If Vice President-elect JD Vance wants people to stop calling him weird, he might want to stop doing stuff like this.
On Thanksgiving, the Republican posted an edited image of Norman Rockwell’s 1943 Thanksgiving painting “Freedom From Want” on social media.
The painting depicts a man and a woman at the head of a table where a family is seated for their holiday meal. The woman, wearing a frilly apron, is serving a turkey as the patriarch watches over her.
In Vance’s version, the man at the head of the table is Donald Trump, the woman is Vance, and the turkey is a Republican-dominated electoral map of the country.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 29, 2024
Earlier, in the day, Vance had posted a more typical holiday missive, writing, “Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Despite our challenges, we remain the greatest nation in the world, and I’m very grateful for it — and for all of you!”
It was certainly more festive than the president-elect’s own post, which, in accordance with his tradition, mostly focussed on attacking “Radical Left Lunatics.”
Social media users were truly baffled by Vance’s choice.
“I’ve seen a lot of embarrassing behavior on this app, but I have never seen anything quite like this,” wrote film executive Franklin Leonard.
Former Kamala Harris adviser Mike Nellis offered his own interpretation, speculating Vance was being obsequious to win back influence over Trump, who has been palling around with billionaire Elon Musk since the election.
“My head cannon for this is Vance is worried about Elon having more influence than him, so he thought posting this weird ass meme would win him favour again. Which… honestly might work because Trump is vain as hell and loves this stuff,” Nellis wrote on Bluesky.
Vance’s post evidently caught Musk’s eye; the SpaceX CEO reacted with a laughing emoji.
Check out the reactions on X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky below.
I thought it was fake, but JD Vance really posted an image of him as Trump’s wife at Thanksgiving dinner. Incredible content—super weird.
— Mike Nellis (@mikenellis.bsky.social)2024-11-29T00:55:43.899Z
My head cannon for this is Vance is worried about Elon having more influence than him, so he thought posting this weird ass meme would win him favor again. Which… honestly might work because Trump is vain as hell and loves this stuff. ????
— Mike Nellis (@mikenellis.bsky.social)2024-11-29T01:13:54.777Z
If this feels normal to you, you're in a cult. https://t.co/TR8EWLlqwM
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) November 29, 2024
JD Vance posting an image of himself as Trump’s wife, and also with a map that doesn’t show people he and Trump won by one of the lowest margins in American history. https://t.co/Spl63RInyA
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) November 29, 2024
I’ve seen a lot of embarrassing behavior on this app, but I have never seen anything quite like this. https://t.co/d6TtDTxMn3
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) November 29, 2024
I am not sure why JD Vance posted this.
— Molly Jong-Fast (@mollyjongfast.bsky.social)2024-11-29T01:27:49.493Z
This is a real tweet from vice president-elect JD Vance depicting himself as Trump’s wife.
— PatriotTakes ???????? (@patriottakes.bsky.social)2024-11-29T00:16:26.759Z
what is it about trump that causes the men in his life to behave this way lmao https://t.co/mGqoR5kW3A
— america's most respected lounge singer (@KrangTNelson) November 29, 2024
JD Vance posted this. He chose to be Trump’s wife lol.
— Gabe Sanchez (@iamgabesanchez.bsky.social)2024-11-29T01:46:41.987Z
Everything about this is just WEIRD! Is JD inferring he knows his place and in doing so, is he putting women down?
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) November 29, 2024
For the less than 50% of America who voted for this, please help me understand how this helps you.
Look, nothing any of us can say is gonna beat the fact that he posted this himself https://t.co/MLl76gIdfF
— Mr. Chau (@Srirachachau) November 29, 2024
I don't even have anything pithy to say about this pure foolishness. I'm just deeply sad that Americans have put utterly unserious, emotionally stunted people in charge of the very serious, world-impacting business of running our nation. https://t.co/KvKACi3gc9
— Jennifer Erin Valent (@JenniferEValent) November 29, 2024
