How the left and J.D. Vance learnt to despise each other
And what that says about American elites
Did j.d. vance betray America’s progressive elite, or is it the other way around? Not long ago Mr Vance was celebrated in left-of-centre columns and salons as a heartland Jeremiah, a prophet of working-class despair who could demystify Donald Trump’s popularity. His bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy”, was “a compassionate, discerning sociological analysis of the white underclass that has helped drive the politics of rebellion”, declared the New York Times. Mr Vance, the review said, was brave to blame fellow hillbillies, not structural forces, for their dismal choices: “Whether you agree with Mr Vance or not, you must admire him for his head-on confrontation with a taboo subject.”
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Hillbilly effigy”
United States September 17th 2022
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- How the left and J.D. Vance learnt to despise each other
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