Hillbilly Elegy + Sam Thielman

JD Vance’s memoir established him as a rural white voter whisperer. What does it tell us about what kind of vice president he’d be?

Less than a decade ago, America was introduced to JD Vance, who pitched himself as a middleman between coastal elites and the rural white Americans he’d been raised around. Hillbilly Elegy was part memoir/part explainer and, at the time, seemed to establish Vance as a moderate conservative who wanted to bridge the cultural, political and religious divide.

In this episode, Tyler and journalist/critic Sam Thielman explore Hillbilly Elegy and chart Vance’s strange, subsequent journey to becoming Donald Trump’s running mate.