Democrats continue to assert vile lies about Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, former President Trump’s vice presidential nominee, even though the claims were proven false weeks ago.
“This weakens their moral compass about Trump’s falsehoods and gives him an opportunity to say, ‘The pot is calling the kettle black,'” Democratic strategist Julian Epstein told Fox News Digital.
Epstein’s comments come as Democrats show no signs of abandoning the “couch meme” of Vance, who last month spread a salacious rumor on social media that President Trump’s running mate described a sex act on a couch in his 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
The claim was quickly proven false, but its spread was picked up by Democrats and spawned jokes and memes on social media.
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Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz gesture during a campaign rally at the Thomas and Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on August 10, 2024. (Rhonda Churchill/AFP via Getty Images)
The falsehood reached the top of the Democratic candidate list, where Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, joked about the rumor during a speech in Philadelphia on the same day that Harris announced she was joining the Democratic Party.
“I have to say I can’t wait to discuss [Vance]”If he’s willing to get up off the couch and show up,” Walz said, as Harris smirked in the background, NBC News reported. “Do you know what I did?”
The clip went viral on the Harris campaign’s TikTok account, “Kamala HQ,” garnering 5.3 million views, according to NBC News. Democrats have continued to use the joke despite multiple media outlets publishing fact checks that deny the rumor.
As one example, the Democratic House Campaign Committee issued a news release on July 26 targeting Trump’s decision to select Vance, joking that Republicans were “cloaking their public praise of President Trump’s running mate with private criticism.”
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On July 27, the Kamala HQ X account shared a screenshot of Vance, an Ohio senator, appearing in “Cat Lady” with the caption, “He makes no secret of his hatred for women.”
The next day, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, long considered a possible candidate to join Harris, joked on ABC News that while Trump “says all kinds of crazy things,” Vance “has become known for his obsession with couches.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker speaks at the Clinton Global Initiative conference at the Hilton Midtown on September 19, 2023 in New York City. (John Nasion/WireImage)
Florida Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz also got in on the joke, responding to Vance’s post asking why Harris wasn’t taking questions from the media.
“I’ve been in Air Force 2 JD and they have an amazing couch,” Moskowitz said in an Aug. 7 post on X.
Continuing to gently attack Vance over false rumors seems to run counter to one of Democrats’ main criticisms of Trump: that he spreads misinformation and false claims for political gain.
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Criticism of Trump took center stage at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, with then-First Lady Michelle Obama famously saying, “When they throw low, we throw high” in reference to attacks on her and her family.
“Above all, Democrats want to forget about the Biden/Harris record of the past four years and the far-left views of Harris from just five years ago.”
President Obama doubled down on his theme of supporting President Biden at the 2020 convention, declaring that “aiming high is the only thing that works.”
Yet Moskowitz defended the party’s apparent double standard on social media, arguing that continuing to spread the rumors was merely a joke and nothing compared to the lies spread by Trump.
“For two years we’ve been told that Joe Biden is a Despicable Me international super criminal mastermind. You’re going to hear the couch story,” he said last month.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama attends Opening Night, celebrating the 50th anniversary of equal pay for men and women, during the first day of the 2023 U.S. Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 28, 2023. (Photo by Jean Katuf/GC Images)
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Moskowitz’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
But while Epstein believes it would be a “mistake” for Democrats to continue leaning into falsehoods, he argued that slipping into an insult-comedy tit-for-tat campaign would also be a “trap for the Republican Party.”
“Above all, Democrats want to forget about the Biden/Harris record of the past four years,” Epstein said. “They want to forget about Harris’ far-left views from just five years ago.”
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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