him destroy our country and our security.

NO MORE REPUBLICANS. EVER!!!!

[Kablooie]

10. Trump is still 90% approval among Republicans.

85-90% in most polls.
They love him.
We have to count on independents but there is no indication that Rs will ever turn on him.
Don’t expect him to ever lose popularity among Rs. They are with him for life.