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- Title
Come J.D. Vance ha conquistato prima la Sinistra e poi la Destra.
- Authors
Mayes, Liam
- Abstract
In 2016, J.D. Vance published Hillbilly Elegy, a memoir of his ascension from rust-belt poverty to Yale Law School. Under Donald Trump’s caustic shadow, liberal audiences celebrated the book for its honest description and measured analysis. In 2021, Vance set his sights on a seat in the US Senate and built a successful campaign based on speaking out against what he considered the greatest threats to American prosperity, including the “Biden border crisis,” Critical Race Theory’s divisive influence, and abortion. During the campaign, liberal media was fixated on the contrast between Vance’s measured voice in his memoir and the inflammatory rhetoric of his campaign, and concluded that the thoughtful memoirist had turned into a bigoted monster. Through an analysis of Hillbilly Elegy’s open disdain for those Vance deemed irresponsible – drug users, the unemployed, recipients of social assistance, among others – as well as his explicit and unyielding faith that persecuting these people would solve otherwise intractable social problems, this essay argues that the dominant account of Vance’s political transformation sweeps the uncomfortable history of his liberal allure under the rug and obscures the force behind his appeal.
- Subjects
CRITICAL race theory; TRUMP, Donald, 1946-; UNITED States. Congress. Senate; YALE Law School; DRUG abusers; SOCIAL problems; LAW schools; CONTEMPT (Attitude)
- Publication
Ácoma - Rivista Internazionale di Studi Nord-Americani, 2023, Issue 24, p37
- ISSN
1122-6218
- Publication type
Article