Main content

Profile: Who is JD Vance?

His rise from hillbilly to Trump鈥檚 VP pick for the White House

Americast is profiling the four candidates in the race to become the next President and Vice President of the United States. How did JD Vance, whose memoir 鈥淗illbilly Elegy鈥 about growing up in Ohio amidst alcoholism and drug addiction, become Trump鈥檚 VP pick for the White House? Once a fierce critic of Trump, publicly declaring himself a 鈥渘ever Trumper鈥, Anthony looks into what JD Vance stands for, and why he changed his mind about the former President. We also find out which song makes him cry, and how Tolkien鈥檚 Lord of the Rings influenced his career.

HOST:
鈥 Anthony Zurcher, North America correspondent

GUESTS:
Simon Van Zuylen-Wood, staff writer at New York Magazine
Ian Ward, reporter at Politico

GET IN TOUCH:
鈥 Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB
鈥 Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480
鈥 Email Americast@bbc.co.uk
鈥 Or use #Americast

This episode was made by Catherine Fusillo, Chris Flynn and Claire Betzer. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony鈥檚 new 成人论坛 newsletter: /news/world-us-canada-68093155

If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on 成人论坛 Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.

You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask 成人论坛 Sounds to play Americast鈥. It works on most smart speakers.

Americast is part of the 成人论坛 News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including The Global Story, The Today Podcast, and of course Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.

The Global Story: /sounds/brand/w13xtvsd
The Today Podcast: /sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r
Newscast: /sounds/series/p05299nl
Ukrainecast: /sounds/brand/p0bqztzm

Release date:

Available now

25 minutes

Podcast