# J.D Vance **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 22, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582 "2017-10-22T20:22:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CHealy7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@CHealy7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CHealy7)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/1 "2017-10-22T20:22:36Z")
Would you agree that this man’s ascension to the presidency looks inevitable? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/2 "2017-10-22T20:25:44Z")
Never heard of him. Apparently he wrote a book once? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/3 "2017-10-22T20:40:24Z")
I take it you’ve given up on Michael Moore and Ron Paul? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/4 "2017-10-22T20:44:29Z")
> [@CHealy7](#): > > Would you agree that this man’s ascension to the presidency looks inevitable? Care to make your case? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/5 "2017-10-22T20:45:30Z")
Um, no. Tom Clancy wrote better books, for at least a few entries into the Jack Ryan series, but I’d never vote for him. J.D. Vance is a one trick pony. On the left, I wouldn’t mind if the talent less Ta-Nehisi Coates went away as well. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/6 "2017-10-22T20:51:30Z")
Jack Vance could write rings (of ioun stones) around him. ---
**Author:** ![CHealy7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@CHealy7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CHealy7)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/7 "2017-10-22T22:05:43Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Care to make your case? I’m not in the States so may be out of touch, but I was under the impression that Vance’s work had touched something in the American psyche. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/8 "2017-10-22T22:06:58Z")
Never heard of him. ---
**Author:** ![CHealy7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@CHealy7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CHealy7)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/9 "2017-10-22T22:07:08Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I take it you’ve given up on Michael Moore and Ron Paul? I admire both these men, but the two Al’s (Gore and Sharpton) are my political touchstones. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/10 "2017-10-22T22:10:21Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Um, no. Tom Clancy wrote better books, for at least a few entries into the Jack Ryan series, but I’d never vote for him. J.D. Vance is a one trick pony. On the left, I wouldn’t mind if the talent less Ta-Nehisi Coates went away as well. I disagree with the vast majority of what mr. Coates writes, but he isn’t talent less, he is a very smart public intellectual and knows an impressive amount about American history. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/11 "2017-10-22T22:27:02Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Never heard of him. Apparently he wrote a book once? Well, it was a very good book, but suggesting he’ll become President would be like making such a suggestion about TaNehisi Coates(sp). I’d be shocked if even 4% of all Americans know who he is and I’d be further shocked if he has any interest in being President. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/12 "2017-10-22T22:29:39Z")
> [@CHealy7](#): > > I admire both these men, but the two Al’s (Gore and Sharpton) are my political touchstones. Then your knowledge and understanding of American politics is extremely limited and also quite dated. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/13 "2017-10-23T01:29:22Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Never heard of him. Perhaps you have no soul to be touched …. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/14 "2017-10-23T01:37:12Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > I’d be shocked if even 4% of all Americans know who he is and I’d be further shocked if he has any interest in being President. Despite the fact that his book was a bestseller, and got a fair amount of attention during the election last year, I didn’t even recognize his name until I googled him (at which point I remembered that I’d heard of him, and his book, last year, but he’s been off my radar since then…and I’m reasonably well-informed about U.S. politics). I’d guess that under 10% of Americans would recognize the name of his book, and if even 2% of Americans recognize his name, I would be stunned. He apparently considered running for the U.S. Senate this year, but opted against it. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/15 "2017-10-23T04:23:09Z")
I’ve never heard of Vance or his book before. I’d give Al Franken a higher chance of becoming President. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/16 "2017-10-23T05:14:17Z")
Fellow _cognoscenti_ will be relieved to know that the sharing of a family name with the legendary Jack Vance is a coincidence. I checked. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/17 "2017-10-23T07:13:15Z")
No idea who he is, which doesn’t rule him out. It does invalidate the inevitability of his ascension to the presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/18 "2017-10-23T07:22:28Z")
I listened to a couple of his interviews when he was promoting his book and he struck me as an impressive person. I could see him becoming a successful politician but the Presidency would be a distant goal. From what I could gather, his politics is in the mould of centrist Democrats like Manchin and it’s hard to see someone like that getting the nomination of either party. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/19 "2017-10-23T10:21:58Z")
Americans want a _doer_, like a hugely successful businessman, charismatic,bold, flexible and wise; with dazzling rhetoric that can floor rivals on the way to the TV Show knock-out of the hated villain. Not some pointyheaded reader in the Adlai Stevenson mould. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582/20 "2017-10-23T11:55:13Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Jack Vance could write rings (of ioun stones) around him. My first thought was - _Dying Earth_? Is this a Trump joke or a climate change joke? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-d-vance/799582.md?page=2)