The Atlantic recently republished a 2016 essay by Vice President JD Vance, reigniting public debate over his past criticism of Donald Trump. In the original piece, published on July 4, 2016, Vance characterized Trump as “cultural heroin,” arguing that the then-candidate offered temporary relief to struggling voters, but lacked the capacity to provide lasting solutions to the nation’s systemic problems.
Why is The Atlantic republishing Vance’s decade-old critique?
The magazine’s editorial staff stated in a new note that they re-released the essay to mark its ten-year anniversary. According to The Atlantic, the goal is to allow readers to evaluate how Vance’s assessment of his current boss has held up over the last decade. The republication serves as a benchmark for measuring the political evolution of the vice president, who has shifted from an outspoken “Never Trump” figure to the former president’s primary running mate.
In his 2016 essay, Vance argued that the rise of populism was rooted in the social decline and cultural trauma he witnessed during his own upbringing in poverty. He suggested that Trump’s appeal was a symptom of this deeper, unresolved national pain.
How has the view of JD Vance’s political legacy shifted?
In his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, Vance wrote about the fear of becoming the “monster in your closet.” Wehner contends that Vance’s current political trajectory is more destructive than the poverty he originally sought to escape, raising questions about whether the Trump-Vance era will be viewed as a temporary political chapter or the start of a darker, permanent shift in American governance.
What is the state of institutional trust in the U.S. today?
According to Peter Wehner, the United States is currently experiencing extreme polarization, with public trust in major institutions—including the government, the media, universities, and religious leadership—at or near the lowest levels measured in modern times. Wehner notes that the country’s current environment of
