Vice President-elect Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio recently shared a campaign highlight that showed how children view politics.
Calling it the “second-best day on the campaign trail,” the first being Election Day, Vance recalled an interaction between his son and the news media.
As Vance told the story, “my four-year-old walked into the back of the plane – the Trump Force Two plane – and told the media that they were all fake news,” he said.
Vance: My favorite day on the campaign is when my four year old daughter told the reporters on Trump Force 2 that they were all Fake News 🤣🤣pic.twitter.com/LOgmueYGIE
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 15, 2024
Vance said, to laughter, that the incident was followed by his puppy going to the back of the place to defecate.
He said the incident “speaks to how we think of the fake news.”
Vance later joked he was afraid of facing a domestic terrorism charge for the events of that day.
As noted by People, Vance and his wife, Usha Chilukuri, have three children — Ewan, 7; Vivek, 4, and Mirabel, 2.
Vance and his wife brought the kids along during the campaign, according to NBC.
“Seeing the country from the perspective of a seven-year-old, a four-year-old and two-year-old, with all the crazy s–t that they say, the observations that they have,” Vance said.
“The way that my four-year-old points to some of your colleagues who have cameras and says, ‘Daddy, is that the fake news?’ It’s like, ‘No, we’re not allowed to say that, son,’” he said.
In February, Vance highlighted Vivek’s birthday from the Senate floor, according to The Hill.
After opposing further aide to Ukraine, Vance changed lanes.
“Now, I want to move on to another argument. But before I do, I am mindful of something that’s very close to my heart personally,” he said.
“I have a little guy named Vivek,” Vance said, “who was 3 years old yesterday but turned 4 today.”
“And I’m sorry that they could I can’t be with you for your birthday dinner,” he said.
“But I want you to know that Daddy loves you very much. And I’m going to read this into the record because maybe you can watch it at home,” Vance said before reciting “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” by Dr. Seuss.
NBC quoted a source it did not name as saying Vance parlayed the bruising media reception he received to his advantage.
“We successfully leveraged how unhinged the media was and flipped it to our advantage,” the source said.
“We allowed JD to basically show his chops. The real irony is if the media wasn’t so biased and it wasn’t so obvious, he probably wouldn’t be the star he is today,” he said.
