![](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/SEI_213341645-a79c_1721405660.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200&h=630&crop=1)
JD Vance built his career by claiming to understand ‘Hillbilly’ Appalachia – but these locals say he’s wrong
Vance has a right to his story, academics said, but not to act as a figurehead for the region (Picture: Reuters)‘To understand me, you must understand that I am a Scots-Irish hillbilly at heart.’ Thes are the words that J.D. Vance, Donald Trump’s vice …