Ron Howard Confirms JD Vance's Fragile Ego Crumples At The Slightest Criticism (Just Like Trump)

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Before JD Vance became the Vice President of the United States, many people knew him for his writing. His book, "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis," came out in 2016, and it was turned into a Ron Howard-directed film four years later. Howard has been outspoken about his dislike for Donald Trump, and he has also shared his feelings about Vance after directing the movie about his life. 

Vance going full MAGA brought up complicated feelings for Howard, who once called Trump "a self-serving, dishonest, morally bankrupt ego maniac who doesn't care about anything or anyone but his Fame & bank account & is hustling the US," per X. Now, the director is opening up about working with Vance. It's clear that the vice president and president have more in common than questionable priorities and controversial world views; they also share similarly weak egos.

In an interview with Vulture, Howard was asked about Vance's reported surprise when the film didn't get positive reviews. "He was frustrated by that," Howard said, noting that Vance "felt that, just as reviews had kind of turned on the book, his involvement was in some way tainting or coloring the critical response, and he resented it." It also seems that Vance's bruised ego may have turned into more than just resentment. It might have also altered his politics, shaping the person he has become.

Like Ron Howard, JD Vance also wasn't originally a fan of Donald Trump. In a 2016 New York Times op-ed, Vance called Trump "unfit for our nation's highest office." He also called himself a "never Trumper" and said, "I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a**hole like Nixon... or that he's America's Hitler," among other instances of public criticism, per Reuters. It's easy to theorize why Vance changed his tune as he grew more influential in the GOP and was named Trump's VP pick. Yet, his descent into further and further right-leaning politics may have been influenced by more than just a desire to rise through the ranks. 

Vance's best friend from his Yale days, Jamil Jivani, told The Washington Post that the negative reviews that rolled in after the Netflix premiere of "Hillbilly Elegy" were Vance's "last straw" in trying to appeal to more educated, liberal groups. Howard told Vulture: "I can't speak to that. When I was working with him, all his quotes about the administration were very public. He was trying to run an investment fund. So the run for Senate and the strategy he's chosen to follow are not what I would've expected." If it is true that bad reviews of his movie were enough to alter Vance's world view, we can only imagine how much all the bad reviews he's getting these days are affecting him.