Venture capitalist and U.S. Senator J.D. Vance has built a literary and political career on making opportunistic appeals to the plight of a working class he routinely describes as lazy, ungrateful slobs. His statements on the United Auto Workers’ now seemingly imminent strike against the Big Three U.S. automakers—Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis—have been no exception. Neither the   American auto industry’s endless quest for profits nor the global economic forces shaping supply chains fit