If ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Is a Cautionary Tale, It Was Lost on JD Vance

The New York Times ^ | Aug. 3, 2024, 11:16 a.m. ET | Jamelle Bouie, Opinion Columnist

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It is just my luck that the week I was on vacation also happened to be one of the most consequential weeks in recent American political history. In addition to the attempt on Donald Trump’s life and the subsequent Republican National Convention, there was also President Biden’s decision to stand down from the presidential race and hand the baton to his vice president, Kamala Harris.

I have a lot of thoughts about all this, but for now I want to talk about one of the minor characters in this saga — JD Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president.

That Vance, more than two weeks after the convention, is still in the public eye as a subject of controversy over his remarks condemning childless women is evidence enough that he is, so far, a burden to the Trump campaign and not an asset. But at the moment I am less interested in the ways that Vance has adopted the tropes of online “manosphere” influencers than I am in the stories he tells about himself and his ideology.

A few days after he received the nomination, Politico published a story on his deep affinity for “The Lord of the Rings,” the series of fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien that were adapted, about 20 years ago, into blockbuster fantasy epics. Vance has, according to Politico, “pointed to Tolkien’s high fantasy epics as a window into understanding his worldview.”

[DesertRhino]

Children’s books…, but yes, let’s structure our government around them. What’s his opinion on Harry Potter.

[DFG]

https://babylonbee.com/news/in-latest-attack-orcs-call-aragorn-weird

[Luke21]

“The Times appears to have developed a Vance obsession.”

They want to throw poison darts at him for both now and later. Then they point to the high negatives they brought about as proof of his unfitness for office.

[citizen]

One should type ‘NYTimes’ in the thread title so we can ignore it.

[Ozymandias Ghost]

Editorial by Jamelle Bouie and And Special Guest Columnist Grima Wormtongue

[faucetman]

The Lord of the Rings is FICTION!

[The_Harlequin]

Original graphic from the Politico article.

[mac_truck]

Jamelle Bouie manages to both be derivative of and miss the main point of the original Politico article about Vance. About par for the course for this dopey DEI goblin.

[californian by choice]

Me neither... well... the truth is that I never watched it nor do I plan to, they say it’s good

[Albion Wilde]

This writer is a DEI hire.

[1756-L85E]

Whaaaaaaaaa. Copyright nazis are so boring. Posting the link to an archived copy takes hits (and revenue) away from the grey whore. Same with WSJ. Maybe you’re on the wrong web site