JD Vance: Here’s the Film That Tells the Chaotic Childhood of Trump’s New Ally

He was chosen as Donald Trump’s running mate on July 15, the first day of the Republican convention. J.D. Vance, 39-year-old senator from Ohio, in case of victory it could become the youngest vice president in American history. A little-known figure abroad, he rose to prominence on the other side of the Atlantic with the publication of his book Hillbilly Elegywhich jumped to the top of the bestseller list in 2016, published in Italy by Garzanti. It was adapted for the screen in 2020 by Ron Howard in American Elegystarring Amy Adams and Glenn Close (available on Netflix).

His memoirs chronicle his journey from a childhood in the slums of southern Ohio to Yale Law School. In the background, according to some observers, is a portrait of a neglected white American working class: the Rust Belt, a region of the Northeast of the United States marked by industrial decline.

A difficult childhood

“Poverty is a family tradition,” says JD Vance in Hillbilly Elegy. After World War II, her grandparents moved to Middletown, Ohio, which was prosperous before its industries declined. Bev, a mother since she was 19, was violent and unstable. Her father, James, was a notorious alcoholic who was nearly killed by his girlfriend. The couple eventually divorced, and Bev had a series of boyfriends since then. In this toxic family, which is the focus of most of the film, the boy and his older sister owe their stability only to the presence of their grandparents.

Hillbilly Elegy – The Movie

In the book, much more complex than the film, the author also criticizes this environment, accusing the working class of preferring to take advantage of the system rather than trying to get out of it. He remembers the customers who, when he was a cashier at a supermarket, had the latest cell phones. Or the drug-addicted neighbors who “bought huge steaks that were too expensive for me, but that Uncle Sam made me buy for someone else.” This criticism of welfare earned him the applause of American conservatives.

From the Army to Yale

After a period of wandering, he became a diligent student and joined the Marines after high school. Not without leaving his mother with a heavy heart: “Deep down, I knew she wouldn’t survive this time,” he writes. After a battle with addictions, first to drugs and then to heroin, he died a few years later of a lung infection. However, it was during his time in the army that J.D. Vance became estranged from his environment, took courses to learn how to manage his finances, and discovered tastes other than his mother’s fried foods. After a stint at Ohio State University, he attended Yale Law Schoolwhere he met his future wife Usha, who came from a wealthier background and is now a lawyer.

Controversies and political career

It was at the suggestion of one of his professors at Yale that JD Vance decided to write his memoirs. In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election, many saw Hillbilly Elegy as a perfect X-ray of the electorate that voted for the former businessman. But the book is also controversial: Some, like historian Elizabeth Catte, criticize him for his generalizations and his tendency to see poverty as an individual responsibility, thus sidelining its systemic aspect. By using the pronoun “we,” she transforms the reality of her difficult childhood into a universal experience, she writes.

However, J.D. Vance has made the most of his newfound fame, becoming a CNN commentator and preparing for a career in politics. In 2017, he left California – where he worked in the financial sector – to return to Ohio with his wife and two children. There he launched his own company, Narya Capital, whose investors include billionaire Peter ThielFacebook board member and Donald Trump supporter…

J.D. Vance has been highly critical of the former president, calling him an “idiot” and even a potential “Hitler of America,” as reported by Vice. However, he eventually sided with Trump, supporting his positions on immigration and against abortion. This allowed him to become a senator from Ohio in Congress in 2023.