But here it is at last, a confession we should all rejoice:

Unlike many of the books published before someone's political candidacy, such as Barack Obama's 2007 “The Audacity of Hope” or Kamala Harris' 2019 “The Truths We Hold,” “Hillbilly Elegy” was not written for the readers. of Vance's political persuasion. Rather, it served to explain to liberals why Trump would be elected that fall, inspiring waves of parachute journalism as reporters rushed into these communities to make sense of the strange turn national politics was taking.

…

It was this dimension of Vance's narrative that clearly appealed to director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer, both self-proclaimed liberals, who perhaps created a monster by legitimizing his origin story, just as the producer of ” The Apprentice,” Mark Burnett, giving Trump a reality TV lead in 2004.

Hollywood loves a Horatio Alger story, and Vance's do-gooding poor kid arc fits Howard and Grazer's sweet spot perfectly. By treating the book the way “Cinderella Man” and “American Gangster” had, the Imagine Entertainment duo contributed to the myth-making that got Vance elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022, even though they missed what “Hillbilly Elegy” was really about. In the book, Vance used his personal experience (an upbringing that seemed the opposite of Trump's) to explain the disconnect between Middle America and the coastal elites… to the coastal elites.

This is what happened…

Vance pens He chose Hillbilly. A corporate media still in shock over Donald Trump's 2016 presidential victory decision He chose Hillbilly will help them find out who these exotic people from MAGA are. What followed was the millionth example of herd journalism, as they all dazzled the memoirs, but not with a sense of humility or open-hearted humanity. Instead, they stayed true to the horrible people they are and did so in the most condescending way, like 19th century British colonialists studying a savage tribe of African headhunters.