Multimillionaire Democrat bashes JD Vance in DNC speech for rising above poverty

For many Americans, the story of JD Vance's ascent from relative poverty to the rank of corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps and to the position of U.S. senator is inspiring. His memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," informed by his struggles along the way, did after all become a bestseller as well as the basis for the Ron Howard film adaptation of the same name.

It appears that some affluent Democrats regard personal achievement of this nature and by this particular stripe of American as deplorable.

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) seized upon the opportunity Monday in her Democratic National Convention speech to criticize Vance — not for his legislative priorities or for his track record in Washington, D.C., but for actively pursuing greatness.

After doing her best at the outset to associate Vance with Democrats' go-to bogeyman, Project 2025, Beatty said, "JD Vance likes to talk about how he's from Ohio, but as soon as he could, he ran away to Yale and Silicon Valley, cozying up with billionaires while trashing our communities."

Beatty — the multimillionaire beneficiary of an upbringing in a stable nuclear family, two university degrees uninterrupted by military service, and a politically connected spouse — neglected to mention some critical biographic details about Vance in her attempted character assassination.

Vance's parents divorced when he was a boy. His sometimes-abusive mother struggled with addiction. Vance and his sister were largely raised by his maternal grandparents, who apparently had issues all their own. Resisting various temptations that could very well have trapped him in poverty and an all-too familiar pattern of addiction and abuse, Vance took steps toward realizing what some have described as the American dream.

Contrary to Beatty's suggestion, Vance did not run away to Yale and Silicon Valley. Rather, he enlisted in the Marines after graduating from high school then deployed to Iraq. While the editors at Wikipedia have worked diligently to downplay Vance's military background, he received numerous medals during his four years of service.

Like Beatty, Vance later attended university, albeit at schools with greater name recognition: Ohio State University in Columbus — a city Beatty famously helped gentrify, potentially pricing out poorer Americans — and Yale Law School. After a brief stint as a corporate lawyer, then spending years as a venture capitalist, Vance returned to his home state to serve his countrymen as senator.

'If you're poor better you stay put, stay poor and stay dependent on the state b/c then they got you.'

Beatty is hardly the first to attempt to downplay Vance's accomplishments.

Some critics have suggested that far from being a hillbilly or poor, Vance grew up solidly middle class, afforded "the relative socio-economic mobility available to many whites."

Lennard Davis, a liberal arts professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, penned an attack piece for a leftist blog last week accusing Vance of engaging in "poornography."

New York Magazine advanced the claim earlier this year that Vance is a "class enemy."

Beatty's latest variation on this theme has elicited plenty of ridicule online.

"Yeah screw that guy who grew up dirt poor and had the chutzpah to go to the highest-ranked law school in the country," wrote Will Chamberlain, senior counsel at the Article III Project.

Donald Trump Jr. noted, "JD left Ohio to join the Marine Corps and serve his country then came back went to Ohio State and then Yale. Apparently that's not good enough for the Democratic Party who just wants everyone to remain in abject poverty rather than live the American dream."

"Class warfare on two fronts here: First the notion that bettering yourself is an affront to other poor people, who should resent you for it. Second, the notion that hillbillies shouldn't be allowed into Yale, and middle class people should resent that," tweeted Irish political commentator John McGuirk, the editor of Gript Media.

"'How dare he have agency?'" wrote one commentator. "'Doesn't he know he's supposed to stay there, be a cashier at Dollar General, and become addicted to fentanyl? Who does he think he is?'"

Dan Proft, the Republican co-host of "Chicago's Morning Answer," stated, "Such a telling comment. It's the New Bolsheviks' program. If you're poor better you stay put, stay poor and stay dependent on the state b/c then they got you. Did Bill Clinton 'run away' from rural Arkansas to Georgetown and then Yale Law too? I suppose it's okay if you escape so long as you blow the bridge behind you and become one of them."

Editor's note: The article originally introduced Beatty as "Rep. Joyce Beatty (R-Ohio)." Her party affiliation has since been corrected.

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