Ten years ago, on July 4, 2016, U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) wrote The Atlantic op-ed titled, ‘Opioid of the Masses,’ which the magazine resurfaced this week by republishing the essay “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.”
The Atlantic’s CEO Nicholas Thompson, who has provided a “gifted article” link to the essay, pulled this quote from Vance’s essay: “Trump is cultural heroin. He makes some feel better for a bit. But he cannot fix what ails them, and one day they’ll realize it.”
Vance wrote of the future President: “He never offers details for how these plans will work, because he can’t. Trump’s promises are the needle in America’s collective vein.”
“Trump is cultural heroin. He makes some feel better for a bit. But he cannot fix what ails them, and one day they’ll realize it.” – JD Vance, ten years ago today. https://t.co/VO0oVhyHXj
— nxthompson (@nxthompson) July 4, 2026
The Atlantic staff writer and former U.S. Naval War College professor Tom Nichols responded by sharing a link to a new op-ed by former White House speechwriter for Presidents Reagan and both Bushes, Peter Wehner, titled, ‘What J.D. Vance Once Knew.’
Nichols pulled the quote: “Ten years ago, the vice president wrote that one day, voters would realize the truth about Donald Trump. That day has now arrived.”
Nichols reported that, in the midst of the White House’s Freedom 250 celebrations, Vance’s 2016 article about Trump is now the most popular article at The Atlantic.
I stand corrected: The @JDVance article from 2016 about Trump is not the second-most popular at @TheAtlantic site; it’s now number 1.
link below pic.twitter.com/1PEUEGsUGn
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 4, 2026
[NOTE: Days before The Atlantic published Vance’s op-ed in 2016, his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, was released. It became a New York Times best seller, and was included in the Times’ list of “6 Books to Help Understand Trump’s Win.”]
Vance is currently promoting his second book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, which includes details of his conversion to Catholicism in 2019.