I don’t diary often because so many Kossacks are way better at it than I am. However, I ran across this Trae Crowder gold nugget today and thought it worthy of passing along.
It seems Trae knows J.D. Vance personally, and what Trae has to say about the cretin is pretty enlightening. I’ll let Trae speak for Trae, with my comments afterward, assuming this hillbilly can figure out how to format a diary:
Trae makes several points:
- J.D. is a stuffed shirt, fake-ass redneck, political windvane.
- J.D. will say whatever the hell he figures will gain votes.
- “Hillbilly Elegy” is pretty much a trash-talking session about rednecks. I’ve read the book myself, and I’m a bona-fide redneck. I gotta agree that Vance pushed a derogatory, dismissive view of those of us who grew up rural and poor.
- J.D. by himself is a clown. The dangerous aspect of J.D. is who pays his campaign bills. That’s the person you need to take notice of.
- Rural conservative attitudes are about a lot more than ingrained culture—it’s also about the randomly shitty way those in power have treated these folks since forever.
- Vance is Trump, but shittier.
There is one lesson I’d like you all to consider: that bit about rural culture being as much about poverty and the lack of opportunity as it is about cultural norms. It ain’t nothing anyone is gonna fix this election cycle or this decade, but making headway with rural folks means understanding that poverty and lack of opportunity are problems regardless of who is living in it.