He articulated a feeling that had until then remained unformed: that I was obsessed with achievement in se — not as an end to something meaningful, but to win a social competition.
J.D Vance on Peter Thiel
Vance seems to be a vapid social climber with no real principles of his own. I’m not sure if that’s better or worse than an outright true believer.
It’s better, because they can be convinced to change their opinions. For example, Vance called Donald Trump “America’s Hitler” but since he saw being a never-Trump Republican didn’t have a future, he switched to gobbling Trump’s taint. He’d definitely switch to a pro-LGBT stance if he thinks he’d make more money doing so.
The true believers, on the other hand, are the dangerous ones. They’ll refuse to cooperate or compromise on any issue, and when they are on the verge of losing they turn violent. Look at the J6 coup attempt- all the ones who incited it (aka, the ones grifting off of terrorist edging like Alex Jones, Ali Alexander, all the GOP Congress members) changed their tones real fucking quick once the crowd started breaking into the Capitol.
His book is a gold mine if you’re looking to portray him as a prick.
People talk about hard work all the time in places like Middletown. You can walk through a town where 30 percent of the young men work fewer than twenty hours a week and find not a single person aware of his own laziness.
Vance seems to be a vapid social climber with no real principles of his own. I’m not sure if that’s better or worse than an outright true believer.
It’s better, because they can be convinced to change their opinions. For example, Vance called Donald Trump “America’s Hitler” but since he saw being a never-Trump Republican didn’t have a future, he switched to gobbling Trump’s taint. He’d definitely switch to a pro-LGBT stance if he thinks he’d make more money doing so.
The true believers, on the other hand, are the dangerous ones. They’ll refuse to cooperate or compromise on any issue, and when they are on the verge of losing they turn violent. Look at the J6 coup attempt- all the ones who incited it (aka, the ones grifting off of terrorist edging like Alex Jones, Ali Alexander, all the GOP Congress members) changed their tones real fucking quick once the crowd started breaking into the Capitol.
That doesn’t make him an ally, or any less dangerous.
His book is a gold mine if you’re looking to portray him as a prick.