Vance took a hard look at where he came from and saw a self-destructive culture that had turned its back on its agency. He understood that economic forces were working against his community, but he bravely took that community to task for its self-imposed victimhood…

That bracing message took a 180-degree turn last week. And it’s no coincidence that Vance used the same speech in which he denigrated the idea of America to deny the agency he once subscribed to his fellow hillbillies. Suddenly, he was describing people who work with their hands in midwestern swing states as helpless victims with no responsibility for their plight. “America’s ruling class wrote the checks,” he said. “Communities like mine paid the price.”