J.D. Vance Seeks to Build Bridges, Maybe Even Among Republicans

Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on Apr 9, 2021

I agree with him that the erosion of family life has been brutal for Blacks and whites alike, studies show, even though Black families proportionately suffer worse. But what, I counter, can we do about it? There’s no mail-order catalog to order up more responsible Black fathers, especially when so many have been locked up, thanks to the mass incarceration policies of both parties.

We Americans need to offer more than simple “Save the Family” slogans about such complex problems. For a while at least, J.D. was encouraged that his book was helping to send Americans down that road.

Shortly after his book came out, “There was this moment where I actually thought I had accomplished something very meaningful because it seemed like folks were asking, what did we miss? What did we not see that was happening in the middle of the country with the white working class? Let’s try to empathize and understand where they’re coming from, let’s try to make their lives better because that’s obviously a part of living and sharing the country with people …”

Alas, that lasted for maybe a few weeks before the national discussion moved on to deny that job loss or the middle class feeling left behind by globalization were the real reasons for Trump’s victory.

“Instead,” he recalled, “it was either that they (Trump voters) were racists or stupid or maybe Russia stole the election.”

That frustration, I believe, led to J.D.’s other recent bit of news: He’s seriously pursuing the Senate seat occupied by Ohio Republican Rob Portman, who is not running in 2022. Before he has even confirmed whether he’ll run, his former employer Peter Thiel, billionaire venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal, has given $10 million to a super PAC that would support Vance’s potential run.

The former Marine, Iraq War vet and Yale Law School graduate has an attractive resume for the job, especially as the Republicans try to rebrand themselves as the working-class party. But in a state that Trump carried twice, his old Trump-bashing tweets may well come back to haunt him.

I wish him well, as a fellow “Middie” alumnus. But if anything will challenge his warm, engaging Midwestern charm in pursuit of higher ground, this could be it.

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)