‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Writer-Turned Ohio GOP Sen Candidate Deletes Old Anti-Trump Tweets

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 27: J.D. Vance, author of the book "Hillbilly Elegy," poses for a portrait photograph near the US Capitol building in Washington, D.C., January 27, 2017. Vance has become the nation's go-to angry, white, rural translator. The book has sold almost half a million copies since late June. Vance, a product of rural Ohio, a former Marine and Yale School grad, has the nation's top-selling book. He's become a CNN commentator, in-demand speaker, and plans to move back to Ohio from SF where he's worked as a principal in an investment firm. (Photo by Astrid Riecken For The Washington Post) — J.D. Vance, author of the book "Hillbilly Elegy," poses for a portrait photograph near the US Capitol building on January 27, 2017. (Photo by Astrid Riecken For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

July 1, 2021 4:56 p.m.

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J.D. Vance, the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” a memoir aimed at presenting himself as a conservative intellectual who rises above toxic hyperpartisanship, is apparently scrambling for the approval of MAGAland as he jostles for outgoing Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-OH) seat in the packed-GOP primary.

CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski flagged that Vance’s tweets from 2016 expressing disgust for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and boosting Evan McMullin, an independent candidate in the 2016 presidential election, have been deleted:

Vance also deleted a tweet saying he found Trump reprehensible from October 2016. pic.twitter.com/sTYhOpMnPG

— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) July 1, 2021

Deleted from the day of Access Hollywood, "Lord help us." pic.twitter.com/5ooexbNUhn

— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) July 1, 2021

The formerly anti-Trump conservative’s scrubbing of his Twitter timeline of traces of his anti-Trumpiness reflects a broader theme among Republicans: the understanding that running for office, at least in the upcoming midterms, means kneeling at the alter of the ex-president – even after writing an autobiography that attempted to sell an overly simplified and mostly apolitical analysis of poverty in Appalachia in order to appeal to a broad electorate.

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Cristina Cabrera (@crismcabrera) is a newswriter at TPM based in New York. She previously worked for Vocativ, USA Today and NY1 News.

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