Donald Trump was born into wealth, though he likes to try to imply otherwise – the US President will occasionally lamely claim he was given only a $1m loan by his father, to make the rest of his money.
By contrast, the Vice President, JD Vance, was born into genuine poverty, and he tells that story as often and as loudly as he can. It was the subject of his first book, Hillbilly Elegy, which was later turned into a movie. It frequently comes up in his new book on how he found Catholicism as an adult.
Vance’s version of the American rags-to-riches story – born to a mother battling drug addiction, raised by a fierce rural grandmother, making it to an Ivy League university, private equity and then politics – is central to his political identity, and something he wants everyone to know. It is the Republican platform in archetype: the implication is that if Vance can do it, anyone can. Anyone who is “stuck” in poverty could escape it, if they just tried hard enough.
Vance’s story certainly works up to a point. The job he got in private equity – working for Palantir founder Peter Thiel’s fund – provided the launchpad for his political career, too. Thiel himself personally put $10m into Vance’s campaign to become a US senator for Ohio, and from there Vance became Trump’s VP pick.
But now, Vance is surrounded by wealth on an entirely different level, one virtually unimaginable to most of us. Most US presidents in modern times are rich, in that they are millionaires by the time they enter the White House. They typically hand over their investments to a blind trust and concentrate on the job for their time in office.
Trump is different. The companies bearing his name have continued to trade, launch new products, and make deals across the world. The President’s financial disclosures suggest his wealth increased by at least $1bn last year alone. Lots of people around Trump are doing the same thing: every member of his family, including his teenage son Barron, is now worth hundreds of millions. Trump loves the ultra-rich, and has filled his cabinet with people from that class of wealth.
Vance simply isn’t in the same league as any of those people, but despite that, he has still been getting steadily wealthier while in public office. His net worth was estimated at around $12m last year, up $2m versus a year before – more money than most of us could ever dream of, but still leaving him a virtual pauper at Trump’s table.
Vance has, of course, got some holdings in cryptocurrency, as seems mandatory in the Trump White House, with his recent financial disclosure suggesting he holds between $250,000 and $500,000 in bitcoin. The New York Times estimates Vance’s earnings for the last year, including book royalties which make up the largest portion of his income, lies between $1.4m and $7.4m.Vance’s means might be limited versus many of the other key figures around Trump, but he still seems to be cashing in – he’d surely feel horribly left out otherwise.
The danger for Vance is that all of this comes back to bite him when he runs for president in 2028. Trump’s base evidently does not care that Trump has enriched himself while in office. Many of them even like it, seeing a president willing to get his share – some see him doing what they would, if they had the job.
But American voters don’t feel the same way. Only 38 per cent of Americans approve of Trump’s performance in office, a disastrously low number in a two-party political system. And the Maga base makes allowances for Trump that they won’t make for others – just because they’ll turn a blind eye to Trump cashing in doesn’t mean they’ll do the same for others.
Vance risks getting stuck in the middle of Maga and the rest of America, yet again. He could be tarred with the brush of Trump’s greed and grubbiness, even if he avoided the worst excesses of his boss.
But at the same time, he can’t look like a winner: while others in Maga made hundreds of millions, if not billions, he’s sitting on less than $15m. Some critics will look at him and see a sell-out, others will look and think that he sold himself out cheaply.
Vance will already have to navigate Trump’s unpopularity, his war with Iran, and his failure to tackle prices – getting caught over Trump’s cashing-in too could sink his campaign before it even begins in earnest.
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