JD Vance vaulted on to the national stage back in 2016 with the publication of a bestselling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, about his upbringing in white, working-class America. At the time, he described himself as a “never Trump guy”. Eight years later Vance is a Republican senator and one of Donald Trump’s fiercest defenders. A frequent surrogate for the Trump campaign on television, Vance is widely seen as a top contender to be the former president’s running mate in the 2024 election.
Yet his ideological approach has raised alarm bells among more traditional Republicans on Wall Street and beyond who are worried the Ohio senator will be in a position to persuade Trump and shape the party platform for years to come. “We are very concerned about JD Vance playing an outsized role in a Trump administration,” said one big bank lobbyist. “Trump populism and Vance populism are not the same.