In convention speech, JD Vance exploits Appalachia for political gain. Again. | Opinion

Here in Kentucky in the past few days, we’ve revisited a lot of feelings about JD Vance and his not-so-hot takes on Appalachia as described in his breakthrough book, “Hillbilly Elegy.”

As many folks said at the time, the book was less a memoir than an opening salvo on his way to higher office. It attempted to explain Appalachia to coastal liberals with a lot of stereotypes that rightfully angered the people who live there.

Kentucky Poet Laureate Silas House said the first time he read it, “it read like the launching of a political campaign to me.” (This revisiting has included lots of great pointers for better books and films about Appalachia.)

Vance’s journey from Breathitt County to vice-presidential candidate has included some screeching 180-degree turns, such as calling Trump “America’s Hitler” before he decided Trump should return as the leader of the free world. Coincidentally, this change of heart happened around the same time he decided to run for his Ohio Senate seat.

Once there, he leaned even more into his new persona as a hard-line MAGA guy and Trump sycophant. One of the scariest was that Vance was one of 20 senators who signed a letter that urged the Biden Administration to drop a rule that would prevent police from accessing the medical records of people seeking reproductive services in other states, according to Lever News.

In other words, a rule that would allow police to come after women who leave a state like Kentucky to get an abortion in Illinois. Guess who else joined this movement? Former Kentucky Attorney General and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Daniel Cameron.

This is really scary, next-level stuff from the party of Lincoln, like starting up your own period police to see exactly who’s pregnant and when. Vance has also decried the ease of no-fault divorce , heightening all the paranoia of people like me who think the GOP will next go after divorce laws, gay marriage and birth control.

But how worried should we be?

Noticing how unpopular the Dobbs decision has been, the Republican National Convention noticeably softened its abortion rhetoric. Vance, who also opposed exceptions to abortions bans for rape and incest, has followed Trump’s lead in talking less about abortion and more about immigration and national security.

Vance’s convention night speech was on its face exactly what was needed: Lots about his impoverished Appalachian roots, his feisty mawmaw, his inspirational rise to Yale Law School and from there to Trump’s right side. (It’s worth pointing out here are many inspirational and successful people in the world who start from nothing and still manage not to work for Peter Thiel. But I digress.)

Vance is a shapeshifter, another exploiter who keeps using Appalachia for his own ends. His story will play well in such important swing states as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. People see what they want to. Trump promised to bring coal back to Appalachia. He hasn’t, and he’ll still win Kentucky by 20 or 30 points.

The 39-year-old Vance is young, smart, good-looking and has all the political instincts of a successful grifter. He was one of the first people to say that the attempted assassination of Trump on July 13 was somehow Democrats’ fault, even though only one party tried to overthrow the 2020 election results.

On that note, Vance might want to think a little more about why Trump had a job opening on his slate.

He even has some populist leanings, such as joining up with fellow Ohio Senator Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, on legislation that would force railroads to follow new safety rules after the East Palestine, Ohio, spill. The bill is now in limbo because other Republicans like Mitch McConnell think it is too favorable to unions and they oppose new regulations on industry.

Vance understands it’s all about the vibes.

The hillbillies he blamed in his book for being shiftless and unable to envision a better future for themselves will now become his best rhetorical friends. They’ll be able to recognize him at many podiums in future days, standing with his finger in the wind to see which way it’s blowing.