Viral 'Baby' Caricatures of VP JD Vance Flood Social Media After Zelenskyy Meeting

Social media platforms have been inundated with viral caricatures depicting U.S. Vice President JD Vance as a "big baby" holding a lollipop and wearing a beanie, following a contentious Oval Office exchange in late February 2025. The trend gained significant traction after a tweet by Robert Sterling, stating, “Check it out, Mr. President, they made JD look like a big baby. They even gave him a beanie and a lollipop. They think they’re making fun of him, but your base thinks it’s hilarious.”

The widespread meme originated from a White House meeting on February 28, 2025, involving Vice President Vance, President Donald Trump, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. During the discussion, Vance notably asked Zelenskyy, "Have you said thank you once?" This comment was widely perceived as childish and immediately sparked a wave of online mockery, with users digitally altering Vance's image to exaggerate his features into a round-faced, infantile appearance, often accompanied by baby-talk captions like "pwease and tank you, Mistow Zensky."

The "Baby Vance" memes quickly became a viral sensation, spreading across platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and garnering millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes. The phenomenon has been described as a collision of politics, technology, and online culture, with the ease of photo-editing tools contributing to the rapid proliferation of diverse iterations. Even Vice President Vance himself has acknowledged the memes, with some reports indicating he has taken the online ridicule in stride.

The caricatures serve various purposes within the political landscape. Critics of Vance have utilized the memes to infantilize him and undermine his authority, portraying him as petulant or unsophisticated. Conversely, some of Vance's supporters have embraced the meme-ability, viewing it as a form of engaging with online culture and a testament to his prominent public profile. The trend highlights the evolving nature of political discourse, where satire and visual humor play an increasingly significant role in public perception and commentary.