But there’s a deeper reason why a cerebral cultural figure like Vance would convert to Trump-style trolldom: In today’s political and media culture, trolling is the shortest, simplest path to a level of attention you’d never get any other way.

politico

I suppose if you could talk to the real Vance, he'd say something akin to "don't hate the player, hate the game." OK, I hate the game of politics, like a lot of people do, because the smartest politicians pretend to be rubes to impress voters.