Notes on a Meme: The Grotesque Pleasure of Bloated JD Vance Pictures

Like many of you, I spend a lot of time texting back and forth with friends. Many of those text chains are now inundated with pictures of JD Vance. Maybe you’ve seen them. There are new ones every day. The bearded Vice President bloats, his eyes grow huge, he’s a carnival grotesque, his chin widening, his shape contorting. Often, he says “pwease.” I’m obsessed with these pictures. I have dozens saved on my phone and hard drive. There’s goth JD Vance, JD Vance with a giant lollipop, JD Vance as a dying Darth Vader, JD Vance as a nuclear explosion, and JD Vance as chicken McNuggets. Early Vice Presidential memes emphasized Vance’s smokey eyes and chubby cheeks. Of the two strains, the chubby Vance is now dominant. For months now, I’ve seen pictures of Vance circulating that inflate him. This is typical of what I see now: a grotesque and inflated JD Vance with cold, dead blue eyes staring out at the viewer with horrifying intensity. He looks like a Cabbage Patch Doll that’s been left in ... Read full article.