JD Vance's Provocative Joke About James Talarico Sparks Convention Buzz
DALLAS — The GOP honored slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk as it wrapped up its two-night midterm convention Thursday, marking exactly one year since the conservative firebrand was shot dead during a college campus event in Utah.
The Post’s politics team is on the ground in the Lone Star State to capture all the action again, with Vice President JD Vance in the spotlight at the historic event aimed at bolstering GOP candidates ahead of November’s high-stakes midterm elections. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt — fresh off her White House exit — also spoke along with a slew of other big-name pols and red-party superstars.
POTUS addressed the packed arena for nearly two hours Wednesday, with vows to end cashless bail and increase death penalty use, slash “out-of-control credit card swipe fees,” pass “The Great Healthcare plan.” He also pushed a new bill making it illegal for future presidents “to open the border again.”
Trump will wrap the bash with another keynote tonight, facing stiff audience competition as the New York Jets play their NFL season opener.
Follow live updates from the final night of the midterm RNC for all the speeches, photos, news, reactions and more:
Vice President JD Vance made an apparent joke about Texas Democratic Senate candidate's porn-watching habits Thursday night after expressing alarm about "a guy that age who is so obsessed about transgender children."
"I never want to see that guy's web browser history!" Vance said to gasps and laughter.
Vance made the jab after President Trump on Wednesday night joked about how Talarico — whom he has nicknamed "Talafreako" — supported a pro-vegetarian campaign called "beat meat," producing awkward chuckles as he implied it sounded like masturbation.
When Talarico recognized the optics issue, he began to "eat meat," Trump said to uproarious laughter.
DALLAS — A man dressed in a purple shirt interrupted Vice President JD Vance in the middle of his address to the Republican midterm convention, prompting the veep to go off script.
The man threw a flag that Vance later addressed as a Mexican flag. Some Republican attendees initially suspected it was a Palestinian flag and were heard shouting, "F— Palestine."
"Well, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your ass over there," Vance said as security dragged the man away from his perch near the side of the stage.
Vance later chided that they had "just discovered the symbol of the far-left — an idiot waving ... a Mexican flag at a protest." He argued that the protester should've been waving an American flag.
Vice President JD Vance revealed that his wife, Usha, quickly turned down a request to introduce him at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas.
“[Y]ou should have been there when the organizers of the midterm RNC asked my wife, who had a two-week-old baby, and three other kids that are very young, if she would come to Dallas, Texas, to introduce her husband,” Vance said in his keynote, “and she said, ‘Hell no. I got four kids to take care of.’”
“But she sends her love, and I know she's watching at home,” the vice president added.
DALLAS — Vice President JD Vance paid tribute to slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, recounting how his late friend helped him during his meteoric rise.
"It's also a somber occasion for me personally, and I know for so many of you out there," Vance said, noting that during the last GOP convention he addressed as the newly minted vice presidential nominee, Kirk was there.
"I will never forget that as I made that speech, as I addressed the country on the biggest stage of my life in the front row, right about there, my dear friend Charlie Kirk was smiling and cheering me and reminding me that I had a good friend right here," he added.
Vance also addressed Kirk's young children, telling them that "history will record that your father was a great man."
Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of Kirk's assassination.
Vice President JD Vance lauded Republicans at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas for electing President Trump to a second term.
“All of us came together on November the 5th, and we sent the toughest SOB in American politics back to the White House,” Vance said.