Humor is not Vice President JD Vance’s strong suit, and it showed when he got humiliated onstage.
Vance, 41, tried to turn a cringeworthy moment to his advantage with some self-deprecation on social media. But the Internet is not letting him shake off the embarrassment so easily.
The conservative politician recently left a crowd in Des Moines, Iowa, in an uncomfortable position when he badly fumbled his speech during a recent campaign.
Vance’s appearance was in support of Republican Rep. Zach Nunn’s reelection campaign.
He traveled to the Hawkeye State on May 5 in the hopes that he could be a potent force in ensuring the Republicans hold onto Iowa’s highly competitive 3rd U.S. congressional district.
However, the veep came off as uncharismatic and uninspiring to many viewers around the nation.
The Appalachian representative’s lack of charm was on full display when he had difficulty reading a section of his scripted remarks.
At the same time, Vance was attempting to throw shade at Sarah Trone Garriott, the Iowa state senator running in the Democratic primary for Iowa’s District 3.
“What is, uh, this, what is, uh…,” the vice president mumbled as attendees behind him on stage stared in silence. He eventually added, “Zach, you’re going to have to help me out with her name here. I lost my page here.”
Clips of Vance floundering to find Garriott’s name on the papers in front of him spread like wildfire on social media.
After hours of getting roasted, the Ohio native made an effort to downplay the screw-up with a 49-second hype video.
“Iowa, vote for Zach Nunn this November, not that crazy lady whose name I forgot,” Vance tweeted on May 7, along with footage from the campaign rally that featured portions of his speech as a voiceover.
Unfortunately for Vance, his deflection tactic failed miserably as other X users flocked to his replies to mercilessly troll the “Hillbilly Elegy” author, with some people suggesting the vice president unintentionally sabotaged Nunn’s chances in November.
“Damn, you just doomed another candidate, lmfao,” read one reply to Vance’s post. The vice president also caught direct heat when someone else tweeted, “You’re such a child, what a poor representation for our children.”
President Trump could not escape bearing some of the brunt of his second-in-command’s ineffective defense of his mid-speech blunder.
One poster mocked Trump, 79, constantly boasting about his mental capacity by sarcastically asking, “Another cognitive test needed?”
“So [Vance] is getting early-onset dementia, too, as he’s unable to remember candidate names. Sad,” joked another Trump administration critic, leaning into the unsubstantiated speculation that the president is experiencing rapid cognitive decline.
Yet another person called out Vance for essentially mimicking his boss by posting, “You started talking like Trump too, and you are really bad at jokes like him too.” Plus, one individual on the app warned, “Don’t thread Donnie’s path, he’s a moron, JD.”
Trump has also been caught drawing a blank when addressing a room full of people.
At January’s National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the MAGA frontman veered off script. He failed to acknowledge the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Félix Tshisekedi.
“We’re joined today by a very, very brave and wonderful man, the president of the Congo,” Trump stated. He never even mentioned Tshisekedi, 62, by name.
Following an awkward pause, he continued, “President, would you stand up, please?”
Like with Vance in Iowa, Trump came off as confused and unprepared at the annual religious-based gathering, sparking further unease.
Both Vance and Trump could end up being a liability for GOP hopefuls in the midterm elections this November. The vice-president only has a 42 percent favorable rating as of this writing. However, the president is even less popular. He currently has a 58 percent disapproval rating.
If the cringy moment at the Iowa event and the futile effort to change the subject in the aftermath are examples of Vance’s speaking style and political messaging, the former Ohio senator could be driving voters away from his right-wing coalition.
