Cultural Heroin

Atlantic Republishes Vance’s 2016 Trump Op-Ed Examining His Shift

The Atlantic has recently decided to republish a provocative op-ed penned by JD Vance back in 2016, during Donald Trump’s initial presidential campaign. This decision, as the magazine itself stated, is to allow readers to assess “how well his assessment of the man he now serves as vice president has stood the test of time.” The original piece was crafted while Vance was working at Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm, Mithril Capital Management, and offers a stark look at his early perception of Trump’s appeal.

In that 2016 essay, Vance posited that many Americans were turning to Trump as a form of “pain reliever” in the face of growing distrust in government and economic hardship.… Continue reading