I like Vance on a personal level. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, someone I could imagine hanging out with. But I'm wary of his sudden rise to power - first public office he held was a senate seat (one of the highest offices in the country) and he was tapped VP in the middle of his first term. That's sus. He didn't rise that fast on his own and there are people (like Thiel) he's beholden to.
His rise was super sonic. I read Hillbilly Elegy, and he just suddenly took off in life. He was a messed up lower class kid from a broken family in hillbilly culture, and went as an enlisted man into the USMC after high school. He must have had some talent and appeal, because they put him in public relations, and by the end of his tour they had him running some kind of public relations office that would normally be held by an officer.
Then he went to Ohio State, and was still figuring things out. Getting into debt, struggling to manage his schedule and living arrangements, typical mid 20s college student. After graduating Ohio State, he threw a Hail Mary and got admitted to Yale Law, and suddenly he was being groomed to be an elite. He went from hillbilly screwup to Yale Law on the elite development track in 6-8 years. When he first got to Yale, he still found himself wanting to brawl with anyone who dissed him, as is necessary in hillbilly culture. He had to learn how to behave in that setting.
It was during this period that he met and married Usha. He says in the book that his initial way of dealing with her included some behaviors that he was used to from his dysfunctional upbringing, and that he had to learn a whole different mode of behavior.
He points out that he was frequently in the company of the top elite at Yale. For example, they would have the US Attorney General stop by to do a seminar, and many of the professors were famous in their own right. He was encouraged to write his book by one of his Yale professors, Amy Chou, who is famous herself for writing Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. It was a whole different world for him, and it was the environment that enabled him to rise to the top.
After he wrote the book, it was a huge sensation, and I think that's when Thiel picked him up. They put him in charge of a Midwest focused venture capital fund. He funded some kind of project that lost an incredible amount of money, like $300 million! He also invested in Rumble. After a few years of this kind of venture capital work, he also got involved in politics and ran for the Senate. The rest is history.
I'm sure I would like him personally, and would like to have the opportunity to talk to him. Like you, I'm a little concerned that he must have had to take the ticket to have risen so far, so fast. However, I think he probably has a natural talent and charisma that people liked, and they liked his back story too, and wanted to use a guy like that. He seems to be able to push issues that matter to him based on his background, and the existing elite seems to think it's a great idea to push him to the fore.
I hope he truly is one of the good guys, but I recognize that power corrupts, and that anyone at the top has likely had to make some ugly compromises. We should pray for him.
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