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Source: Global Times

[Global Times Special Correspondent] Liu Haoran was born in the "Rust Belt" and grew up in a poor family. James Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio who is not yet 40 years old, was "promoted out of the ordinary" and was "appointed" by former President Trump as his running mate on the 15th local time. If Trump wins the election, Vance will also become the youngest vice president of the United States in nearly 70 years. In the eyes of American public opinion, his counterattack journey can be called a real-life interpretation of the "American Dream" script.

Pictured: James Vance's profile picture

“The embodiment of the American dream”

Vance was born on August 2, 1984 in Middletown, Ohio, a small town with a population of only tens of thousands. He was abandoned by his biological father before he learned to walk. His mother was not only addicted to drugs, but also mentally unstable and had no parenting ability at all. For this reason, little Vance's childhood was once plagued by poverty and abuse. However, according to the Los Angeles Times, Vance was later raised by his grandmother, so he usually calls his grandparents "Dad and Mom." In fact, Vance's original name was "James Hamel" - Hamel was his stepfather, and later changed his name to James Vance based on his grandfather's surname.

Vance was in high school when the 9/11 terrorist attacks shocked the world. After graduation, he did not apply for college directly, but chose to join the army. During his four years in the Marine Corps, he was stationed in Iraq with the army and worked in a civilian job. After retiring, Vance returned to his hometown to continue his studies. He graduated from Ohio State University in 2009 and was later admitted to Yale Law School.

In the early days of his career, Vance worked as an assistant to Senator John Cornyn and a judge of the Kentucky District Court. He then worked in a law firm and venture capital. In 2014, Vance married his law school classmate Usha, and they have three children. His Indian wife comes from a family of scholars, and both her parents are professors and scholars. Vance's "reversal of life" has been talked about by many media outlets, including Ohio Lieutenant Governor Hursted, who recently praised him as the "incarnation of the American dream."

Vance and family

Memoirs become a "reference book" in the political arena

What really made Vance famous was his memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" published in 2016, which describes the real ecology of the "Rust Belt" in the United States. Against the backdrop of highly polarized American society, this book made the wealthy class who had long lived in coastal cities realize for the first time the difficulties of people's livelihood in industrially declining areas. It was this huge group that laid the foundation for Trump's victory in 2016. The book "dominated" the New York Times bestseller list for nearly a year and was later adapted into a movie. The Washington Post praised it as "the cry of the Rust Belt", and many American political elites and media people regarded it as a must-read for "analyzing Trump".

It is worth mentioning that Vance's success is due to his mentor in law school, Amy Chua, the controversial "tiger mom" and the originator of the "chicken baby" policy. In addition to being a professor at Yale Law School, Amy Chua is also a best-selling author. When she was teaching, she always encouraged Vance to write his life experience into an autobiography.

Vance began his political campaign in 2021 and is preparing to succeed outgoing Ohio Senator Robert Portman. During the campaign, Peter Thiel, a well-known American venture capitalist and co-founder of the online payment platform Paypal, spent tens of millions of dollars on his super PAC. Vance also lived up to expectations and defeated his Democratic rivals in the 2022 midterm elections.

"Trump clone"

According to an analysis by USA Today, Vance's most prominent advantage is that he is both "obedient" and "money-making". The media said that Trump considers fundraising ability as an important criterion when selecting his running mate, and Vance has been exposed to "big capital" in the true sense during his venture capital career. On the other hand, Vance and Trump have a high degree of political consensus, and he is Trump's ideal "MAGA (Make America Great Again) fighter". Even President Biden lamented that Vance is "a clone of Trump".

Trump and his young deputy Vance

NBC said that Trump's choice may also be to avoid a risk: if Biden withdraws from the election and Harris wins the party nomination, she is likely to find a politician from the Midwest to win over the blue-collar class in the "Rust Belt", and Vance can just check and balance them. On the other hand, from the perspective of identity politics, Vance, a "millennial", is more likely to be favored by young Americans, and his wife's image will also be welcomed by ethnic minorities. NBC said that Vance has a close relationship with the Trump family, especially with his two sons. Before the formal nomination, Donald Jr. and Eric had strongly recommended Vance to their father. The Associated Press revealed that Trump did have a good impression of him and once joked that his beard was like a "young version of Lincoln."

Somewhat ironically, Vance was a fan of Trump during his first term, and publicly denounced him as "America's Hitler" and "hateful and stupid". During the 2016 election, Vance declared that "I would rather vote for my own dog than Trump and Hillary". His 180-degree turn in attitude has caused a lot of controversy, and he has been criticized by the public as a "speculator" and "fence-sitter". He bluntly defended himself by saying "people always change". He said in a telephone interview: "I blamed Trump for many reasons before, but I am glad that I blamed him (in fact, he is much better than I thought)." USA Today said that there are actually many cases of Trump's "turning from hater to fan" in the Republican Party. Donald Jr. recently "chosen" and said: "It's embarrassing that many media have repeatedly hyped this up as big news."