JD Vance has more in common with Henry VIII than he realises

JD Vance’s pitch to “real” America is a simple one: I get you, he says, because I’m one of you.

Vance differentiates himself from the rich coastal elites by leaning on his upbringing, as detailed in the memoir that brought him to public notice, Hillbilly Elegy . He was raised in Middletown, Ohio – with trips to his family’s ancestral homeland of Kentucky – largely by his grandmother, “Mamaw”.

His mother was a drug addict, his father was almost entirely absent, and everyone was poor. Vance can claim to understand the struggles of ordinary Americans because, unlike most people in US politics, he has actually lived through them. That’s part of the story Vance hopes will carry him to the presidency in 2029 – but it’s a tale that’s getting harder for him to tell.

The trouble is that vice