Trump's running mate 'Scots-Irish hillbilly at heart'

Once a former critic, JD Vance is one of Donald Trump's biggest allies.

JD Vance, a self proclaimed "Scots-Irish hillbilly at heart", has been formally selected as Donald Trump's vice-presidential nominee.

Republican National Convention (RNC) delegates formally selected Mr Vance, 39, on Monday after Trump publicly endorsed him on his social media platform.

The former marine and Yale-educated venture capitalist rose to fame after his best-selling memoir-turned-film Hillbilly Elegy saw him go on to be a Republican Senator.

His award winning memoir recollected his 'blue collar' upbringing in Ohio, where via the Appalachian region, his Scots-Irish ancestors emigrated over three centuries ago.

Mr Vance was born James David Bowman in Middletown, Ohio, to a mother who struggled with addiction and a father who left the family when JD was a toddler.

He was raised by his grandparents, “Mamaw” and “Papaw”, whom he sympathetically portrayed in his 2016 memoir.

Although Middletown is located in rust-belt Ohio, Mr Vance identified closely with his family’s roots slightly to the south in Appalachia, the vast mountainous inland region that stretches from the Deep South to the fringes of the industrial Midwest. It includes some of the country’s poorest areas.

In his book, Mr Vance recounts how his grandparents moved from the Appalachian hills of eastern Kentucky, “in the hope of escaping the dreadful poverty around them”.

The Appalachian region is where many Ulster Scots settled after the Ulster plantation.

Mr Vance says he identifies with millions of "working-class white Americans of Scots-Irish descent"

"To understand me, you must understand that I am a Scots-Irish hillbilly at heart", he confesses in his autobiography.

The terms Scots-Irish, Scotch-Irish and Ulster-Scots relate to people who left Scotland, settled as part of the Ulster plantation and then moved on to North America.

From the first decades of the eighteenth century, the Scots-Irish emigrated to the Americas in increasing numbers.

Mr Vance has written about how he identifies with millions of "working-class white Americans of Scots-Irish descent" who have no college degree and to whom "poverty is the family tradition".

Scots-Irish: 'distinctive subgroup'

The Ohio Senator describes how there are "good and bad traits" associated with the Scots-Irish tradition, “we do not like outsiders or people who are different from us, whether the difference lies in how they look, how they act, or, most important, how they talk".

He believes Scots-Irish is “one of the most distinctive subgroups in America”, with an "intense sense of loyalty" and a "fierce dedication to family and country".

After previously criticising his new running mate, JD Vance has since demonstrated this 'Scots-Irish' loyalty, becoming an outspoken defender of the former president.

Mr Trump posted on the Truth Social platform: "As Vice President, J.D. will continue to fight for our Constitution, stand with our Troops, and will do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN".

Sweeping statement?

Ian Crozier, the CEO of the Ulster-Scots Agency told BBC News NI that JD Vance is "the latest in a very long line of people with Ulster Scots ancestry" to influence American politics.

He said that the Ulster Scots influence and "values of freedom, liberty and hard work" continues to resonate with Americans today and shape the political system.

Broadcaster and Ulster Scots enthusiast Mark Thompson has a different view.

The former Chairman of the Ulster Scots Agency told BBC News NI: "As an autobiography it’s a good read, but it's lazy to regard it as a sweeping cultural statement for either Appalachia or the Scotch-Irish contribution to the United States."

He thinks that Vance’s book Hillbilly Elegy was only ever intended to be a “personal memoir”, but that "bewildered journalists latched on to it in 2016 as they tried in desperation to find an easy explanation for Trump’s rise".