“Hillbilly Elegy” author JD Vance sharply criticized Donald Trump during the 2016 election cycle, before changing course and embracing the former president. Vance rode a Trump endorsement to a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2022. He's now one of Trump's fiercest allies and defenders — and among those short-listed to be Trump's vice presidential pick.
FILE - Sen. J.D. Vance , R- Ohio , right, points toward Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally on March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio . Vance sharply criticized Trump during the 2016 election cycle, before changing course and embracing the former president. Vance is now one of Trump’s fiercest allies and defenders and among those short-listed to be Trump’s vice presidential pick.
Former Republican Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof, a fellow Yale graduate, frequently shared stages with Vance then. He said Vance’s story, the hardship and heartbreak endured because of his mother’s drug addiction, resonated. The opioid epidemic that ravaged Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia when he was growing up was killing a dozen Ohioans a day on average in 2016.
But not everyone sees the book — later adapted into a Ron Howard-directed film, starring Glenn Close and Amy Adams — that way. It ignited criticism from scholars across Appalachia, many of whom said it trafficked in cheap stereotypes and failed to diagnose the origins of the region’s troubled history or offer workable policy solutions.
By the time Vance met Trump in 2021, he had reversed his opinion, citing Trump’s accomplishments as president. Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative activist group Turning Point USA, said Vance compellingly articulates the America First world view and, as a running mate, could help Trump in states that share Ohio’s values, demographics and economy.
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