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| Waiting In The Wings: For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor. |
DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime minister of Hungary, Vance’s respect for the United States Constitution should be considered pro-forma – at best.
A vocal critic of Trump when the reality TV-show maestro’s wholesale derangement of the American party system first became apparent in 2016, Vance has since reconciled himself, to the point of sycophancy, with Trump’s more-or-less complete takeover of the Republican Party.
Trump, himself, gleefully acknowledged his former critic’s transformation by informing his followers that “J.D. is kissing my ass he wants my support so bad”. Vance’s osculatory efforts proved sufficiently energetic, however, to secure him Trump’s endorsement in the race to become the Republican Party’s candidate for Ohio’s second Senate seat in 2022. At the age of just 38, he had joined the highest ranks of the American political system.
Which, given Vance’s humble origins, was extraordinary. He’d been raised in Appalachia, that mountainous region of the United States whose exploited and poverty-stricken inhabitants are still called “hillbillies”. The victim of violent and dysfunctional parenting, Vance (then called Bowman) was mostly raised by his hillbilly grandparents.
As is so often the case with individuals reared in such dangerous environments, Vance developed an acute sensitivity to who possessed the power to hurt him, and who might be persuaded to do him good. It was the rawest sort of political education, but it has undoubtedly served him well.
Highly intelligent and good with words, Vance finally extricated himself from the poverty, drug addiction and suicidal despair of rural Ohio by joining the United States Marine Corps. Impressed by his writing talents, his superiors sent him to Iraq as a military journalist, and then helped him earn a Batchelor’s degree in Political Science. After that it was Yale Law and a job with the libertarian tech-lord Peter Thiel.
Impressive enough, as CVs go, but what lifted Vance far above the merely self-improving was his best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy”. Vance’s timing could not have been better. His book appeared at precisely the moment America’s elites were attempting to make sense of Donald Trump’s defeat of Hilary Clinton.
“Hillbilly Elegy” turned Vance into the “deplorable whisperer”. Someone who was able to translate the angst and the anger of White working-class America in ways that enlightened – but did not threaten – ruling-class America. In the process, Vance successfully persuaded a great many extremely powerful people to do him an extraordinary amount of good.
Vance had once referred to Trump as “America’s Hitler”. But, as the now Republican Vice-Presidential nominee has spent the last eighteen months demonstrating, that disturbing characterisation should be interpreted as a description – not a condemnation.
If, as now seems certain, Trump wins the presidency in November, then Vance will find himself just a heartbeat away from becoming something even more alarming than America’s Hitler. Because, as the rest of the world needs to get its head around, urgently, the Republican candidate for Vice-President stands much further to the right than his master. Yes, Vance, like Trump, is an economic nationalist and a right-wing populist, but he also draws his inspiration from the aforesaid Orban, as well as, crucially, from the planet’s most powerful authoritarian president, Vladimir Putin.
Putin’s unwavering purpose is to protect Mother Russia from what he sees as the degenerate culture of the West. Vance and his ilk are equally determined to purge American society of the rampant degeneracy to which, in their minds, it has already succumbed.
Ronald Reagan described the USA as “a shining city upon a hill”. For the American far-right, however, the only shining city capable of inspiring today’s corrupted world is Moscow. If Trump becomes President, and Vance’s diplomatic advice is heeded, then the Ukrainian nation is doomed.
Students of Imperial Rome should have little difficulty in recognising the forces at play in this ruthless political drama. The ambitious aristocrat who executes an end-run around his political rivals by playing upon the fears and resentments of the impoverished masses. The demagogue’s enemies who bend every sinew to securing his downfall. The hero’s precautionary adoption of a brilliant but cynical young politician as his successor.
For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.
This essay was originally published in The Otago Daily Times and The Greymouth Star of Friday, 19 July 2024.
The rise of Vance has certainly pissed off a lot of people but I don't think this essay is fair, Chris.
ReplyDeleteThis American (new?) New Right, especially with the appointment of Vance, is growing in power and influence; perhaps an examination of their philosophy would have been helpful. Nothing to say on the anti war stand or support for fair pay for American workers?
