JD Vance Proves His Meme Game Has Elon-Levels Of Cringe As Leo DiCaprio Post Backfires
Elon Musk showed himself to be the most cringe Donald Trump sidekick at the CPAC conference as he wielded a chainsaw to pat himself on the back for heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been targeting employee cuts at a range of federal agencies from national park rangers to nuclear weapons workers. But JD Vance isn't letting Musk push him out of Trump's orbit when it comes to cringe moments. Vance posted a meme of himself as Rick Dalton, Leonardo DiCaprio's character in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," pointing at the TV. There's no caption or explanation included with the meme, and we're not exactly sure what he was going for. Whatever it was, we're not sure it worked the way that he wanted it too. Unless he meant for it to be awkward and embarrassing for him.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) March 8, 2025
The replies on X (formerly known as Twitter) were flooded with additional memes that portrayed Vance in a much less flattering light, including one of him as Stalin and as Hitler. One person replied to Vance's post and lamented, "Ruined a perfectly good meme." Another X user that wasn't enthused said, "I'm getting a bit worried. You are VP. A role model," and told Vance to be more mindful about what he shares online.
JD Vance memes have taken over social media
One theory as to why JD Vance posted the photo of himself as Leonardo DiCaprio's character is that he wants it to seem like he's in on the joke. Vance memes have flooded the internet in recent days with the VP's face distorted and edited in all kinds of ways, primarily made larger and more childlike. Others have gone above and beyond and superimposed his face over all kinds of things from being put on top of Kim Kardashian's body to making him into Humpty Dumpty. Others leaned into the rumors that Vance wears eyeliner by giving him even more makeup and side swept bangs, effectively a goth-slash-emo version of Vance.
To be fair, there are those who have taken the trend and put Vance's face into more complimentary situations. There's some of him as James Bond, as Mr. Rogers, and as Benjamin Franklin. But overwhelmingly, the posts seem to be making fun of Vance.
Others think that Vance's actually stoked about the memes, even if they're not all that complimentary. One person posted on X, "He's probably just happy that anyone is paying attention to him."
The JD Vance memes started before he became VP
The JD Vance memes seem to have originated back to October 2, 2024. Georgia Republican U.S. Representative Mike Collins posted a photo of Vance on X shortly after the VP debate. Vance's jaw is snatched and his cheekbones are sharp; while Vance has had a major weight loss transformation over the years, it hasn't ever left him looking as chiseled as he does in the photo that Collins shared. From there, people flipped the script to make Vance look, well, bad. The same day as Rep. Collins's post, another X user wrote, "For every 100 likes I will turn JD Vance into a progressively apple cheeked baby," and then followed up by doing so.
The memes really seemed to take off after the disastrous Oval Office meeting in March between Donald Trump, Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In an unexpected moment of bipartisanship, the memes have been shared by those on both the right and the left on social media.
The memes have continued as Vance is facing real life critics. When he and his family went on a ski trip to Vermont, people lined the streets with protest signs, and the family reportedly had to be moved to different accommodations because of the protestors. Vance's online response to this showed he has a thinner skin than Trump. So despite reports that Vance thinks the memes about him are funny (per X) and him seemingly trying to get in on the trend with a post of his own, it's possible some of the most unfavorable ones are actually bothering him.