Elon Musk said he’s become a meme, but it’s actually JD Vance
Online memes have targeted Vice President JD Vance as an entitled man-child struggling to control his temper tantrums.
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Online memes have targeted Vice President JD Vance as an entitled man-child struggling to control his temper tantrums.
Memes portraying the vice president as a self-assured, full-cheeked adult man who acts like a boy have proliferated on social media following his meltdown in the Oval Office during a meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Vance was criticized for initiating a “gang-up” with President Donald Trump on a war-time leader. He was also accused of being a “bully” after an unprecedented dressing down of a White House guest and American ally.
The vice president was compared to Francis Buxton, a main antagonist of Tim Burton’s 1985 comedy movie Pee-wee's Big Adventure and an archetypical man-child, a phrase commonly used to refer to immature adult men.
Buxton is described as spoiled, childish, and selfish, the characteristics that some social media users appear to believe apply to Vice President Vance as well.
Many of the memes focused on the vice president’s insistence that Zelensky did not show enough gratitude to President Trump for America’s support in Ukraine’s struggle against Russia.
A post shared by Anonymous on X, the social media platform owned by President Trump’s billionaire associate Elon Musk, amassed millions of views by poking fun at Vance’s purported childish demeanor.
The post mocked Vance by attributing to him a cartoonish baby voice, reading: “you gawt tew say pwease n tank u mr zwensky, i read about in my stowies."
undefinedyou gawt tew say pwease n tank u mr zwensky, i read about in my stowiesundefined pic.twitter.com/k27hxH530f
undefined Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) March 1, 2025
In fact, Zelensky has publicly thanked the American people numerous times for their support since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. According to a now-viral video shared on X by the Ukrainian government-run platform United24 Media, he has done so at least 94 times.
Zelensky, thanking America, 94 times.
undefined Jay in Kyiv (@JayinKyiv) March 2, 2025
pic.twitter.com/PRUYaBmQIa
A popular finance meme account, Litquidity, shared a version of a “chubby gamer Vance” offering a child-like rationalization of President Trump’s economic and foreign policy.
“The UK shouwda said thank you, Canada shouwda said thank you, Mexico shouwda said thank you, Ukraine shouwda said thank you. Get wedy for twade war and no miwitawy aid,” the post read.
“The UK shouwda said thank you, Canada shouwda said thank you, Mexico shouwda said thank you, Ukraine shouwda said thank you. Get wedy for twade war and no miwitawy aid” pic.twitter.com/vGoRlvWyrC
undefined litquidity (@litcapital) March 4, 2025
Following his public scolding of Ukraine, Vance was forced to deny he also referred to either the United Kingdom or France as a “random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years” afterward.
This didn’t sit well with some of Washington’s oldest and closest allies. A popular post on Threads, Meta’s short-blogging platform, showed a funeral procession of British soldiers fallen during a war in Afghanistan.
Allied countries sent troops to Afghanistan after the United States invoked NATO’s Article 5 – the alliance’s mutual defense clause – the first and only time any member has ever done so.
Another set of common Vance-related memes concerns the speculation that the vice president is wearing eyeliner or mascara to enhance his features, something that has also caught the attention of TikTok influencers exploring “MAGA makeup” trends.
Vance was once again ridiculed in a disturbing new AI-generated video clip that’s making the rounds on social media.
In the clip, he is depicted in bondage and on all fours, being led by President Trump on a leash on what appears to be a MAGA-themed fashion show runway – set against the high-intensity track Stress by the French electro-duo Justice.
The clip, titled Project 2025 – a reference to a controversial right-wing plan to reshape society – also features Musk in a Nazi uniform and Trump as a KGB asset and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s lapdog.
It also depicts Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, self-described misogynist Andrew Tate, FBI Director Kash Patel, and a hyperventilating Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio.
An unexpected upside for Vance brought by his memeification is increased visibility, diverting at least some of the spotlight from Musk, so far the most recognizable member of Trump’s administration.
It remains to be seen if the vice president manages to capitalize on it, as Musk certainly tried, even claiming in a recent interview, “I am become meme [sic].”
"Yeah, pretty much," he told Newsmax host Rob Schmitt. "There's living the dream, and there's living the meme. And it's pretty much what's happening, ya know?"
Vance, for his part, has yet to publicly comment on his newfound status as a meme.
