by Christopher F. Rufo
Former president Donald Trump’s selection of Ohio senator J. D. Vance as his running mate has generated much commentary. The mainstream media has tried to frame Vance as a postliberal “threat to democracy,” while Trump’s supporters have celebrated him as a bridge to a new generation.
But there is a deeper story here. The Vance selection is not a gambit to secure a particular demographic or region—white men are Trump’s base; Ohio is a safe red state—but an effort to cultivate an emerging counter-elite that could make the second Trump administration substantially more effective than the first.
This story is built into J. D. Vance’s biographical arc. He was the all-American kid who rose from humble beginnings to make his way in the world: the Marines; Yale Law; venture capital; a best-selling book. He learned the language of the prestige institutions, cultivated powerful patrons, and quickly climbed the ladder in academia, finance, and business. He had made it.
Then, his story takes a turn. Having entered the ranks of America’s elite, Vance became disillusioned and disenchanted with it, correctly identifying it as a force of hypocrisy and corruption. He defected—first, by parting ways with the respectable conservatism of the Beltway, and then by embracing Donald Trump.
Some have criticized this as a cynical move, but my sense is that it is the opposite. A cynic would have continued to build an elite résumé; Vance sacrificed his respectability within a certain stratum, assumed considerable risk by moving toward Trump, and, in my view, was genuinely convinced that the establishment, both Left and Right, had exhausted itself and had to be opposed.
Now, not only has Vance been selected as a vice-presidential nominee; more significantly, he has charted the path for an emerging new conservative counter-elite.
The political balance is beginning to shift. A significant cohort of power brokers in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street have publicly moved toward Trump in this election cycle. Some of the names are familiar: Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen, David Sacks, Bill Ackman. But hundreds of other influential figures are assembling behind the scenes to support Trump’s campaign. Even some of Trump’s former adversaries, such as Mark Zuckerberg, have expressed cautious admiration for the former president.
Vance can now position himself at the center of this counter-elite. He has been in the boardrooms, made the pitches, and built the relationships. He speaks their language. They can do business together.
This could represent a sea-change. During the first Trump administration, especially following the death of George Floyd, institutional elites could neither express admiration for nor devote public support to Trump without paying a significant political price. Now the market has shifted, with a dissident elite moving along a similar path as Vance.
Signals in these institutions always flow from the top down. When the All-In podcast members host a fundraiser for Trump, they give permission to others in Silicon Valley to do the same. When Bill Ackman endorses Trump without negative repercussions, he gives permission to others on Wall Street to speak their minds.
If the Trump-Vance ticket wins in November, this counter-elite support could pay significant dividends for the Trump agenda.
The left is scared shitless of Vance. Note that, so far, all they’ve flung at him are lies. Some made up crap about screwing a couch. He wasn’t really poor; he was raised in a wealthy household (thus his Yale degree). The left doesn’t even bother hiding the fact they are lying, they simply are following Goebbels’ advice and repeating the lies incessantly.
I hope Vance is that guy that replaces Trump and maintains the Trump agenda. The left certainly fears he is.
JD Vance with have the opportunity in four years to do what bush 41 did not. That is, Ronald Reagan set in motion the Regan Revolution that had bush 41 simply administered and nurtured its continued growth, there never would have been bill clintion, bush 43 and then obama. Much of the dysfunction in America and the world was bush 41’s failure to continue the revolution. His commitment to “A new world order” celebrating globalism put the emergency brakes on the Reagan Revolution. Then, when the opportunity to take advantage of the the People of China to remove communism, Tiananmen Square, he sided with the Communist Regime welcoming them into the world’s trade market.
The Berlin wall had fallen and the world was on the precipice of ending the two largest communist regimes at that point in time. Fast forward and the naivete of thinking China would embrace western capitalism while maintaining a communist regime was a risk taken that has not worked out as intended.