In the 2016 Presidential race, JD Vance called Donald Trump an “idiot” and “reprehensible” and even compared him to Hitler in private communications. At the time, he was a new author, whose autobiography Hillbilly Elegy had topped bestseller lists.

Following the Republican’s shock win over Hillary Clinton, many pundits and media outlets touted the book as a key to understanding the shift in white working-class voters away from the Democrats in rural and industrial regions.

Eight years later,…