Author J.D. Vance on his book ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ and Donald Trump’s base
With two months until the presidential election, both Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump have been courting voters in the Rust Belt battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Who are those voters? Often described as white, blue-collar workers who have borne the consequences of globalization and technological advancement, their heritage is more complicated than that.
It’s the topic of J.D. Vance’s new book, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” which describes his tumultuous childhood in the Appalachian Kentucky “holler,” and later, in the steel-centered Middletown, Ohio — a place where his family found their “slice of the American Dream.”
Vance told Yahoo News that Trump is offering white, blue-collar workers in communities struggling with heroin use and joblessness easy explanations for their struggles.
“My own sense is that Trump simplifies these problems,” Vance said. “I don’t think if you build a great Mexican wall, all these steel mill jobs are going to come back to Southern Ohio, but it gives people something to latch onto.”
Vance’s own explanations for the strife in poor white communities include failed government policies. But he also questions the “too big for your britches” mindset that Vance believes is passed down through generations and constrains upward mobility.
“There is a strong feeling you have to be loyal and dedicated to your family,” he said. “I think that’s important, but to the degree it prevents people from leaving for a better life, it probably does hold some people down.”
Much of his book depicts the arduous path Vance traveled out of the cultural constraints of his youth. He gives credit where it is due. Despite a childhood rife with violence and chaos, his hardscrabble grandparents, especially his “Mamaw,” were dependably protective, and emphasized schoolwork. After high school, Vance joined the Marines, a springboard to higher education, and later, Yale Law School. Vance is now a Silicon Valley executive.
