The Maga Heir Apparent

 

The Maga Heir Apparent

J.D.Vance

In writing about the soon-to-be President of the United States, I confessed to the fear of Donald’s mid-term departure, perhaps by sniper or possibly dementia, and the subsequent ascent of J.D. Vance from V.P. to President. I first heard some details about Vance’s early life when I saw the film [based on his book] of Hillbilly Elegy, and marvelled at what he had achieved and how far he had travelled from his roots. Clearly a man of condierable energy and determination. And gradually I have grown more interested in him and his beliefs as I have heard numerous reports of his subsequent opinions and decisions on his journey to the Political Right which jarred with my earlier impressions of this complicated man.

Hillbilly family.

 In Hillbilly Elegy, Vance paints a bleak picture of his turbulent early life in one of those deprived communities in Appalachia, describing  an environment in which  poverty was a “family tradition” for many people. He relates that alcohol, substance-abuse problems and domestic violence were commonplace and that hopes for a better economic future were in short supply. There was a personal rage there too, not only at the circumstances the Hillbillies found themselves in but also at their mainly-mute acceptance of their fate and dysfunctional lives.  Vance’s mother was an alcoholic and drug addict who was neglectful of, and often cruel to, her children. Alongside Vance’s harsh descriptions of his childhood, however, are striking memories of his beloved grandmother, “Mamaw,” Beverley Vance, to whom he pays tribute for providing the stablility that he needed at home and for encouraging him to rise above his difficult 

Vance and his mother, Beverley, sober
since 2018

circumstances. He moved in with her and Papaw, alcoholic James Vance, after his mother was sent to prison, when he was around the age of 16, and she undoubtedly steered him towards Education. He enlisted in the Marines and went on to the Ohio State University and subsequently, to Yale Law School; both remarkable achievements for a poor boy from a dysfunctional family in a rust belt city.

During the 2016 election Vance had voiced strong criticism  of Trump. In an interview that year, for instance, Vance bluntly stated, “I can’t stomach Trump,” but soon after entering the U.S. Senate race to represent Ohio in 2021, however, Vance publicly apologized for his past critical comments about Trump. For, despite having lost the Presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden, Trump remained highly popular among white male working class Republican voters in Ohio. Vance made his support for Trump’s policies the centrepiece of his Senate campaign and aligned himself with the Make America Great Again [M.A.G.A.] movement. He also repeated Trump’s false claims that there had been widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. Presumably these standpoints were electoral choices made by someone who wanted to win the race he was in and didn’t care too much about personal integrity. Many said that J.D would do anything to win and that, perhaps, is the secret to his success in life.

During the last eight years, J.D. has continued his psychological and political development and an important part of Vance’s transformation has been via his conversion to Catholicism and his intellectual move to the American Right, some might say, the Far Right. He voices admiration for the illiberal Victor Orban of Hungary who provides financial suppor for 'traditional families' [aka white, Christian, 

Elon Musk with ten of his twelve children

Hungarian-born] and is disillusioned with America’s constant wars; he shares Musk’s obsession with the low numbers of children in families [though Musk has contributed 12 children with three women which might evoke some admiration though also relief that he is rich as well as fecund. He claims to be 'doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis.'] Vance wonders if giving more votes to parents, or perhaps taking voting power away from childless couples, might not help American Society. He despairs over the high rate of divorce in America and was strongly opposed to abortion with no exception for rape or incest but has now conveniently fallen into Trump’s line of leaving these decisions to individual States. He

Vance trolled Harris as a 'childless cat lady'

has attacked day care as ‘class war against normal people’; cast aspersions on ‘childless cat ladies’; and suggested that the whole purpose of the post-menopausal woman is helping to raise children. J.D. seems possibly to be more than a touch chauvinistic, even misogynistic, but his view of the world is definitely retrogressive though he is quite careful to screen from the wider public some of his anti-modern views which do not win majority votes.

Current divorce rate in U.S. at a 50 year low.
J.D.'s prejudices may be showing.

It is unsettling to consider how close J.D. is to the Presidency and the extensive power that implies. His fellow Right-wing travellers will have an influential voice in the White House from January as Trump is busy settling old scores and continuing his narcissistic pursuit of glory. There are frightening prospects of what could follow, courtesy of a clever, resilient and determined man prepared to await his chosen, self-crafted fate.

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