ApocryFUN: Hillbilly Elegy + Sam Thielman
Tyler is joined by reporter, critic and true Appalachian native Sam Thielman to consider the merits of the JD Vance memoir.
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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.
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