Could it be that Vance Derangement Syndrome may one day eclipse the world-wide pandemic of Trump Derangement Syndrome? Very possibly. Democrats are resigned to another four years of President Donald Trump and they know he can’t run again. But according to a straw poll taken last Saturday at CPAC, Vice President J.D. Vance is the runaway favorite to win the 2028 Republican presidential nomination. And that makes him the number one target of the Left.
Vance is shaping up to be the most powerful vice president in modern memory. So much so, in fact, that he’s already making enemies—particularly after his fiery speech at the Munich Security Conference last month where he took EU leaders to task for their suppression of free speech and a whole host of other sins.
There is no doubt that the Left’s animus toward Vance deepened after his public dressing down of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during Friday’s now-infamous Oval Office meeting. As unbelievable as it sounds, one X user predicts that, ultimately, Vance Derangement Syndrome will be ten times worse than Trump Derangement Syndrome.
There may be something to it. As Vance arrived with his family for a weekend of skiing at Sugarbush Resort in Waitsfield, Vermont, on Saturday, hundreds of pro-Ukrainian demonstrators lined the street leading toward the mountain. They were waving Ukrainian and transgender pride flags and carrying signs that called the vice president a “traitor,” a “Putin puppet,” and a “national disgrace.” One angry protestor carried a sign that told Vance “to go ski in Russia.”
A source told Fox News that protestors appeared near the slopes where the Vances were skiing.
The New York Post reported that some “even camped out by a ski-lift near where they thought the Vances were skiing.”
According to the Post, Vermont Republican Governor Phil Scott allegedly “urged protesters to take into consideration that Vance would be traveling to the state.”
In a Thursday statement, the governor said, “I hope Vermonters remember the Vice President is here on a family trip with his young children and, while we may not always agree, we should be respectful. Please join me in welcoming them to Vermont, and hoping they have an opportunity to experience what makes our state, and Vermonters, so special.”
A second source told Fox that the Vances had planned to “stay at a four-star inn near the resort, but that they moved to an undisclosed location instead, though that decision preceded the protests.”
The Guardian reported that the protest had been planned before Friday’s diplomatic debacle “by the Mad River Valley chapter of Indivisible, a grassroots group, but additional protesters said they were motivated to join after watching Vance and Trump’s combative Oval Office meeting.”
Indivisible is a “grassroots group” like the Democratic Party operatives who recently showed up at House Republican town halls and outside lawmakers’ district offices pretending to be outraged Republican constituents, were a “grassroots group.” Few people are buying it.
Friday’s diplomatic debacle prompted additional pro-Ukraine protests on Saturday in New York City’s Times Square, in front of a SpaceX facility in Los Angeles County, and at an “emergency rally” for “fair peace” at Boston Common, as per the Guardian.
For a vice president to provoke such a strong reaction from Democrats is remarkable. In some ways, J.D. Vance is even more formidable than Trump. People expect Trump to be boorish and overbearing, but Vance’s polished demeanor masks his sharp wit, keen intellect, and, yes, his killer instinct. He thinks on his feet, leaves far-left talk show hosts in a state of consternation, and his debate opponents, utterly deflated.
Yes, it’s entirely plausible that, after a few more speeches like the one he delivered in Munich or another pointed rebuke like the one he gave Zelensky, the incidence of Vance Derangement Syndrome could one day surpass that of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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