Donald Trump was born into wealth, though he likes to try to imply otherwise – the US President will occasionally lamely claim he was given only a $1m loan by his father, to make the rest of his money.
By contrast, the Vice President, JD Vance, was born into genuine poverty, and he tells that story as often and as loudly as he can. It was the subject of his first book, Hillbilly Elegy, which was later turned into a movie. It frequently comes up in his new book on how he found Catholicism as an adult.
Vance’s version of the American rags-to-riches story – born to a mother battling drug addiction, raised by a fierce rural grandmother, making it to an Ivy League university, private equity and then politics – is central to his political identity, and something he wants everyone to know. It is the Republican platform in archetype: the implication is that if Vance can do it, anyone can. Anyone who is “stuck” in poverty could escape it, if they just tried hard enough.
Vance’s story certainly works up to a point. The job he got in private equity – working for Palantir founder Peter Thiel’s fund – provided the launchpad for his political career, too. Thiel himself personally put $10m into Vance’s campaign to become a US senator for Ohio, and from there Vance became Trump’s VP pick.
