JD Vance Brushes Off Trump’s Crass Sombrero Posts as a ‘Little Bit of Fun’

Vice President JD Vance shrugged off a series of bizarre, AI-generated videos posted by Donald Trump on social media this week targeting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, saying that the president was simply having “a bit of fun” during high-stakes negotiations over the shutdown of the federal government.

In the posts, Trump added mariachi music, a sombrero and a curly mustache to footage of Jeffries at a press conference with his Senate counterpart, Chuck Schumer.

On Tuesday, Jeffries slammed the videos posted by Trump as “racist.” Just a day later, Vance told reporters at a White House press briefing, “I honestly don’t even know what that means.”

“Like, is he a Mexican American that is offended by having a sombrero meme?” Vance said during a White House press briefing. “We’re all trying to do a very important job for the American people. The president of the United States likes to have a little bit of fun when he’s doing it, and I think that’s OK.”

Vance also lodged criticism at a local television station that labeled the video as AI-generated in its broadcast: “Do you really not realize the American people recognize that he did not actually come to the White House wearing a sombrero in a black, curly animation mustache?”

The post was not the only headline-grabbing AI-generated video Trump has posted in recent days. He also shared, then deleted, an AI-generated video depicting “medbeds,” a conspiracy involving nonexistent, miracle healing machines that function using alien technology. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the president has the right to post whatever he wants and that he enjoys sharing memes online.

“The president saw the video and posted it and then took it down, and he has the right to do that,” she said. “It’s his social media. He’s incredibly transparent. As you all know, you hear from him directly on social media. He likes to share memes, he likes to share videos, he likes to repost things that he sees other people post on social media as well.”

Rather than focus on questions about Trump’s eyebrow-raising social media activity, Vance and other Republican allies of the president have sought to underscore the hardships that will stem from the government shutdown.

“Our troops are not getting paid, starting today. Low-income Americans who require food assistance will not get it unless we reopen the government,” Vance said Wednesday.

He even added that Trump’s social media posts could be used as a negotiating chip if needed.

“I’ll tell Hakeem Jeffries right now, ‘I make this solemn promise to you that if you help us reopen the government, the sombrero memes will stop,’” Vance said.

Jefferies responded in kind after the press conference, taking to social media with a clip of Vance’s response edited with a distorted caricature of the vice president.

“JD Vance thinks we will surrender to the Republican effort to gut healthcare because of a Sombrero meme,” Jefferies wrote. “Not happening Bro.”