Politically and spiritually, the vice president has been on a journey.
First published in The Atlantic on June 15, 2026.
by Vivian Salama, The Atlantic
June 18, 2026
| reading time: 9 Min.
Driving back to his Marine Corps base in North Carolina alone after attending his grandmother’s funeral, a despondent J. D. Vance was steering through Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains when a combination of slippery roads and bad luck sent his car hurtling toward a guardrail. What came next, he describes as an almost “supernatural experience.” Instead of crashing through the guardrail and sliding off the mountain, the car, he says, mysteriously stopped.










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