JD Vance Goes Full-On Middle School Cringe To Prove He's A Big Bad Boy To His Boss Trump

By Shreya Mali
JD Vance posing for photos aboard Air Force One Pool/Getty Images

Donald Trump went more red-faced than ever while discussing the Israel-Iran conflict with reporters in June 2025. After the president went on a rant about the ceasefire violations between the two countries, he suddenly lost his cool and raged, "We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f**k they're doing," (via X, formerly known as Twitter). The journalists gathered in front of him were shocked by his language and hurled even more questions at the divisive politician in response, which he ignored, simply walking away. 

Under normal circumstances, the president's inner circle would have jumped in to do some damage control. Ideally, his vice president would have either kept a low profile and chosen his words carefully to avoid further backlash or explained that his boss's reaction was understandable because he was under tremendous pressure. However, JD Vance is not a normal VP, so he decided to go down a more bizarre route instead by adding his own childish antics to Trump's. 

Speaking at the Ohio Republican Party dinner, Vance raised his middle finger to the audience, slyly quipping, "All the pink-haired people [in D.C.] throw up this sign, and I think that means 'We're number one.'" The "Hillbilly Elegy" author was clearly proud of his little "joke" because he paused afterward to laugh, giving the audience an opportunity to join in too. Vance's embarrassing behavior reeked of desperation because it seemed like he was trying to be the second-in-command that Trump would want. Further, the middle finger was one of many recent attempts to get people to like him with ill-timed jokes. 

JD Vance's cringey jokes never seem to land

JD Vance laughing while holding his fist to his face Joey Sussman/Shutterstock

Earlier this month, JD Vance picked the worst possible time to joke about Donald Trump and it completely backfired. While the U.S. government dealt with the legal implications of the president's involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict, his loyal second-in-command took to X to jest, "I wonder if other VPs had as much excitement as I do" alongside a laughing-crying emoji. Certain commentators put the former Ohio senator in his place by reminding Vance that he was actually working under the "Trump/Musk" administration until the commander-in-chief fell out with his billionaire bestie. 

Meanwhile, others pointed out that a vice president's job shouldn't be "exciting" under normal circumstances. Donald Trump Jr. was one of the few people who found Vance's joke funny, replying to call Mike Pence the "VP of visiting angels." Earlier in the month, JD took a side in the Elon Musk V. Trump divorce after slipping in another predictably cringe joke. While the Internet poked fun at the SpaceX founder's falling out with the divisive leader, his veep sarcastically tweeted, "Slow news day, what are we even going to talk about?," tagging Theo Von, who was interviewing him at the time. 

JD even made a Les Mis joke that had us cringing for Usha Vance. Before watching the iconic musical with his wife, he tweeted that he had confused it with "Sweeney Todd" and asked Usha if it was about a murderous barber. The bestselling author seemingly believed that he could convince people to laugh at his jokes by using a virtual laughter track since he proudly noted that Usha let out "hysterical laughter" at his statement.

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