California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) trolled Vice President JD Vance over his reported attendance at a White House peace summit on Ukraine, appearing to mock Vance’s role as the president’s attack dog.
In recent months, the governor has adopted an aggressive social media strategy as he’s become one of the most prominent Democratic Party critics of the Trump administration.
Newsom, seen by many as a potential presidential candidate in 2028, and his press team have taken to mimicking Trump’s social media writing style, in particular the all-caps screeds and nicknames that have become familiar tropes.
They have now turned their attention to Vance, who is also seen as a presidential hopeful for the next general election.
On Monday, the Democrat responded to reports that Vance would be in the Oval Office when Trump meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later in the day.
In February, Vance was a key player during the notorious Trump-Zelenskyy clash at the White House, with the U.S. vice president berating Ukraine’s president for being “disrespectful” and not “thanking the president.”
Vance also laughed when a reporter asked the wartime leader why he was not wearing a suit.
In a message on X, formerly Twitter, Newsom shared a post that teed up “another Oval Office showdown,” with the governor adding a video of Vance running awkwardly at the Disneyland theme park in California this summer with the caption: “Go get ’em JD!”
Vance told the “The Katie Miller Podcast” last week that the video caught him playing a game of “Ogre” with his children where “I don’t run full speed.”
“And so I was playing ‘Ogre’ and that was what caused the great scandal of how I ran it,” Vance told Miller, who is the wife of Trump adviser Stephen Miller.
Newsom’s team also got in on the act Monday, posting an altered picture of Vance’s face on the body of Australian breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn, who went viral during last year’s Olympics for her less-than-impressive technique.
The image, which includes the words “J.D. Dance,” is below a derisory caption that reads: “A highly anticipated ‘showdown.’”
Newsom aides recently dubbed the vice president “Just Dance” Vance.
The governor’s office premiered the nomenclature last week when commenting on the Trump administration’s attempts to redraw state electoral maps ahead of next year’s midterms.
“NOT EVEN JD ‘JUST DANCE’ VANCE CAN SAVE TRUMP FROM THE DISASTROUS MAPS ‘WAR’ HE HAS STARTED,” Newsom’s office wrote on X, copying Trump’s all-caps style.