JD Vance defends billionaire business ally accused of cruel small-town America remark

As Republicans try to keep up their populist ruse, big money elites in the party — and their big mouths — are making the herculean task of making Republicans look like authentic defenders of everyday Americans increasingly difficult. 

Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk were a prime example of that last week when they faced backlash for appearing to suggest American-born workers are inferior to immigrant workers who come to the United States on H–1B visas. And MAGA-aligned tech billionaire Marc Andreessen faced backlash after a cruel remark he allegedly made about small-town America in 2017 resurfaced on social media this week.

The quote comes from an American Prospect article published in April and authored by journalist Rick Perlstein, who recounted a dinner he had with Andreessen in 2017. In the article, Perlstein recollected an alleged discussion with Andreessen about the plight of small-town Americans. He quotes Andreessen as having said something to the effect of: “I’m glad there’s OxyContin and video games to keep those people quiet.”

Perlstein went on to note that he may have misremembered whether Andreessen used the word “quiet” or another word to indicate small-town America’s futility:

I’m taking the liberty of putting it in quotation marks, though I can’t be sure those were his exact words. Marc, if you’re reading, feel free to get in touch and refresh my memory. Maybe he said “quiescent,” or “docile,” or maybe “powerless.” Something, certainly, along those lines.

The alleged remark suggests Andreessen carried disdain for people who make up much of the MAGA base. On Monday, Andreessen confirmed Perlstein attended dinner at his house in 2017 but appeared to deny having made the degrading comment about small-town Americans. “True to form, he is now slandering me with fake quotes,” Andreessen alleged, referring to Perlstein.

Perlstein isn’t backing down from his reporting. On Tuesday, he encouraged readers to “decide for yourself” and suggested reporters “ask Andreessen to confirm or deny whether he holds the people he grew up with in contempt.”

With regard to contempt, Andreessen’s alleged remark feels similar to Trump‘s reported rhetoric. It’s also reminiscent of the classist depiction of rural America in Vice President-elect JD Vance’s 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”

Vance — whose venture capital firm was reportedly funded in part by Andreessen — leaped to the billionaire investor’s defense on Tuesday.

“I am admittedly biased, but I’m biased because Marc is a good dude,” Vance posted to X. “I don’t believe Pearlstein’s slander for a second.”

The angry quote tweets and replies responding to Vance show he was unsuccessful in totally silencing the backlash, much of which appeared to come from Trump-supporting accounts (including that of conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer). 

It looks like some members of the MAGA world are beginning to realize their movement exists to serve wealthy elites at everyone else’s expense. I don’t expect this realization to change their voting behavior writ large. The backlash feels like an isolated moment of resistance rather than a true uprising.