JD Vance followed Trump’s expletive-filled rant Tuesday with a stunt of his own by throwing the middle finger to a crowd in a tirade against his critics.
The vice president used a hometown speech at a Republican dinner in Ohio to attack what he described as “pink-haired people” who he claimed approached him in public. Vance was sharing political advice when he made the bizarre analogy.
“I know it’s not always easy to be a political candidate, trust me. In Washington, D.C. they have this thing, I think it means we’re No.1 in Washington, D.C.” Vance said, before flipping his middle finger to the crowd.
“But all the pink-haired people throw up this sign and I think that means we’re no.1 right? I choose to take that as that symbol in Washington.” Vance held his finger up while he spoke.
The speech came amid heightened tensions between Israel and Iran. The president had earlier raged to reporters at the White House, “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f‑‑- they’re doing.“
In his Tuesday night comments, Vance reiterated Trump’s claims that the strikes destroyed Iran’s nuclear facilities. He said, “Not only did we destroy the Iranian nuclear program, we did it with zero American casualties.” He also criticized the Supreme Leader of Iran.
Separately, Vance also revealed the time he was trolled on the job by President Trump.
He insisted had no idea Trump was going to make him his presidential running mate “until literally the morning of the GOP Convention” that took place on July 15 last year in Milwaukee.
That was two days after Trump survived an assassination attempt at an open-air campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.
Vance recalled he had flown to Florida to meet with Trump on the Saturday before the Republican National Convention last July.
“It was the first time I had ever talked with him explicitly about becoming his running mate,” Vance explained. “And he said, ‘You know, I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but it’s probably going to be you, so go have fun the next couple of days.’ How do you have fun the next couple of days? When that’s what the president tells you?”
The vice president said the president then flew to the rally in Pennsylvania, “and that was the famous moment where he turned his head and missed. I think would have been one of the great tragedies in American history, not just a tragedy for him personally.”
Vance called Trump at 2 a.m. the morning after the shooting. “Remember, I had just met with him that morning talking about becoming his running mate, and I’m like, ‘Sir, how you doing?’ And he’s like, ‘I’m fine.’ He’s just been shot in the ear, ‘I’m fine.’ You know, nearly lost his life, but totally fine.”
The vice president then detailed how he missed a crucial phone call from Trump.
“The morning of the convention, the morning he announces me to be his nominee, he calls me at around 11:45, and I’m not kidding you, I don’t answer the phone. And I don’t know what had happened. We had just landed in Milwaukee. We’ve got three little kids, you know, it was a hot day. We were trying to get through all the security to get to our hotel room. I don’t know what happened.”
Vance continued, “So I call him back 15 minutes later, and he answers the phone and he says, ‘JD, you just missed a very important phone call.’ I said, ‘Yes, yes, Mr. President,’ and he said, ‘I’m gonna have to select somebody else now.’”
“And of course, you know, my heart stops, and I think he’s actually gonna do it, but then he asks me to be his running mate. He actually talks to my son, and, you know, the rest is history, right?”
