JD Vance Is Full of Hot Air

At London’s "Trump Not Welcome" protest, the Brits batted around giant beach balls plastered with JD Vance’s memeified face.

By Claire Guinan  |  September 20, 2025 | 3:57pm
Photo: Twitter Politics
JD Vance Is Full of Hot Air

Trump’s second state visit to Britain got off to a rocky start Tuesday night, when images of him alongside Jeffrey Epstein were projected onto the walls of Windsor Castle, and it only went downhill from there. The trip was brief, but the Brits made the most of it, turning out in force with protests that were equal parts furious and inventive.

While Vice President JD Vance didn’t get to accompany Trump across the pond, he was there in spirit…kind of. On Wednesday, thousands gathered in central London for a “Trump Not Welcome” protest organized by the Stop Trump Coalition, a network of groups ranging from climate activists, abortion rights organizations, and pro-Palestine advocates.

The highlight of the protest was a couple of giant inflatable beach balls featuring the infamous, memeified face of JD Vance, bobbing over the crowds—not as giant as the poster that greeted Vance in Nantucket in July, but certainly more fun.

If you thought Americans hated Trump, the Brits might just hate him more. In addition to the beach balls, signs read “Reject Trump. Reject Fascism,” “Orange Lies Matter,” and of course, “Feed him to the corgis!” I have to assume the last one is the most devastating insult of them all. There were also puppets of Trump being dragged through the streets, drum lines, and a full-on Trump impersonator.

If you live in America and have a pulse, you’ve probably noticed tensions are at an all-time high in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Vance himself stayed back to take over The Charlie Kirk Show on Monday, in which he claimed that “festering violence on the far left” led to the shooting, even though little was known of the shooter’s motives at the time. On Saturday, NBC News reported that there’s “no evidence” that the shooter was tied to any left-wing groups.

But the Brits’ protest is a reminder that ideological unrest isn’t just happening in the U.S. The “Trump Not Welcome” demonstration came just days after one of the largest anti-immigration protests in the U.K.’s history. France’s government is also in upheaval, and on Thursday, hundreds of thousands marched across the country as trade unions rallied against cuts to public services and called for the wealthy to finally pay their fair share. And a week ago, the Gen Z protestors in Nepal set their parliament on fire, fueled by years of youth unemployment, a widening wealth gap, and sweeping social media bans.

The point is, the forces rising against bigotry, corruption, and unchecked power are spreading across the globe—almost like a giant inflatable beach ball, bouncing from place to place, gathering momentum, and making an inescapable scene.

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