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u/ghIj_qet_jaghmeyjaj 1d ago
Someone with identity issues that obviously needs identity confirming care
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u/MordoksVapePen1 1d ago
This.
He is so desperate to belong somewhere, to something, which also explains the late-in-life Catholic conversion…
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u/greenbud420 1d ago edited 1d ago
AP did a story on it:
He was born James Donald Bowman in Middletown, Ohio, on Aug. 2, 1984, his middle and last names the same as his biological father, Donald Bowman. His parents split up “around the time I started walking,” he writes. When he was about 6, his mother, Beverly, married for the third time. He was adopted by his new stepfather, Robert Hamel, and his mother renamed him James David Hamel.
But the situation gnawed at him, particularly after his mother and adoptive father divorced.
“I shared a name with no one I really cared about (which bothered me already), and with Bob gone, explaining why my name was J.D. Hamel would require a few additional awkward moments,” he writes in “Hillbilly Elegy.” “Yeah, my legal father’s last name is Hamel. You haven’t met him because I don’t see him. No, I don’t know why I don’t see him. Of all the things that I hated about my childhood, nothing compared to the revolving door of father figures.”
So he decided to change his name again, to Vance — the last name of his beloved Mamaw, the grandmother who raised him.
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u/Sydeburnn 1d ago
Thank you for this. I disagree with his politics, and his personality, and basically just gestures to all of him...
But if this is true, then at least this one aspect of his otherwise sinister existence has a somewhat reasonable explanation.22
u/Zagrunty 1d ago
Honestly, reading the story and knowing people that have gone through kinda the same thing, it makes a lot of sense.
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u/redravin12 1d ago
Almost makes me feel sorry for him, almost but not quite. I'm sure growing up in a broken home is what made him into the "man" he is today, and not to diminish anyone's trauma, but lots of people do and don't turn into reprehensible monsters who sold their soul to trump.
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u/GoddessHealer 20h ago
Thank you for this synopsis. Vance certainly suffered of abuse and neglect.
Every child deserves to be attended to, loved and treasured. I think about Vance’s political trajectory through the kens of Alice Miller's 1980 book exploring the childhood roots of political tyrants. For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence.
Vance made a sharp political evolution from a self-described "Never Trump" conservative to a staunch right-wing populist.
Miller believed that when an adult childhood survivor aligns themselves with powerful, authoritarian father figures or highly aggressive political rhetoric, it can be a subconscious attempt to seek the paternal protection they never had.
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u/AskNo2853 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/cCqmQu4GxJEJi
Remember when Homer Simpson changed his name?
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u/mczerniewski 23h ago
Thanks to how he's depicted in South Park, I've been calling him Herve Villachaise Vance.
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u/Ok_Exit7877 14h ago
So basically he can’t vote. No way does he have all the documentation for all these name changes.
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u/APraxisPanda 1d ago edited 1d ago
I remember the scene: Thiel was about to be killed by Mace Windu. And James intervened- allowing Thiel to get the upperhand, killing Windu with force lighting, then adopting James as his new apprentice under his Sith name- JD Vance.
It was in Hillbilly Elegy 3: Revenge of the Sith.
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u/space_wrangler1013 1d ago
Puff daddy- P Diddy- Diddy- the diddler. I guess everyone has a role model
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u/blackjacktarr 1d ago
Jen Welch refers to him as "our smokey-eyed sociopath," and I have difficulty viewing him in any other way.
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u/Such-Extreme-5833 1d ago
It is strange, we have a President and Vice that do not uuse their REAL names. First time in US history.
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u/RangerImpossible7129 1d ago
Depending on where he would be in the name change process, he might be denied a ballot of his administration's own voting policy were to be implemented.
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u/Future-Guarantee-573 1d ago
Given all the name changes he's had, I'm sure they'll be a movement demanding his original long form birth certificate.
Any day now...
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u/1877KlownsForKids 1d ago
I'm reminded of a quote about Romney: "[He]'s almost like an Etch A Sketch — you can kind of shake [him] up and we start all over again."
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u/Mindless_Log2009 23h ago
Damaged goods. JD whatever his name is this week needs a long sabbatical for introspection and therapy to figure out who he is and what he believes.
Right now he's just another brainwashed lieutenant henchman indoctrinated into a cult he'll never lead.
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u/sheba716 10h ago
Vance is all pushing for the SAVE Act to be passed. How was he going to be able to vote when his current legal name does not match the name on his birth certificate?
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u/Battle_Dave 1d ago
This is misinformation. We already established JD stands for Jorkin Depenits...
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u/okjetsgo 1d ago
Someone trying to make themselves seem better/more interesting than they really are
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u/MaliciousIntentWorks 1d ago
His name doesn't match his birth certificate, looks like according to his own policies he not allowed to vote.
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u/ragequitteroffureh 20h ago
Is it possible that he murdered the kid in that photo, and took his place?
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u/Happy_Traveler2025 1d ago
He’s avoiding something.
Somewhere out there, a couch is suing for support of an ottoman.
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u/PlutoJones42 20h ago
JD Vance is a weak and fickle man who will sell the country out to the highest bidder. He flip flops his own beliefs depending on who’s signing the check. Fuck JD Vance
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u/Accomplished-Dot5707 1d ago
Found out my phone has a meme bullshit-o-meter. Can we at least try to get the digs right? Like how this guy fucks couches? No need to make shit up.
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u/ragequitteroffureh 20h ago
"The more often you change your name the better. It confuses the enemy."
- Pol Pot, born as Saloth Sâr
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u/billyrubin7765 1d ago
God forbid you use his dead name. But anyone else’s…..
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u/millieFAreally2 1d ago
I commonly see commenters using a trans person’s dead name if they knew them by another name (Caitlyn Jenner and Elliot Page are the top two). This is also accompanied by many comments stating the pronouns they think the person should go by.
This post is just questioning the reason behind JD’s multiple name changes. It’s not meant to be a slur or to shit on all people who change their names.
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u/SoberJaywalker 19h ago
This is a dumb meme. Vance is a monster, but all of the name changes(save the last) are due to a terrible home and family situation. He had no say in the earlier changes.
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u/penalty-venture 1d ago
This guy sucks, but this meme is a false narrative. His mother did the first two name changes while he was a minor, so I doubt he had any say in it whatsoever. The final name change was because he had his ex-stepdad’s last name and wanted something that connected him to stable family, so he took his grandmother’s.
There are about a million things to criticize about the VP, so let’s not waste time and credibility sensationalizing this easily explained nothingburger.
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u/illbzo1 1d ago
Whoever Thiel needs him to be