Protesters raged against JD Vance’s English countryside vacation by mocking the vice president with chubby-faced memes, demanding he “go home.”
Residents joined forces with people who had driven for hours to take part in the ‘Dance Against Vance’ protest, organized by the Stop Trump Coalition.
Vance thundered into the Cotswolds, a sprawling area of natural beauty in south-west England, during the weekend in a 20-strong convoy. Roads around the tiny Hamlet of Dean, Oxfordshire, where he is staying in an 18th-century manor house with his family, have been closed. Secret Service agents have liaised with British police to check people’s identification and generally hobble day-to-day life.
ADVERTISEMENT
That, and Vance’s apparent political rap sheet, has rankled the locals. So much so that around 100 gathered in a field to make their feelings known.
“He’s simply not welcome here,” said Sue Moon, a therapist from nearby Chipping Norton. “We don’t want anything to do with people like him.”
Many of the attendees were appalled by the Oval Office showdown between Vance and Trump in one corner and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the other, which took place back in February. Natasha Phillips, who had travelled 70 miles to be there, brought a placard saying, “JD Vance–the guy who bullied a war hero from the comfort of his couch.”
“The way he treated Volodymyr Zelenskyy was disgusting,” she said. “The Ukrainian people are heroes. British people admire the way they are standing up to [Vladimir] Putin. I wanted to come here to show that.”
Chris Tatton, a former councillor from Charlbury, where the event took place, agreed that it was “disgraceful.”
Steve Akers, a retired union organizer, said that the situation in Gaza inspired his attendance. “That wouldn’t happen without this U.S. government,” he said, invoking images of starving children.
The event was punctuated by images of the meme of Vance as a bloated baby, the same image that got a Norwegian tourist kicked out of the U.S. in June.
Another protest group, Everyone Hates Elon, also raised over $6,000 to pay for a van featuring an image of the meme to drive around the Cotswolds during his visit. The same joke picture appeared on a billboard in nearby Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
Organizers of Tuesday’s protest also brought along a cake with the meme affixed to it, while many people’s placards and t-shirts also bore the mocking image.
Folk-rock singer-songwriter Dolly Mavies said she and her band “packed up our stuff and left” when they discovered that Vance and his entourage would attend a gig they were due to play. However, a Vance source told the BBC that this was not the case.
“So not being fans of his, we decided that wasn’t for us and we packed up our stuff and left,” the singer, real-name Molly Davies, said. “Because morals are more important than money.”
Protests and disruptions have also shattered Vance’s previous vacation trips. In July, protesters rallied against his family trip to Disneyland in California. There were similar scenes in Vermont for a skiing vacation.
Like in the Cotswolds, Vance was told to leave, with skiers urging him to try Russia, after his Oval Office attack on Zelensky in February.
Vance, whose trip is officially dubbed a family vacation, has been busy meeting high-level politicians. Early this week, he shared a bromantic fishing trip with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
On Monday, The Times reports, Vance attended a barbecue with his friend James Orr, the Cambridge academic; Danny Kruger, the Tory Member of Parliament; and Thomas Skinner, the former British Apprentice contestant.
“Here is a pic of me and Vice President JD Vance towards the end of the night after a few beers,” Skinner, a bedding salesman and market trader, said in a celebratory social media post.
“I’m overdressed in my suit, but when the VP invites you to a BBQ, you don’t risk turning up in shorts and flip-flops.”
Vance also conducted a private meeting with Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick and shadow home secretary Chris Philp. He is set to meet with controversial right-wing politician and leader of the Reform Party, Nigel Farage, on Wednesday for breakfast, according to The Times.