Oren Cass:
"The problem is not so much that public policy has failed as that it has succeeded at the wrong things. America is like the classic romantic-comedy heroine who, as the trailer intones, “had it all, or so she thought.” She has the prestigious job and the elegant apartment, yet she is not happy. She has pursued the wrong goals, she discovers, and to reach them, she sacrificed the things that mattered most.
We got exactly what we thought we wanted: strong overall economic growth and a large GDP, rising material living standards, a generous safety net, rapid improvements in environmental quality, extraordinarily affordable flat-screen televisions and landscaping services. Yet we gave up something we took for granted: a labor market in which the nation’s diverse array of families and communities could support themselves."
An interesting discussion with Oren Cass on UnHerd with Freddie Sayers J.D. VANCE AND THE “NEW RIGHT”:
https://unherd.com/watch-listen/the-philosophy-of-j-d-vance/
More: https://unherd.com/2024/07/j-d-vance-de-facto-prince-of-the-maga-movement/
This is is a sobering read. Whether Chris's words are accurate or not they highlight the difference in priority between the republicans and the democrats. IMO, in simple terms, the Dems have done a poor job of looking after struggling Americans, and the Republicans promise to change that. Biden's America see's the US as overseeing the worlds security in order that Russia and China and others don't become more powerful, the result being those nations becoming more of a threat to the US itself. The republicans don't see that as a priority and seem to look upon the current US overseas policies as medalling. For me the reason for the popularity of Trump is that for increasing numbers of Americans they don't see that what happens overseas is relevant to them. They are inward looking. Many wouldn't care about what Russia and China do and wouldn't know or care where NZ is. Trumps policies to date seem to revolve around giving Americans more, by using trade barriers and horse trading where he can. He also has no conscience about saving money by pulling American soldiers and resources out of overseas conflicts. His idea for preventing war is bluff and bluster. On the other hand Biden gets no credit for trying to maintain the balance of power. We can see Trump and his running mate winning the election, but I for one fear for the free world, because protectionist policies won't strengthen the US in the long term and in the short term other authoritarian powers, like the US will be, will do as they wish.
ReplyDeleteJD Vance says the UK will be the first Muslim nation with nuclear weapons. I think we really need people who can express things like that even if they are tongue in cheek.
ReplyDeleteBiden talked about non-stop immigration and non-whites becoming an absolute majority. He said "that isn't a bad thing, it's a good thing. It's a source of our strength". That's why many American's support Trump (and that is well supported by the data).
People crave status because in social animals it is associated with with sustenance. Hollywood types are status billionaires; Jacinda can very well ask "what if we change what us means", she is a status millionaire. If she's your girlfriend she can't be everyone else's. That isn't going to work.
Arlie Hoschild interprets this as being seen to "cut into the line" (referring to migrants, women and minorities). There is a subtle difference there. One suggests elites dishing out soup; the other a group oriented to do battle: the nation; the tribe. Which doesn't mean they actually go to battle but it stirs the same emotions?
David,
ReplyDeleteI agree.
This would be more appropriate for some hack "News of the World" Journalist trying to smear the development of a new Republican politic.
Chris, you are better than this.
JD Vance is a Yale educated protege of billionaire tech mogul Peter Theil who got out of Ohio is quickly as he could. He is NOT a flannel shirt wearing "real American" – that is just an act to appeal to surface-level thinkers. He is a member of the elite through and through.
ReplyDeleteVance was a staunch Never Trumper in 2016 and until recently - the recent acceptance and embrace of Trump by the Establishment and his welcoming into the fold has everything to do with Trump (perhaps understandably, given the relentless campaign against him for 8 years) now not being any sort of threat or change merchant.
In other words, in addition to his first term where he was completely subverted and his policy diverted and diluted, they 100% know that Trump will be just like any other GOP candidate would have been - you only need to have watched the snore-fest and prosaic RNC over the last few days to see this.
