I grew up in Middletown, Ohio.

A small town where people spoke their minds, built with their hands

and loved their God, their family, their community, and their country with their whole hearts.

But it was also a place that had been cast aside and forgotten by America's ruling clash in Washington. From Hillbilly Elegit to Vice Presidential candidate, JD Vance has come a long way since

his hardscrabble roots in Ohio to become the second most prominent figure on the American right.

He's gained notoriety for vociferous remarks and upping the temperature of America's

already heated political discourse,

and he's been criticized for joining the Trump bandwagon

having roundly condemned him in the past.

But there's also another side of J.D. Vance, a network of advisors and supporters in Europe who've helped shape and support him.

He's taken a lot of criticism for his opposition to Washington's and NATO's policy with Ukraine.

Well, J.D. served in the Iraq war, and he knows what a foolish war is. most influential people on either side of the Atlantic. I'm Anne McElvoy and if you

haven't already please do take a moment to follow this podcast so you don't miss an

episode with a guest you might like to hear from in a crucial U.S. election season.

And this week I'm on a mission to find out what J.D. Vance's European connections tell

us about his politics now and maybe beyond November as the torch-bearer of a revived

MAGA bid for power or heralding a post-Trump era and one of Politico's leading Vance experts who's followed his rise

closely gives us his take on the J. D.V doctrine. He actually is somebody that could

carry on the project of Trump is. It was just a dramatic break from modern American conservatism

and a decisive shift toward much more of a European-style

nationalism.

But first, my producer Peter Snowden and I took the

...