To reread "Hillbilly Elegy" now, as I did this week, is to feel a sense of disorientation. JD Vance the author sounds a lot different than JD Vance the politician. Personally, I first read "Hillbilly Elegy" in college, in an earnest if somewhat contrived attempt to better understand communities unlike mine. On stage, he recounted a story that also appears in "Hillbilly Elegy," where Mamaw bluntly threatens violence against one of Vance's friends. There are hints of this in "Hillbilly Elegy" as well: He served as a public affairs Marine, where he was trained in the art of media relations, including "how stay on message."

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Persons: JD Vance, It's, Vance, Donald Trump's, Trumper, Trump, I've, who's, Vance didn't, JD, Alex Wong, Mamaw, Mom, Brett Kavanaugh, there's, New York Times's Ross Douthat, There's, he's, Usha, Mike Johnson, Kamil Krzacynski, — Vance Organizations: Service, Republican, audience's, Democratic, Capitol Hill, Republican National Convention, Supreme, New, GOP, Marine, Yale Law School, Getty Locations: Ohio, Middletown , Ohio, Appalachia, Middletown, Washington, New York, Ukraine, AFP