Vance hasn't changed his mind about "Trumpism" (i.e. the "literally Hitler" Trump) he and the rest of the GOP establishment and billionaire donors just recognise that 2016 Trump is long gone and is never coming back, so they can get on board with the husk which is mere surface appearance.
There's no need to worry Chris - Trump is not the Caesar he could and should have been, and Vance is definitely not Octavian.
Well if JD Vance thinks that Britain will be the first Muslim nation with nuclear weapons, let's hope they don't put him in charge of foreign policy, because Pakistan has had them now for years. Not quite on the level of what's a leppo, but comes close.
ReplyDeleteIt's a long time – a very long time since I read his book, and returned it to the op shop from whence it came. I enjoyed some of the personal stories but his analysis of the reasons for poverty in Appalachia it seems to me were a bit simplistic. At least from what I remember it didn't get much further than pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Maybe because he didn't really live there? I've just read a few reviews to refresh my memory, and he's been accused of ignoring the racial divide, and the actual ethnic diversity of Appalachia which is quite a large area. This by people who know more about the whole thing than I do or anyone else here I suspect.
If his present rhetoric is a true indication of what the "new right" believes, we should all be pretty scared I think. But I'm not sure that Vance believes in anything much but power, as shown by his complete reversal of his criticisms of Trump. Pretty damn good criticisms it seemed to me at the time.
Trae Crowder the "liberal redneck" did a pretty good run down of him on his YouTube channel. At least he'd met the man.
He seems to me to typify the modern Republican – a nativist, a corporatist, and according to many fact checkers – a downright liar.
This is just one passage from Eric Kaufmann's latest book Taboo: How making Race Sacred Sparked a cultural Revolution
ReplyDeleteThe progressive identity pushes its adherents toward empathy-driven actions rather than logically-consistent principles. This emotion-led strategy is empathetic toward some, but creates a new set of (i.e., conservative) enemies to be ruthlessly demonized as obstacles to empathy.65 A good example of how the progressive identity works is the shift from a color-blind liberalism of equal treatment to a color-conscious drive toward equal outcomes. The heady emotions and hopes surrounding the Civil Rights Movement saw President Lyndon Johnson get swept away when addressing students at the historically Black Howard University in 1965. In the speech, Johnson argued that you cannot remove a man's chains, bring him to the starting line, and expect him to compete. "We seek," he added, "not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result." This may have tugged at the heartstrings and captured the hopes of his audience, but it represented the displacement of pre-1965 cultural liberalism in favor of post-1965 cultural socialism. Suddenly, the door was open to restricting liberty and equal treatment in the name of achieving "equality of result." The perceptive Black liberal, Bayard Rustin, correctly rued this change of emphasis from freedom to social engineering as a betrayal of the principles that had governed the Civil Rights Movement under Martin Luther King Jr.66 Pathways have a Power Point which stats with Lyndon Johnson and finishes with Rangitira of Immigration (Old dead White men not Maori).
Guerilla Surgeon
ReplyDeleteFirst, I'd place money on the fact that you have never read Vance's book - most people would have never heard of him until this week, or at best, the last couple of years. You're vague criticisms could have been lifted from any cursory mention of the book in the media.
Second, "If his present rhetoric is a true indication of what the "new right" believes, we should all be pretty scared I think. But I'm not sure that Vance believes in anything much but power, as shown by his complete reversal of his criticisms of Trump. Pretty damn good criticisms it seemed to me at the time."
I wonder which of Vance's statements you find scary? If you mean that he is openly on board with bombing Iran for Israel, then first, this makes him no different from 90% of GOP politicians, and second, it helps explain why he's been elevated from relative obscurity: formerly "liberal" Jewish support has fallen behind Trump since Oct 7th, because they see that' Trump will be better for Israel than Biden has been.
Make no mistake, I think Vance is terrible and is not what he is being portrayed as (i.e. a genuinely conservative and actual right wing nationalist). But as I have said above, he hasn't reversed his 2016 position on Trump, it's that the 2016 Trump is long gone, which is why Vance and others now fell it's safe to associate with Trump, so completely neutered has Trump become. He's no longer a threat to the system, which is why he will be given an easy run to a second term. Even institutions like the NY Times are writing positive articles about Trump now, which tells us a lot.
