Rumors About JD Vance We Just Can't Ignore

Vice President JD Vance is quite the character. From a self-professed "Never Trump guy" to becoming President Donald Trump's second-in-command, the former Ohio senator and bestselling author has evolved significantly over the years. It stands to reason, then, that he's been plagued by rumors. Some understandably still find it hard to believe that the man who once compared Trump to Adolf Hitler now sings his praises on a daily basis, for instance. But Vance has had a few slip-ups that hint he may or may not secretly be undermining his boss. From accidentally comparing the president's golden Oval Office decor to the taste of his five-year-old son to exposing Trump's bizarre sleep habits that can't be good for the president's questionable health, it often seems as if the vice president is sending the public sneaky messages to instill doubt in him.

In an eyebrow-raising move, Vance paid a visit to owner of the Wall Street Journal Rupert Murdoch and several Fox News executives in June 2025, about a month before they published a bombshell piece about a lewd birthday card Trump sent disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. No one knew what the meeting was about. But, in retrospect, it's easy to wonder whether Vance was perhaps trying to discourage Murdoch from publishing the damaging article or whether he was there to provide additional intel off the record. 

In the aftermath of the media tempest that followed, Vance was reportedly set to host a dinner with various high-ranking Trump officials to discuss how to handle the scandal. Reporters then asked the president about it directly during an Oval Office spray. Instead of answering, he turned to Vance and said, "I could ask you that question," (via the Daily Beast). In response, his second-in-command confirmed, "It's completely fake news."

As it turns out, when you're the vice president of the United States, you can have river levels raised specially for your outdoor entertainment purposes. JD Vance had the country in an uproar after reports surfaced in August 2025 that the Little Miami River's levels had been altered to accommodate the "Hillbilly Elegy" author's plans to go boating with his family in honor of Vance's 41st birthday. The request was reportedly not made by the birthday boy himself, but rather by his Secret Service detail, who claimed raising the river's level was necessary for them to adequately protect the vice president during the excursion. However, a source disclosed to The Guardian that the agents hadn't been entirely truthful. 

"[It was also to create] ideal kayaking conditions," they clarified simply. Data from the U.S. Geological Survey showed that Caesar Creek Lake experienced a steep dip in water levels ahead of the Vance family's outdoor adventure as outflow was increased to raise the river's levels. Former chief White House ethics lawyer Richard W. Painter took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to decry the special treatment afforded to them. "It's outrageous for the Army corps of engineers to spend taxpayer money to increase water flow in a river so @VP can go canoeing when budget cuts to the National Park Service have severely impacted family vacations for everyone else," he penned at the time. 

There have been plenty of times where JD Vance's ego was big enough to rival even Donald Trump's, and one detractor took it upon themselves to knock the future VP down a peg ahead of the 2024 elections. In July, a rumor made the rounds on X that the bestselling author had admitted to engaging in a sexual act with a couch in his hit memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy." The user even included the supposed page numbers where interested parties could find the passage in question. Of course, the book included no such story, but that didn't prevent the post from going viral on social media, to the extent that reputable outlets like the Associated Press had to debunk it, with its headline reading: "No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch." The article was later deleted, only further adding to the furor. 

Even as the story was thoroughly quashed, users continued eagerly sharing it across various social media platforms. What made matters worse for Vance was that Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz made a quip referencing the viral post at a rally. The politician told supporters that he was looking forward to facing off against Vance in a debate, knowingly adding, "That is, if he's willing to get off the couch and show up," with the assembled crowd roaring their approval (via NBC News). Ensuring that they knew it wasn't an innocent remark, Walz added, "See what I did there?" Naturally, certain outlets pointed out the irony that the Democrats, who sharply criticized Trump for peddling misinformation, were doing the same thing in an attempt to take a shot at Vance.

The sordid couch rumor wasn't the only one making the rounds about JD Vance in July 2024. One netizen dug up an old X post from the former Ohio senator, where he reposted a screenshot of a post featuring a photograph of a woman at the waterside with a dolphin jumping out at her, captioned: "Woman gets violated by a dolphin and enjoys it." In his repost, Vance penned, "Maybe the internet was a mistake." Eagle-eyed users quickly spotted that the words "woman" and "dolphin" were highlighted in the screenshot, which meant he had searched those terms to find the tweet in question.

"His search history should be handed to the fbi," one such netizen opined in response. "I dread to think what the rest of your search history looks like dude," added another. Of course, Vance might simply have seen or heard of the post and searched those terms to find it on X. There's no way of knowing for sure — the vice president never commented on the social media scuttlebutt, nor did he delete the eyebrow-raising post. The Dems appeared to enthusiastically ride the controversial wave when they released a statement about him that same month, which was rather aptly entitled: "JD Vance Is a Creep."

JD Vance has sent rumors that he wears eyeliner into overdrive on several occasions, and once you see it, you can't unsee it. One TikToker compared multiple photographs to more clearly demonstrate this, some of which showed the politician with bare lids while others screamed "guyliner." TikTok isn't the only place where people have questioned whether Vance is practicing the perfect cat eye, either. Likewise, July 2024 just wasn't his month. With the nation's attention firmly on Donald Trump's running mate, those eyeliner rumors refused to die. "There is only one urgent political question on my mind tonight. Why does JD Vance wear so much eyeliner?" one netizen questioned on X, adding a snap where Vance's eyes clearly looked lined as proof. "He doesn't really seem like the goth-boy type," another who questioned the VP's makeup decisions weighed in. 

Amid the scuttlebutt, George Santos, who has a complicated relationship with the truth, to say the very least, made matters worse when he attempted to come to the prospective vice president's defense. The known fibster decried the rumors on X, writing, "Vance does NOT use eye liner," and claiming the bestselling author's look was all natural. Vance hasn't exactly done anything to quell the speculation though. During a May 2025 visit to Ireland (see above), it appeared as though the VP had accentuated his eyes once again. One X user posted a clip of Vance delivering a speech and indeed, the eyeliner seemed to have showed up for work that day. "JD Vance went heavy on the eyeliner this morning," they noted.

If you want to discover the inner workings of someone's life, their Venmo payment history is a good place to start. What's even more interesting are the people on someone's Venmo friend list, which is usually auto-populated using the existing contacts on their phone. JD Vance apparently forgot to make his Venmo friend list private, and it was visible to the whole world as a result, just waiting to be dissected. During an analysis of the politician's contact lists and payments, WIRED discovered that Vance had the contact information of several people whom his boss Donald Trump is known to scorn. This included his former attorney and personal fixer Michael Cohen, and several others who have publicly spoken out against the divisive leader. But there were also plenty of folks on there from the other side of the aisle, including Amalia Halikias, who was one of the minds behind Project 2025. 

As such, Vance's contact list hinted that, while he might be Trump's second-in-command, he didn't purge his phone of the president's adversaries, which is noteworthy. The former Ohio senator also weathered an embarrassing moment when netizens dug up an old Facebook post in which he was seen passed out on the floor at a party during his college years. The VP was tagged, and the user who posted the snap in 2007 helpfully captioned it: "Yes, that is definitely JD passed out in the corner," (via Snopes). To make matters worse, another apparent college buddy added in the comments, "Was the fact that your belt buckle and pants were undone mentioned at all yet? Cuz that's true also." Eek. It's unclear whether Vance is still this much of a party animal behind the scenes.