Vice President JD Vance faced pro-Ukrainian protestors near his Ohio home over the weekend after they approached Vance and his young daughter while they were on a walk.
The Saturday stroll turned confrontational, despite Vance taking time to talk to the protestors. He later lambasted them on social media, calling them sh*t people for scaring a 3-year-old. The encounter, which lasted several minutes, left the toddler upset and Vance frustrated.
Vance said he decided to speak with them “in hopes that I could trade a few minutes of conversation for them leaving my toddler alone,” he wrote in a post shared on X.
The incident occurred near his Cincinnati home but away from the main gathering site for a planned protest, according to WCPO 9. The group was heading a Walnut Hills rally Saturday and recognized Vance on the street.
“Today while walking my 3-year-old daughter a group of 'Slava Ukraini' protesters followed us around and shouted as my daughter grew increasingly anxious and scared,” Vance writes. “…It was a mostly respectful conversation, but if you’re chasing a 3-year-old as part of a political protest, you’re a (expletive) person.”
People gathered across the country on Saturday to mark International Women’s Day. But in addition to protesting gender equality and women’s rights, protestors and activists also came out to protest Donald Trump's presidency, including his handling of the Ukraine war and his stance on reproductive rights.
CNN obtained and published a video of the encounter. In it, Vance is surrounded by Secret Service agents as he pushes a stroller.
A group of protesters gathered on a sidewalk around Vance and the Secret Service agents. Vance spent several minutes trying to talk to them about the war.
In the video, Vance explains the Trump administration’s position that the war should come to an end soon. The protestors interrupted him multiple times and some of his answers caused the group to jeer at him at times, WLWT 5 News reports.
"What I told the gentleman earlier, is that we think it's in the best interest of our country, and frankly, in the best interest of the Ukrainians, for the war to stop," says Vance in the video.
Near the end of the conversation, one woman in the crowd asks Vance about his 2016 comments, calling then-Republican nominee for president Donald Trump "America's Hitler." Vance tries to leave after the crowd accuses him of lacking integrity for changing his views on Trump.
"It must be nice to go through life and assume that everyone who disagrees with you has no integrity," responded Vance. "I have more respect for you, but ma'am, look at my 3-year-old daughter now. And I told you, I talked to you for five minutes."
The group continues to antagonize and interrupt him. One protestor says that Vance "signed up for this job" and should expect the crowd’s reaction in his capacity as vice president.
"I did not agree to have my 3-year-old, to have people run around and yell at her, and I did talk to you," Vance said. "And I have said, if I talk to you for a few minutes, will you leave my 3-year-old daughter alone? And you said yes. So, I'd like you guys to respect that."
According to news reports, Vance hails from Ohio and was home for the weekend, but it’s unclear why he traveled home. Vance also encountered pro-Ukrainian protesters in Vermont after he and his family took a skiing trip there.
The backlash against Vance has intensified following the Feb. 28 meeting in the Oval Office with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During that televised dispute, Vance accused Zelensky of not being grateful for U.S. military aid.
Even before becoming Vice President, Vance opposed continued assistance to Ukraine's military as a U.S. Senator. In the most recent aid package that was passed in April 2024, Vance voted against the bill, which sent nearly $61 billion to the country.
The Trump administration recently halted all military aid to the country after the blowup with Zelensky. Ukraine has been fighting an ongoing war against Russia ever since it invaded Ukrainian territory in 2022.