A Shout out to Labour, Green and Maori Party
ReplyDeleteTaboo - How making Race Sacred Produced a Cultural Revolution - Eric Kaufmann
The Advent of Contemporary Cancel Culture Movements that rely on emotion and romantic slogans are always in danger of overreaching. Energy directed toward tearing down the existing order with no clear vision of where the nation should go rarely improves the common good. In attacking the institutional, moral, and cultural foundations of their country in superlative ways, and in focusing only on maximizing subaltern group claims, the new identity movements and their New Left acolytes chipped away at society's cohesion, liberty, and excellence, eroding America's cultural wealth. The larger stream of left-liberals, having accepted White guilt and the sacralization of race, and identifying with the minority oppressed against the White oppressor, went along with the views of the radicals.
As a result, the first manifestations of post-Civil Rights cancel culture occur in this period. In 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a New Deal Democrat working for the Johnson administration, wrote a report for the Department of Labor entitled The Negro Family: The Case for Action. This was vilified by newly-influential Black radicals and, by extension, the New Left and liberal-left, and promptly shelved by President Johnson. Moynihan, using patient analysis and statistics, had shown a substantial rise in out-of-wedlock births in Black families to a quarter of all births. Ironically, this figure has since been eclipsed by Whites, but the relationships between family breakdown and economic problems which he pointed to have consistently recurred in the data. Indeed, fatherlessness has been implicated as a more important inhibitor of social mobility than socioeconomic factors or race.84 This illustrates how the new post-big-bang morality, weaponized by cultural socialist activists, stifles important research and policy interventions that may have more effectively reduced racial inequality.
I wonder what Chris expects to happen to Ukraine if Trump and Vance do not win in November? The war is not going Ukraine's way at the moment is it? And it isn't going to change without a full-on hands on war effort by the Nato alliance is it! . Or do you think that Ukraine is winning?
ReplyDeleteThe only possible end to this is either a negotiated agreement or a victory for Russia; either of which will involve the transfer of the contested regions to Russia ; But the former will involve more and more deaths to mostly Ukrainian soldiers but many Russians as well. That is unless Nato declares war on Russia. The end product of that scenario is clearly a must to avoid. If Nato is successful in defeating Russia; or threatens to on Russian territory Russia will certainly defend itself with nukes , and if Nato can't defeat Russia and suffers defeat itself then Nato or rather the US will use nukes. Either way it's the end isn't it?
It looks to me as if Trump and Vance are the world's only hope.
Enough of the Hitler references please! Chris, you're better than 'Reductio ad Hitlerum'
ReplyDeleteFor sure Trump is an economic nationalist, as well he should be because he's not voted in by the WTO or the Klaus Fucking Schwab. He's intending to do what he thinks is best for Americans. Hmmm I wonder why that's popular/populist!
As for Viktor Orban, you may not have noticed that Hungarian cities aren't being torched by rioting 3rd world trash as are Leeds and London at the moment. (Carefully not mentioned on the News here). There have been no bombings or racially motivated stabbings on the streets of Budapest either.
If you're looking for the new sturmabteilung, cast your gaze on to the race-obsessed left of politics. Because just like a 100 years ago, socialism has once again metastasized into actual fascism.
@Chris, you might want to have a read of this, The Power and The Glory, including quotes from Vance in an interview he did with Newsweek in 2022 as he ran for the Ohio Senate seat:
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I had no idea about, coming from a working-class background, is that America’s ruling class loves to celebrate how much power and money it has. I call these “masters of the universe” events, and they’re held all over the country in fancy hotels, ski lodges and beach resorts. On this particular evening, my wife and I found ourselves at a roundtable with the CEO of a large hotel chain on our left, and a large communications conglomerate on our right.
The Republicans, we’re often told, are the party of the rich and famous. Yet nearly everyone assembled at this dinner simply loathed Donald Trump. He was the focus of nearly every conversation.
...
