Why does the left hate J.D. Vance so much?

Freddy Gray’s latest Spectator cover piece on J.D. Vance’s status as the heir apparent for Donald Trump, well-above the scrum of potential alternatives despite his relative youth and the fact he has been an elected politician for not even three years, brings to mind an underrated aspect of his appeal. I am often asked by conservatives across the country some version of the question: Why does the left hate J.D. Vance so much? Why does he prompt so much vociferous loathing? The answer is somewhat disguised by his uniqueness in background and resume, but the truth is: They hate him because they view him as a traitor to their class, after they welcomed him with open arms.

You can hear the feelings of betrayal in this recent appearance by leftist podcaster Jennifer Welch on MSNBC: “Here’s two things about J.D. Vance. Number one, he used to say Trump is America’s Hitler. So he has regressed,” said Welch during an appearance on All In with Chris Hayes. “And then number two, he is married to a woman of Indian descent. He has mixed race children. So to all of the MAGA voters out there, if this man will not defend his wife and will not defend his kids, do you think he gives a crap about you or anything to do with you?”

When Vance penned his Hillbilly Elegy memoir, he had a story to tell that arrived with perfect timing for a political landscape dominated by people on the center left trying to make some sense of (or offer some dismissive explanation for) the Trump phenomenon. Obviously written without anticipating the degree to which it would take over the conversation, the success of Vance’s book and its fortuitous timing elevated him immediately into the echelon of the world of media profiles, Aspen Ideas, and powerful circles extending from the pages of The New York Times to big names in Hollywood. Here was someone from Appalachia who offered an explanation for why Trump was happening while also criticizing the man himself, even to the point of sharing in some of the extreme rhetoric deployed against the man beyond 2016. He went on Charlie Rose to call himself as a “a Never Trump guy,” wrote a piece for the The New York Times calling Trump “unfit” for the presidency, and joined Terry Gross on NPR to call Trump “noxious” and warn that he “is leading the white working class to a very dark place.” He even did the most humiliating thing you could do at that time in that position, which was cast a vote in 2016 for Evan McMullin. He’d proven which side he was on.

This was a perfect critic for the American leftist elite to elevate – a walking, talking human avatar of What’s The Matter With Kansas, with a lovely mixed race family and a Hindu wife, the Ivy League credentials, the venture capital resume, The New York Times bestselling memoir, and a life story perfect for a Netflix movie which Hollywood didn’t just make, they got it nominated for Academy Awards. Forget writing from the lowly ranks of anonymous posts at FrumForum; Vance had set himself up for a lifetime fellowship at Brookings and a permanent seat at the table of the media elite, telling endless stories about how the right went wrong. 

For someone without a sense of principle or political reality, all this would go to your head. You have the opportunity to be at the top echelon of elite voices, rake in the money on the speaking tours, and be a voice of constant Christian moralizing against the racist bigots from whence you came who just don’t know what’s good for them. Who would turn it down? 

Well, Vance did. As it turned out, like more intellectual conservatives than would readily admit it today, he saw what Trump did in his first term and he didn’t just change his tune – he switched sides. The left hates this. They think insults matter more than policy, and that if you couldn’t stomach Trump’s tweets, it definitely makes you a hypocrite to say he’s doing good things, too. And deep down, they know Vance is really quite good at it. The vice president has an even better understanding of the elite world he had briefly navigated. Seeing its weak points fueled an even greater talent at making the case for the Trumpian policies he now supports. Today you’ll oftentimes find him arguing the case with those same media entities and figures who once welcomed him into the fold. His talent makes the shift all the more frustrating. So does his beard.

So when the left rails against Vance, understand that they do so from a position of deeply felt personal betrayal. Imagine, as bizarre as it might seem today, a J.D. Vance who on an alternate earth chose all the treasure the establishment had to offer and became a Democratic Senator from Ohio in 2018 instead. Is there any realistic scenario where he would not be a leading candidate for their 2028 presidential nomination today? But no – instead, Vance chose the other path, to walk away from the world they offered him and the media elites were left to drown their sorrows with the latest headlines from David French. You can understand why that feels infuriating.