JD Vance’s ‘Jobs for Hillbillies’ Start-Up Employed Migrants Instead

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jd-vances-jobs-for-hillbillies-start-up-employed-migrants-instead

47 Comments

  1. ComprehensiveHavoc on

    Donold needs to throw in the towel and replace JD Vance with Hannibal Lecter. They just gel together—they get each other!—and who else does Trump publicly praise over and over again? He also has a much more extensive résumé as a doctor, and cannibal. 

  2. Trump is in a lose-lose with this clown. If he keeps him, he has a giant loser VP everybody hates and laughs at. If he replaces him, he admits he’s shit at vetting and has poor judgement. Either way, Vance is an absolute gift.

  3. OppositeDifference on

    What amazes me is the apparently endless well of crappy things this 40 year old man has managed to say or do on the public record. It’s like he’s been speedrunning

  4. atomsmasher66 on

    My conservative brother-in-law owns a construction company and he knowingly employs illegals yet he is *very* concerned about illegal immigration. It makes zero sense.

  5. Weekly_Protection_57 on

    Almost like his record is meant to mock people. Epitome of “rules for thee but not for me.”

  6. That’s not even the worst part. From CNN’s front page story:

    >AppHarvest employees said they were forced to work in grueling conditions inside the company’s greenhouse, where temperatures often soared into the triple digits. Complaints filed with the US Department of Labor and a Kentucky regulator between 2020 and 2023 show that workers alleged they were given insufficient water breaks and weren’t provided adequate safety gear. Some workers said they suffered heat exhaustion or injuries, though state inspectors did not find violations.

    >[W]orkers were routinely taken out of the greenhouse by medical personnel because they were suffering from heat stroke symptoms. Those who went to the doctor, she said, were told by managers that a doctor’s note was not a sufficient reason to miss a shift.

    >As workers left, AppHarvest replaced them with migrant workers, numerous former employees told CNN. By the early fall of 2021, Hester described a workforce that was made up of many workers from countries such as Mexico and Guatemala.

  7. applepieplaisance on

    He’s the gift that keeps on giving. Or should I say, the “grift” that keeps on giving.

  8. “We’re a meritocracy and we should only hire the best.”

    “Illegal immigrants are stealing our jobs!”

    Hmm.

  9. >By that point, the company had already come under a slew of complaints over unsafe working conditions, such as employees being provided with poor quality gear and insufficient water breaks while toiling in greenhouses where temperatures are alleged to have regularly soared into triple digits.

    Well obviously the reason it failed was because they hadn’t yet passed laws [banning water and shade breaks](https://www.eenews.net/articles/desantis-signs-bill-banning-water-shade-breaks-for-laborers/) and ruling OSHA unconstitutional. Once they get the “regulatory environment” straight his business will grow.

  10. SweetieLoveBug on

    ~shocked Pikachu face!~

    Did ANYBODY think to check on this cushion pusher BEFORE he became the latest player in Trump’s Celebrity Jeopardy game show? 😳

  11. ranchoparksteve on

    The corporate structure for Vance’s company seems to have been a financial model for Trump’s own media company. And both stocks have been major losers.

  12. A quote that stuck with me about immigrant workers in California: farmers *do* hire US workers, but they universally won’t stay on the job. One farmer said that he’s never seen a US worker return from lunch on the first day.

  13. The more headlines I see about JD Vance, the more I’m convinced that he was the perfect pick for Trump’s VP if the goal is to carry over the disfunction of the last Trump administration.

  14. Here’s what I don’t understand. Was JD always a grifter? In the early days he was just a left-wing grifter when he spoke out against Trump. Now, he is a right-wing grifter. Did he start grifting after his book took off and he got a taste of the fame/money. His personality doesn’t come from nowhere. There had to be a pattern of his grift form early on in his life.

  15. Sure_Garbage_2119 on

    lol, that´s so precious!

    it´s the conservatives in a (eyelined) nutshell…

    prove me wrong.

  16. Actual__Wizard on

    As an Ohioian, these stories aren’t new to me. No idea how Vance won his race to become a senator. People simply do not listen to anybody discussing the candidates and vote for the R next to their name…

  17. noonewilleverseeit on

    Of all the shitty things AppHarvest did in Kentucky, running JD Vance off of its board is about the only positive.

  18. artificialavocado on

    Of course it did. Mark my words, there is going to be a picture of JD Vance in blackface that comes out before this is over.

  19. Terrible_Horror on

    This is the real reason for illegal immigration. They can solve it today if they make laws to fine / punish people who employ illegal immigrants. But then it will cease to become a voter exploitation issue.

  20. Is anyone really surprised? Every time a maga politician opens his mouth he shoots himself in the foot.

  21. Trump’s resort /golf club properties are all heavily dependent on seasonal immigrants.

  22. What drives Republicans into madness? Is it the cognitive dissonance? Suppressing their true sexual nature? Bipolar flip-flopping in their hate/love of Trump? Somebody needs to ask Vance as he seems to have some expertise in these areas.

  23. Nobody said he wasn’t a hypocrite!
    (generally that is the default for most politicians).

  24. Ill-Vermicelli-1684 on

    As a Kentuckian I am SO glad this is finally catching traction. AppHarvest has done real damage to Appalachia.