Nolte: Variety Is Furious at Hollywood for Creating ‘Monster’ J.D. Vance

The far-left fascists at Variety have at long last figured out how Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance outsmarted the left’s media and Hollywood elite.

This is something I’ve enjoyed watching since Vance ran for the U.S. Senate as a Trump Republican two years ago. Since then, I’ve been waiting and waiting for someone in Hollywood to say something about it, unsure if they ever would because doing so is an admission of just how badly this “hillbilly” outfoxed a bunch of elites who see themselves as sophisticates.

But here it finally is, a confession we should all rejoice in:

Unlike so many of the books published in the lead-up to someone’s political candidacy — such as Barack Obama’s 2007 “The Audacity of Hope” or Kamala Harris’ 2019 “The Truths We Hold” — “Hillbilly Elegy” wasn’t written for readers of Vance’s political persuasion. Rather, it served to explain to liberals why Trump would get elected that fall, inspiring waves of parachute journalism as reporters rushed to such communities to make sense of the strange turn national politics was taking.

…

It was that dimension of Vance’s narrative that clearly attracted director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer — both self-avowed liberals, who may have created a monster by legitimizing his origin story, much as “The Apprentice” producer Mark Burnett did by giving Trump a reality TV spotlight back in 2004.

Hollywood loves a Horatio Alger story, and Vance’s poor-kid-makes-good arc fits squarely into Howard and Grazer’s sweet spot. By treating the book the way they had “Cinderella Man” and “American Gangster,” the Imagine Entertainment duo contributed to the mythmaking that got Vance elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022, even as they missed what “Hillbilly Elegy” was really about. In the book, Vance used his personal experience (an upbringing that seemed the polar opposite of Trump’s) to explain the disconnect between Middle America and the coastal elites … to the coastal elites.

This is what happened…

Vance pens Hillbilly Elegy. A corporate media still in shock over Donald Trump’s upset 2016 presidential victory decide Hillbilly Elegy will help them figure out who these exotic MAGA people are. What followed was the gazillionth example of herd journalism, as they all glommed on to the memoir—but not with an open-hearted sense of humility or humanity. Instead, they remained true to the awful people they are and did so in the most condescending way, like nineteenth-century British colonialists studying a savage tribe of African headhunters.

But the key—and this is important—the key to media and Hollywood elites validating who they are was to “civilize” the tribal leader—in this case J.D. Vance. So…

FLASHBACK: Sen. J.D. Vance Reveals Strategy to Win Election with Working Class Rust Belt Voters

Just like they have succeeded at doing with most everyone else, the corporate media and Hollywood laid before Vance a vast banquet of wealth, acceptance, status, and access. They made Hillbilly Elegy a bestseller.

They made Hillbilly Elegy into a major motion picture directed by an Oscar-winner.

They made Vance a thought leader on their news and current affairs programs.

And along the way, Vance boosted his public profile, his bank account, and his name recognition.

The only price for a lifetime pass? You must become one of us.

And then Vance took all their prizes and gifts, turned around, and shoved it right up their collective ass to become the number-two man in the movement they most hate—MAGA.

Glorious.

P.S. We are a mere four days away from the near-assassination of Donald Trump, and Variety is already describing Vance as a “monster.” Is there not a moral obligation to kill monsters? Yes, there is. Variety knows this. Variety is an assassin putting a laser sight on the next target. When leftists don’t get what they want, the next step is always violence and murder.

John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.