In his bestseller memoir ‘Hillbilly Elegy’, Trump running mate JD Vance uses a wide brush to paint Appalachians as lazy, ignorant and unwilling to try at life.

The "Beverly Hillbillies" are fiction. What is real is the meaningful life and work that rural people who still live in community with one another have.

And it was partly thanks to the years Irene Ryan toiled in obscurity among real-life “hillbillies.” Holy Cow!

Vance first gained public attention with his 2016 book " Hillbilly Elegy," a simplistic and self-aggrandizing account of his early life.

Readers of “Hillbilly Elegy” have heard Vance’s message: I escaped Appalachia. Because of Appalachia, I have lived a wonderful life with supportive parents, grandparents and a tight-knit family.