It rings true since it's based on a smidge of material analysis, and the superficial similarity with leftists steals our momentum (dragging us back at the moment, but attempting to hitch a ride when there's another Bernie type wave). Protofascist IMO. Vance correctly identifies that there is a bourgeoisie that controls the USA, and that ordinary people should instinctually oppose this, but he draws the lines of the classes such that the "elite" contains people like journalists and nurses, and the "real Americans" includes himself and ski-doo dealership owners and such. This is not new rhetoric, but Vance is actually doing a little analysis so it works well.

For instance, he says that the reason illegal immigration exists is because all the business owners - many of them Democrats - profit from illegal immigration. The low wages paid for under-the-table work push down the wages paid to citizens. That's true! It's convincing, it's material. But Vance goes on to say that the way to stop this phenomenon is not for workers to band together to force business owners to pay them high wages no matter the supply of labor, or even just to make immigration (functionally) legal again so immigrant labor isn't so cheap, but to keep immigration (functionally) illegal but just make the border even more deadly.