Side By Side Pics Of A Young Gavin Newsom & JD Vance Sparked A Brutal Internet War

Are California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vice President JD Vance destined to face off against each other in a presidential election? As two of the most prominent members of their respective parties, it certainly seems possible. But it turns out they've already faced off against each other in a different sort of competition ... and they probably don't even know about it.

On August 17, 2025, X user Jack Cocchiarella sparked a bit of an Internet flame war when he posted a side by side comparison of Newsom and Vance from their high school days. The former was wearing a baseball uniform, while the latter was sporting a shirt and tie. Cocchiarella — a self-described "progressive Gen Z political commentator" — captioned the post, "Chad Newsom > Chud Vance". It inspired thousands of replies and things did not simmer down in the comments. Things look much better for Newsom when he's on both ends of the side by side comparison, whereas doing the same thing to Vance makes it clear how much politics has changed him.

Chad Newsom > Chud Vance pic.twitter.com/ati62oSFBQ

— Jack Cocchiarella (@JDCocchiarella) August 18, 2025

But first, let's back up for anyone not fluent in Internet-speak. "Chad" is a slang term defined by Merriam-Webster as "a stereotypical alpha male; a man, admired or scorned for brazen self-confidence." Meanwhile, Urban Dictionary is our source for "Chud," which is used to "describe someone with right-wing political views, usually only used when describing fascist, Nazis, or Trump Supporters." And for context, Cocchiarella's post followed a couple of similar viral side by side presentations. First came @AnonymousLeftie asking "which way america?" with accompanying photos of Newsom and Vance with their respective families. Then @YungPutin1 parried with "Gavin Newsom vs JD Vance in high school," which juxtaposed Newsom reading a newspaper while wearing a scarf against Vance next to two girls standing over urinals in a men's bathroom.

If you're still with us at this point, congratulations on being a young person! As Jack Cocchiarella's post went viral, it was basically open season for roasting Gavin Newsom and JD Vance as mercilessly as possible. As one user quipped, "Newsom just exudes that smug, privileged vibe of [every] teen movie villain." One person illustrated that comparison with a screencap of a classic 80s movie antagonist. (Well, he certainly lives close enough to Hollywood to make a career change if he wants to.) Vance got the blunter edge of the insult stick when another person declared, "JD has no rizz." Meanwhile, multiple users compared Newsom's "silver spoon" background to Vance's more hardscrabble childhood, which was part of his unique journey to becoming vice president.

So who emerged the victor in this particular war? Judging by the most visible replies, it certainly appears that Vance had the greater number of defenders, or at least the more vocal ones. Of course, you could argue that nobody wins when the discourse devolves into such tasteless name calling. Or you could counterintuitively argue that it's actually a good thing that there's a space for such no-holds-barred mockery without anyone actually getting hurt. Or you could just throw up your hands in frustration and move on, like the user, who requested, "They both suck can we stop the nonsense."