And then the hotel CEO announced, “Trump has no idea how much his policies are hurting business. I mean, we can’t keep people for $18 an hour in our hotels. If we’re not paying $20, we’re understaffed. And it’s all because of Donald Trump’s immigration policies.”
Let’s pause for a second to appreciate one of the wealthiest men in the world complaining about paying hard-working staff $20 an hour. The only thing he was missing was the Monopoly Man hat and cane.
...
His argument, while vile, was at least intellectually honest:
“Normally, if we can’t find workers at a given wage, we just get a bunch of immigrants to do the job. It’s easy. But there are so few people coming in across the border, so we just have to pay the people here more.”
It's one of the reasons he was so hated in the GOP, to the extent of wealthy enemies spending millions to destroy him in the Senate primary campaign.:
We’d already kind of locked it up. We were way ahead in the polls. A Republican donor group put $2 million on TV to attack me, which really didn’t hurt my candidacy against the other Republicans. It actually just hurt me against the Democrats. So actually the candidacy — my candidacy revealed an incredible amount of corruption in our own party, and I think that’s one of the things that I do have to fight against.“
Come on. Just admit that if he was a Democrat saying those things, you'd be more than a little warm to him.
The histrionics over Vance is coming from all quarters but not so much from the people that really matter; the American people.
ReplyDeleteThe Neocons, the Woke Left and the Globalist WEF types don't like him at all, so probably a good choice from Trumpy.
Vance's friend and benefactor Peter Theil:
"I went to the World Economic Forum in Davos the last time in 2013, and of course, they have the same ideas as the mob. And in some ways, it is a mob.
And people are there only in their capacity as representatives of corporations or of governments or of NGOs.
And it really hit me: There are simply no individuals. There are no individuals in the room. There’s nobody there who’s representing themselves.
And it’s this notion of the future I reject. A picture of the future where the future will be a world where there are no individuals. There are no people with ideas of their own. There’s nobody to say, this is wrong. This doesn’t make sense. And I’m going to think differently. I’m going to think for myself."
Ayaan Hirsi Ali has an interesting new essay up on her "Restoration" website: JD Vance versus Kamala Harris: He is the Real Deal
Some reflections on Trump’s multifaceted running mate. https://www.restorationbulletin.com/p/jd-vance-versus-kamala-harris-he
BTW, much as I enjoy these debates, especially when the Democrats are in a bad way, you really should do a post on Biden and his larger meaning for the Democrat Party - meaning his failures - and perhaps even the wider questions for the Western Left in the wake of Jacinda, Justin and the lack of enthusiasm for Starmer.
ReplyDeleteBut outside of the political bunfight is a larger question that I don't see being asked enough, especially in the MSM: if Biden is not capable of being the Democrat candidate for President, surely he's also not capable of being the President now?
We wake up to find that Biden has finally thrown in the towel. Who will the Dems pick as his replacement?
ReplyDeleteKamala Harris is keen "to see what can be, unburdened by what has been."
https://x.com/i/status/1815057918229975147
Hi Chris
ReplyDeleteWith respect to the “Illiberal” prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban he has won four democratic elections in a row, unlike our former “Illiberal” Prime Minister who bailed from the role prior to facing certain defeat at the last election.
The progressive left has deemed Orban illiberal because he refuses to allow primary school children to be targeted by LGBT activists, refuses to allow economic ‘refugees’ from north Africa and elsewhere who hold a certain religious pursuasion to enter and settle in Hungary.
I have visited Budapest. It’s a place where gay couples can hold hands in the street and no one gives them a passing thought. It’s a place where Jews dressed in their traditional attire can walk publicly in the streets without fear of being molested. Try that in any major city in Europe, or the USA for that matter.
While there is some evidence of homelessness it is nothing like Seattle and San Francisco where there are tent cities under bridges and widespread evidence of drug taking, where the dangerous and the deranged wander the streets.
It is “Illiberal” Orban who in his six month term as President of the EU has visited both the leaders of Russia and Ukraine in an attempt to find a pathway to peace, while fellow EU leaders prefer instead to prepare for war.
