Thread by @Cajsa

Here is a reminder that J. D. Vance is nothing more than a fraud.

J. D. Vance created a nonprofit called Our Ohio Renewal. It is as phony as he is. It spends its money on management fees, not on renewing Ohio.
vanityfair.com/news/2021/08/j…

I recognized what he was when he was on his Hillbilly Elegy publicity tour. His intellectual ancestor is Phineas Quimby, who originated New Thought, the source of prosperity gospel, the idea that wealth equals moral rectitude and poverty is the result of character failure.

This is the philosophy of oligarchy, assuring them their power is only the result of their good works and good character and they need not have compassion for the poor because they deserve to be poor.

Some progressives were enchanted by Vance because he offered an economic justification for hating Trump voters, allowing them to ignore the racism. This fit their identity politics is a distraction bullshit. Vance - an excuse for everyone.

But he wrote a cruel caricature of Appalachia, one that grew out of his touristic experience. He didn't grow up there, he visited family, but visiting isn't living. And the people of West Virginia dispute his narrative
wvupressonline.com/node/774

J.D. Vance thinks everything is a choice. But he does not recognize that choices are often limited. Cassie Chambers' memoir is an antidote to Vance's bullshit. One with compassion and humanity rather than blame & shaming
penguinrandomhouse.com/books/599670/h…

And of course, Vance is also a fraud in how easily he flipped from opposing Trump to supporting him.