Oppo Research Season 2, Episode 2: J.D. Vance (w/Ettingermentum)

If you’ve ever experienced the displeasure of thinking for even one second about Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, you have probably observed this poor simulation of “human being” and wondered, “Where the hell did this guy come from and how is he about to be vice president?”

Well! Let this week’s guest on Oppo Research, polling mystic and posting master

ettingermentum

(aka Josh Cohen), takes us through all the impressive ways Vance has failed upwards. Including: The Hillbilly Elegy of it all; his about-face on Trump; him winning his Senate seat by the skin of his teeth ; the vice presidential campaign; and the inevitable 2028 presidential run.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Hillbilly Elegy [HarperCollins]

• Hillbilly Elegy, directed by Ron Howard [Netflix]

• “How the 'Tiger Mom' Convinced the Author of Hillbilly Elegy to Write His Story” [The Atlantic]

• "6 Books to Help Understand Trump's Win" [NYT]

• “How Yale Propelled J.D. Vance’s Career” [NYT]

• “Inside the powerful Peter Thiel network that anointed JD Vance” [WaPo]

• “The Real Winner of the Ohio Republican Primary Is Peter Thiel” [Mother Jones]

• “JD Vance, Trump’s VP pick, once called him a ‘moral disaster,’ and possibly ‘America’s Hitler’” [CNN]

• “I’m a Never Trump guy’: All of J.D. Vance’s Trump quotes that could come back to bite him” [Politico]

• “The Stages of Vance’s Political Conversion” [NYT]

• “J.D. Vance’s journey from a ‘Never Trump’ guy to Trump’s VP pick” [WaPo]

• “Trump endorses J.D. Vance, wading into Ohio's contentious Republican Senate primary” [NPR]

• “Nancy Pelosi Beats Back House Democratic Leadership Challenge” [NYT]

• “J.D. Vance's anti-drug charity enlisted doctor echoing Big Pharma” [AP]

• “McConnell allies launch ad blitz to prop up J.D. Vance's Senate campaign in Ohio” [NBC News]

• “The Official Trump VP Tier List” (2023) [Ettingermentum]

• “The New Official Trump VP Tier List” (2024) [Ettingermentum]

• “How Trump’s Florida residency complicates Rubio’s path to VP” [The Hill]

• “For Democrats, JD Vance Is the Gift that Keeps On Giving” [The Nation]

• “Childless cat lady” [Fox News]

• “JD Vance spreads debunked claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets” [NYT]

• “JD Vance suggests Democrats would label drinking Mountain Dew 'racist'” [Reuters]

• “Why Can’t J.D. Vance Tell a Joke?” [Slate]

• “J.D. Vance Can’t Explain Why Trump Threw Him Under the Bus in Debate” [TNR]

• “The inside story of how Trump chose JD Vance as his running mate” [NBC News]

• “Trump rally shooting upends Democrats' Biden crisis” [Axios]

• “J.D. Vance Goes Nazi” [Discourse Blog]

• Kamala Harris on Call Her Daddy [Spotify]

• The Podcast Era Is Horrible For Our Politics [Discourse Blog]

***

Oppo Research credits:

Host: Jack Mirkinson
Producer: Aleks Chan
Engineer, Editor, Art Director: Sam Grasso
Guest: Josh Cohen, Ettingermentum [Substack | Twitter]