Sarah Harte: We must ask: When we are fed an origin story, what lies beneath it?

US vice presidential Republican nominee JD Vance is killing it at the moment with his origin story which can be summed up as the ‘American dream’. Picture: Julia Nikhinson/AP

We live in the age of the origin story. You may not know it, but your life story may be a valuable asset if you decide to go into politics — but only if it has trauma or adversity in it.

Americans are mad for triumph over adversity backstories.