Who Is J.D. Vance?
James David Vance believes the matrix is real. And he believes he’s been “red-pilled.”
“Once you see the way that knowledge is transmitted, once you see the way that public policy works in this country, it’s very hard to unsee it,” Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) said during his keynote address in November 2021 at the second National Conservatism Conference. He reminded the audience that Neo, the hero played by actor Keanu Reeves in the popular movie The Matrix, was “red-pilled” by learning about the “fundamental corruption that laid at the heart of the society that he lived in.” Vance’s own red-pilling, however, has taught him that “much of what drives truth and knowledge is fundamentally determined by the universities,” which, he added, pursue not truth and knowledge but lies and deceit. In essence, public policy and public sentiment are shaped by lies and propaganda that originate from universities.
Vance was running for one of Ohio’s U.S. Senate seats when he said this. He won that race. And now, he might end up the vice president of the United States of America. Donald Trump announced Vance, the author of Hillbilly Elegy, as his running mate at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15, 2024, just two days after he survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. According to reports, Trump picked Vance over finalists Senator Marco Rubio (Fla.) and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, after being swayed, in part, by his son, Don Jr.; X owner and Tesla chief Elon Musk; and Tucker Carlson, one of the most influential commentators in conservative politics. Carlson has publicly said a major reason he advocated for Vance is because some of the vilest people opposed him. Reports say Carlson’s former boss at Fox, Rupert Murdoch, was one of many voices urging Trump not to select Vance.
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