An important segment of the right believes that America was settled by WASPs, whose culture made us great. Everyone else who lives here, even if they are citizens, should accept their subordinate status, be grateful, and shut up.
J.D. clearly accepts this line of reasoning. He was born a WASP, and his family apparently was here before the Civil War, which for some reason appears to be the cutoff date, even for other WASPs. But Vance is now a Catholic—historically, the political and cultural adversary of the WASP—and he married an Indian woman.
Has Vance consequently forfeited his right to be considered a first class American? Someone should ask him.