From a difficult childhood to the presidential ticket

(Middletown, Ohio) As a boy, J.D. Vance often sought refuge with his grandmother Bonnie in her cottage in Middletown, north of Cincinnati. The future politician was fleeing the instability caused by his mother’s drug addiction and romantic troubles.

“Even when his mother moved further down the street, he spent most of his time at his grandmother’s house, because she pushed him [à se dépasser] “It’s a family,” said Jerry Dobbins, who has lived two houses away at different times over the past 40 years and knew the family. The 68-year-old bought the house where his mother first lived, a yellow cottage with large armchairs on the front porch.

Mr. Dobbins remembers J.D. Vance, “how polite and kind” he was as a child, the gray-haired retiree said, sitting on the patio of the bar down the street where a few regulars gather at the end of the day.

In this residential neighborhood a short drive from downtown Middletown on McKinley Street, houses line up one after the other, all of the same design. Some are distinguished by neatly mowed lawns and signs welcoming visitors. Others by peeling paint and worn lawn furniture.

Difficult childhood

JD Vance has spoken a lot about his childhood in a city whose glory seemed to him to be past.

Born James Donald in August 1984, then renamed James David by his mother in his childhood, Donald Trump’s running mate published his memoirs in 2016 about his difficult youth in Ohio. He was then unknown to the general public.

In Hillbilly Elegypublished in French under the title Hillbilly ElegyJD Vance reflects on his youth, his service in the Marines, his studies at the prestigious Yale Law School, where he met his wife, Usha Chilukuri.

His family, especially his beloved “mamaw,” his maternal grandmother, looms large in his memoir, which was brought to the screen in 2020. This stern woman, originally from Kentucky, did not hesitate to resort to violence, and even tried to kill her own husband because of his alcoholism by throwing a match at him after dousing him in gasoline, he says.

In the climate of Donald Trump’s election, his portrayal of this disaffected white working class, his memories of his mother’s opioid addiction and his reflections on poverty put him on the media radar. He ran for and won a seat in the Senate in 2022.

“Hillbillies”

Not everyone in Middletown takes kindly to his criticism of the town and his description of the “hillbillies” he calls himself, a pejorative term that could be translated as “mountain hicks”: tough, violent people mired in poverty. Complacent in their condition, to a certain extent.

“Certainly a lot of people weren’t happy about it, but it was still his story, and he could tell it however he wanted,” said Trey Pitts, who we met in downtown Middletown.

The 58-year-old artist waited in line for four hours a few weeks ago to attend a JD Vance rally at their old high school, he said.

Sitting on a plastic chair in front of the windows of the Pendleton Art Center, Mr. Pitts nervously glances out of the corner of his eye at homeless people in the nearby park as he speaks. One of them, visibly impaired, shouts incomprehensible words.

The trendy coffee shop across the street and the colorful arts center are testament to Middletown’s desire to make its downtown a more welcoming place. But like many cities, it also has its problems with homelessness and poverty.

Turnarounds

JD Vance’s life has been marked by twists and turns. He grew up in a blue-collar Democratic family. After law school, he became a venture capitalist, moved to Middletown in Silicon Valley and embraced the Republican cause. He worked with billionaire Peter Thiel, who contributed to his Senate campaign.

The senator is now a proud supporter of Donald Trump, despite publicly comparing the presidential candidate in 2016 to… the heroin that was wreaking havoc in communities across the country.

“It made me scratch my head when I heard he said some negative things about Trump,” said Gerald Hindman, a Middletown retiree outside his bungalow. “It makes me question it, but as long as he supports him and stands with Trump — not like that other guy, Pence — it’s fine.”

The 63-year-old doesn’t hold it against Vance, who has since said on numerous occasions that he has gone through a process of thinking that he realized that Donald Trump had more substance to his ideas than he previously thought.

Vice-presidential candidate

Amanda Bailey is also a Trump supporter and had little concern for his choice as a running mate. The 35-year-old has lived for two years in the blue McKinley Street cottage where Vance’s grandparents moved decades ago and where young JD has spent countless hours. “I think they’re a good team, but it doesn’t change anything for me to know that the vice presidential candidate comes from here, from the same community,” says the mother of six.

The name of the vice presidential candidate is rarely a deciding factor for voters who are primarily asked to vote for a future president.

But controversies surrounding a running mate can draw negative attention to the party.

Vance’s comments about childless people have come to the forefront recently. In 2021, he accused Democrats of being a “bunch of childless catwomen” with no real interest in the future of the country. The father of three children, ages 2 to 6, was not new to commenting on families. He has previously advocated for giving parents more say in elections.

Donald Trump’s running mate converted to Catholicism five years ago, joining a fringe of young conservatives drawn to his values. He presents himself as a fervent defender of families.

While he is a supporter of J.D. Vance, Mr. Dobbins disagrees with him on this point. He has never had children. His wife has had a dozen miscarriages.

“But I was Santa every year,” Dobbins said. “Not having children of my own doesn’t make me less interested in the future. In my family, we’re all there for each other; I have cousins ​​who call me ‘uncle.'”

J.D. Vance’s mother lived temporarily not far from the family home and Mr. Dobbins’s. Her former neighbor refuses to talk about the Vances. “My mother always told me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say, I better keep my mouth shut,” the white-haired woman, who also lived on McKinley Street for several decades, answers confidently through the second glass door of her house.

Words that caused a reaction

I’m torn between thinking that Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who might not be so bad (and might even be useful) or that he is America’s Hitler.

In 2016 in a private conversation with an associate

The entire future of Democrats is controlled by childless people. How does it make sense that we have entrusted our country to people who have no real vested interest in it?

In 2021, in an interview

My mamaw died just before I left for Iraq in 2005. And when we cleared out her house, we found 19 loaded handguns. They were all over her house. […] She was always within easy reach of being able to grab one to protect her family.

In 2024, at the Republican convention, a few days after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump

Sources: Reuters, BBC