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WEEKEND READER: The Radicalization Of A “Hillbilly” Capitalist

Jan 9, 2022 Joel Warner
J.D. Vance’s extremist campaign says less about him and more about shifting political winds.
WEEKEND READER: The Radicalization Of A “Hillbilly” Capitalist
J.D. Vance announcing his candidacy for U.S. Senate. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

Since announcing last July that he was joining the Republican race for the Ohio U.S. Senate, venture capitalist J.D. Vance has fully transformed himself from the seemingly thoughtful, Hollywood-ready memoirist behind Hillbilly Elegy into an extremist demagogue. But as a Washington Post Magazine feature that we highlight below argues, Vance’s new persona might not be the result of a personal transformation, but instead an example of a conservative trying to make inroads with dissatisfied working-class voters.

Read all about it in this week’s Weekend Reader, exclusively for paying subscribers below.

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