Yes, there is corruption in Hungary, where it rates 76 out of 180 countries. This is not unusual for nations that have been occupied by the Ottoman Empire, the Germans and the Soviets until 1989. However they are strongly nationalistic, with just 10 million people, being the only Hungarian language speaking nation.
Orban may not fit the preferred western progressive profile, but he remains the people’s choice in his own country.
https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-300-vance-trump-and-the
ReplyDeleteInteresting take on Vance from a very clever guy.
What you said Brendan is interesting for what you left out. Orban has made frequent attacks on freedom of speech, something which you complain about, if and when the left do it.
ReplyDeleteHe's also made anti-Semitic attacks on George Soros. Which shows that if he is not personally anti-Semitic he is certainly opportunistic.
“In the rhetoric of some Hungarian politicians [talking] about Soros, the only word missing is ‘Jew.’” Yossi Amrani, Israel's ambassador to Hungary.
He has also minimised Hungary's role in the Holocaust. And, surprise surprise, there is some evidence of vote tampering in his 2022 victory. But then I guess as a Christian nationalist yourself Brendan you don't really care about that? Perhaps you could inform us as to what extent you would be willing to subvert democracy to get a Christian is government?
And I'm sorry, but visiting a place does not necessarily give you a special insight into it.
And, he's done a little more than just stop children from being targeted by LGBTQ "activists"? (Something which they don't do I might say, given that it's not as you have so often said a "lifestyle choice".) He's banned same-sex marriage and banned gay couples from adopting children – I guess that's what you might mean by "targeting"?
ReplyDeleteVance seems like a decent guy to me. Strong faith, good personality, nice wife. What's not to like? I'd just like a leftist just once to look at someone on the right and not see the end of the world. But that's the problem with leftists, it's the end of democracy if Trump is elected, the world's going to end unless we cut our carbon emissions, the overturning of Roe vs Wade is the end of a woman's right to choose.
ReplyDeleteThe fact of the matter is if Trump is elected his policies will be pretty good. The vice president will be good as well. You'll just have to put up with a few mean tweets 😎
Tangentially related to American politics an interesting, wide-ranging conversation from earlier today, Elon Musk and Jordan Peterson. Elon reveals one of the reasons he has come out so strongly against "the woke mind virus"* and his recent political realignment generally. He is donating to the Republicans.
ReplyDelete“I was tricked into giving puberty blockers to my son. My son Xavier is dead. Killed by the woke mind virus. This is the reason I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus.”
https://x.com/i/status/1815502869212348623
* actually Gad Saad's phrase.
Well said Brendan. Pretty sure he knows what a woman is as well.
ReplyDeleteSome outstanding and, for many, long awaited Jordan Peterson interviews just landed:
ReplyDeleteElon Musk: AI technology implications, gender ideology, politics and much more - note this has now been taken down by YouTube but is still up on X.
https://x.com/i/status/1816258948087046264
Joe Rogan: politics, religion, psychedelics, https://youtu.be/r_3yOQl9E4I
Mary Harrington: Reappropriating Feminism, Maternity, and the Woman’s Role https://youtu.be/3ZXQ4Koie5w
J D Vance is weird. https://x.com/i/status/1818083579445866884
ReplyDeleteA week is a long time in politics...
ReplyDeletehttps://ftw.usatoday.com/2024/07/jd-vance-couch-memes-associated-press
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/07/regrets-about-jd-vance/679220/
https://www.politico.eu/article/joe-biden-out-jd-vance-wrong-pick-vice-president-donald-trump-us-election-2024/
"“I was tricked into giving puberty blockers to my son. My son Xavier is dead. Killed by the woke mind virus. This is the reason I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus.”"
ReplyDeleteAnd yet his daughter has said that he was well aware of what he was doing and wasn't tricked into it. Honestly who on earth would believe Musk, he is not only a liar he's evil through and through. He doesn't sound like the sort of person who would even be interested in his children – a little like Donald Trump.
I don't believe that stuff about Vance and the couch obviously but it's led to at least one good joke.
"How you doing JD?" "Sofa so good."