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Trump’s choice of J.D. Vance as his running mate has inspired a bonanza of viral memes and falsehoods aimed at discrediting the Ohio senator. Perhaps most famous is that Vance admitted in his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy to having had intimate relations with a sofa. The Associated Press went to the effort of debunking the viral claim in a since-deleted fact check titled “No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch.”
— kristina. (@cosmepolitics) July 25, 2024
It’s also been widely claimed that Vance is 5’7”, when in reality he’s reportedly about the same height as Trump: 6’3. It’s far from a trivial fact, given that Americans famously refuse to elect short presidents.
There’s been an entire news cycle dedicated to Vance’s comments about “childless cat ladies”, with commentators accusing him of insensitivity toward the involuntarily childless. In the original comments, Vance specifically mentions that many people are “unable to have kids for serious and complicated reasons” including medical and relationship issues, and says “the target of these remarks is not them.” Where have all the fact-checkers gone?
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