Rashi Mehta
39-year-old Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance has risen as a key ideologue and supporter of Donald Trump’s right-wing nationalist movement. Vance hails from a working-class background in America’s Rust Belt. However, his Sudden shift in ideology does not sit right with American writer Kenan Malik. Kenan Malik criticizes Trump’s vice president pick JD Vance.
Initially, JD Vance had made several statements bashing donald Trump’s ideology. Two years ago, while vying for the Republican Senate nomination in Ohio, Vance recognized the necessity of Trump’s endorsement and thus retracted his previous criticisms, expressing regret for them.
From Trump’s critic to his VP candidate: how JD Vance shifted his ideology
“The tragedy of Trump’s candidacy is that, embedded in his furious exhortations against Muslims and Mexicans and trade deals gone awry is a message that America’s white poor don’t need: that everything wrong in your life is someone else’s fault.”
J.D. Vance, Donald Trump’s chosen vice-presidential candidate, penned these words on the eve of the 2016 presidential election about the man who is now his boss.
In another essay, Vance described Trump as offering “cultural heroin,” with his promises being “the needle in America’s collective vein,” providing an “easy escape from the pain.” He argued that voters would eventually need to “swap the quick high of ‘Make America Great Again’ for real medecines.
However, Vance soon turned away from his statements, claiming he regretted even saying these things. This came two years ago, when JD Vance was battling to be Ohio’s Republican candidate for the Senate, realising the need for Trump’s endorsement.
Trump views Vance as key to gaining working-class support. Although an Ivy League-educated lawyer and venture capitalist backed by Silicon Valley, Vance grew up in impoverished Middletown, Ohio. He escaped his difficult upbringing by joining the marines and later studying law at Yale, entering elite society.
Kenan Malik criticises Vice President candidate JD Vance
Kenan Malik has pointed out how JD Vance criticises the general public on various levels. Vance’s criticisms extend to the spending habits of the poor in Middletown. He accuses them of buying “giant TVs and iPads” and “homes we don’t need,” which he believes drive them deeper into poverty.
“Thrift,” he argues, “is inimical to our being.” Although he speaks in terms of “we” and “us,” it is clear he means “they” and “them,” distinguishing between what he views as deserving and undeserving workers.
Malik also reinstated hoe Vance praises his grandparents for their old-fashioned, self-reliant work ethic, while criticizing his mother and others in his neighborhood for their consumerism, isolation, and anger. He is particularly critical of those on welfare, accusing them of living comfortably on “government largesse.”
These themes—elite politicians posing as working-class champions, framing poverty as a moral issue, and critiquing liberal elites—are common in the Republican Party and among European right-wing populists like Nigel Farage and Giorgia Meloni.
Despite offering limited solutions, they attract voters who feel abandoned by traditional left-wing parties. Until the left addresses working-class issues, their appeal will grow.
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