J.D. Vance: A Heartbeat from Power, Soulless and Owned
More calculating than Trump, more ruthless in ambition — and just a heartbeat away from ultimate power.
In 2016, J.D. Vance was warning friends that Donald Trump might be “America’s Hitler.” He called Trump “reprehensible,” a “cynical fraud,” and dismissed MAGA as “cultural heroin.” That was the Vance of Hillbilly Elegy fame — a man who claimed to speak for forgotten rural communities while presenting himself as a truth-teller against demagoguery.
Fast forward to today: Vance is not just Trump’s most loyal foot soldier — he is Vice President of the United States. The story of how he got there isn’t one of principle or conviction. It’s the story of a man who has proven, over and over again, that he has no fixed moral code. And that is what makes him dangerous.
From Trump Critic to Trump Loyalist
Vance’s record of reversals reads like a cautionary tale of ambition swallowing integrity.
On Trump: From “America’s Hitler” in 2016 to “great President” by 2022, once Trump’s endorsement became the golden ticket to a Senate seat.
On Abortion: First declaring there should be no exceptions for rape or incest (“two wrongs don’t make a right”), then pivoting to talk of “reasonable exceptions” once he faced voters in a general election.
On Marriage Equality: Publicly says he has no intention of undoing same-sex marriage, while voting against codifying it into law.
On Democracy Itself: He openly stated he would not have certified the 2020 election results as Vice President and supported schemes for “alternate electors.” Translation: the rules of democracy are optional if they stand in his way.
This isn’t a man evolving. It’s a man discarding convictions like old campaign signs.
Who Bought J.D. Vance?
If Trump’s ownership is always shadowy and speculative, the receipts for J.D. Vance are glaring.
Peter Thiel wrote the checks. Thiel bankrolled Vance’s Senate run with at least $15 million in super PAC money. That’s not an endorsement — that’s a purchase.
The donor class lined up. Billionaires like Richard Uihlein, Rebekah Mercer, and David Sacks piled on. His political ascent was less “grassroots uprising” and more a carefully engineered hostile takeover by Silicon Valley and hedge fund barons.
The fund manager turned populist. Before politics, Vance co-founded Narya Capital with backing from Thiel, Andreessen Horowitz, and even Eric Schmidt. It was less about investing in Appalachia, more about cementing his ties to elites he now serves in public office.
The pattern is clear: J.D. Vance speaks the language of the forgotten worker while cashing the checks of billionaires who wouldn’t last five minutes in the towns he writes about.
A Populist Veneer, an Authoritarian Core
Vance wraps himself in the rhetoric of family, faith, and working-class grit. But scratch the surface, and his record tells a different story.
Labor: He posed at UAW picket lines but voted against labor-friendly NLRB appointees and the PRO Act.
Families: Floated giving parents extra votes — a direct attack on one-person-one-vote democracy.
Freedom: Entertained bans on pornography and called Ukraine irrelevant to U.S. interests while aligning with nationalist strongmen abroad.
Community: Launched a nonprofit to fight the opioid crisis, Our Ohio Renewal ,that quietly fizzled after spending more on consultants than on helping anyone.
The through-line isn’t principle. It’s expediency.
Why Vance Is More Dangerous Than Trump
Trump is a known quantity — chaotic, narcissistic, predictable in his unpredictability. J.D. Vance is different. He’s calculating, disciplined, and, crucially, he has demonstrated that his values are entirely negotiable.
Where Trump improvises, Vance strategizes. Where Trump wants applause, Vance wants power. And where Trump is owned in whispers, Vance is owned on paper.
The billionaire class has found its man — a shapeshifter in hillbilly drag who will say anything, betray anyone, and dismantle any democratic norm to get where they want him to go.
That’s why J.D. Vance deserves more scrutiny than he gets. He isn’t just a Trump lackey. He’s the prototype for a new kind of authoritarian politician: one who has already proven he’ll sell his soul for the highest bid.
I'm high AF right now, but I wouldn't bid a nickel for Vance's soul. I am not convinced MAGA will warm to Vance either, so the technocrats may want to hurry up their totalitarian plan before Trump passes.
He needs to be hanged too