There is no one on the whole planet earth, from America to Zimbabwe, who does not know Donald J. Trump, the 45th and the 47th president of the most powerful nation in the whole world. But, who, on earth, is this guy, JD Vance. Since there are more than five million Filipinos, mostly documented, in the USA, it is both imperative and high time that the whole Philippines should know America's number 2 top honcho.
James David Vance, popularly called JD Vance, was born James Donald Bowman on August 2, 1984 in Middletown, Ohio. He is of Scots-Irish descent. When he was adopted by his mother's third husband, he changed his family name to Vance, which is his mother Carol's maiden name. He worked as a cashier in a local grocery store then enlisted in the US Marine Corps. He was deployed to Iraq in a non-combatant role as a military journalist. At age 40, he is one of the youngest ever elected as the number 2 leader of America.
When he came back, he studied in Ohio State University, where he finished his AB degree, majoring in political science and philosophy, with highest Latin honors, Summa Cum Laude. He entered Yale Law School. After his law school, he worked for Republican Senator John Cormyn. Then he worked as a law clerk for Judge David Bunning of the US District Court of the Eastern District of Kentucky. Then he became a practicing corporate lawyer under the firm of Sidney Austin.
He was also a writer and he published a good number of excellent works. He was a CNN contributor from 2017 to 2018. In 2022, Vance ran for Ohio senator as the Republican candidate against Democratic Party's Tim Ryan. Vance won with 53 percent of the vote over Ryan's 47 percent. On January 23, 2023, JD Vance was sworn in to the Senate as a member of the 118th Senate. he was not able to perform much in the US Senate as Donald Trump picked him in 2024 to be his running mate, a surprise choice. The rest is history.
On a personal basis, J D Vance is married to Usha Chilukuri, a 38-year-old American lawyer, born in San Diego, California to immigrant parents. Her parents were from Andhra Pradesh, India. The vice president is a Christian who started as an Evangelical and converted to Catholicism and his wife is a practicing Hindu. The have three children. They are a very nice couple who tolerate each other's different religious faith.
Before JD Vance was elected senator, he wrote and published his memoir entitled "Hillbilly Elegy, A Memoir of a Family and Christian Culture in Crisis." It was a candid description of his childhood and his commentaries about family life and the culture of Christianity. That work became a bestseller and Vance quickly became a celebrity. He was in demand as a lecturer and commentator. His memoir became a subject of a movie and perhaps, that was the turning point that launched his political career.
JD Vance is a lucky guy. I hope that his vice presidency shall prove to be a more eventful one compared to that of Mike Pence. one of these days, President Trump may send Vice President JD Vance to the Philippines to deal with China's atrocious and illegal acts in the West Philippine Sea.