I’m meant to maintain some air of objectivity at Trump’s selection of JD Vance for vice president, but I can’t be bothered. It’s just excellent. By appointing him, Trump guarantees that the Republican party will never go back to being neo-con warmongers run by Wall Street. To channel Kamala Harris, I believe Vance shows us what the Republican party could be, unburdened by what it has been.
The biography is well versed – white trash made good, author of Hillbilly Elegy, convert to Trump – but the philosophy is under-appreciated. The first thing to know is that he has a philosophy. How rare is that?! Most politicians ride into office on half-baked vibes and narcissism, but Vance is a thinker who has risen through the movement, someone who has paid attention to the times and what’s been written about them.
He sees America as broken, maybe the whole West. No cheap patriotism, please. Like drowning your sorrows in beer and cocaine, it’s deeply unhelpful.
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