The Atlantic used the Fourth of July as an opportunity to republish a 10-year-old op-ed that sharply criticized then-GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, comparing him and his MAGA politics to heroin. The author? JD Vance.
The Atlantic republished a 2016 op-ed from now-Vice President JD Vance in which he referred to the promises of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump as a "needle in America's collective vein."
Editor's Note on the Republishing
“We are republishing it on the occasion of its tenth anniversary, so that our readers can judge for themselves how well his assessment of the man he now serves as vice president has stood the test of time,” read an editor’s note from the publication.
Vance’s July 4, 2016, op-ed, titled “Opioid of the Masses,” argued that Trump was offering the public an “easy escape” from their pain.
“He never offers details for how these plans will work, because he can’t,” Vance wrote. “Trump’s promises are the needle in America’s collective vein.”
Context of the Op-Ed
The editor’s note stated that the piece was published not long after Vance published his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.” The book deals, among other topics, with the opioid crisis in rural America. In his op-ed, he wrote that “many Americans have reached” for a “new” pain reliever.
“It enters minds, not through lungs or veins, but through eyes and ears, and its name is Donald Trump,” he wrote.
Vance's Evolution on Trump
Vance, of course, went on to become Trump’s vice president in his second term. He has repeatedly addressed his once fierce criticism of the president — including reportedly musing that Trump could be “America’s Hitler.”
“I don’t hide from that,” Vance told Sean Hannity in 2024. “I was certainly skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016, but President Trump was a great president, and he changed my mind. I think he changed the minds of a lot of Americans.”
