Vice President JD Vance has a lot on his mind—including the color scheme of his St. Patrick’s Day socks.
The vice president, 41, marked St. Patrick’s Day on Tuesday morning with an Irish breakfast alongside Irish Taoiseach Minister Micheál Martin, where the two men celebrated the bond between the United States and Ireland.
They spoke earnestly about a long history of commerce and shared values between America and the Emerald Isle—until Vance’s sock choice seemingly rose to the top of his thoughts.
“Last year, when we did this, when we did this breakfast…..I wore some shamrock socks,” Vance told a crowd during a news conference at the breakfast, which took place at his D.C. residence.
“I had a different pair of shamrock socks here today,” Vance continued. “Now I did that knowing that when we met the president later..in the Oval Office, you know, I’d be sitting down, he’d see my socks, and he would bust my chops about the fact that I was not wearing boring black socks. But I have these bright white shamrock socks.”
With his boss in mind, Vance said he ultimately opted for a more toned-down pair of St. Patrick’s Day socks.
“So we have a slightly more muted Shamrock,” he said.
Last year, Donald Trump was discussing inflation when he stopped mid-sentence to question his second-in-command’s sock choice after the annual Irish breakfast.
“What’s with these socks?” Trump asked. When Vance explained he wore them to honor the Irish leader, the president replied: “I’m trying to stay focused, but I’m very impressed with the VP’s socks.”
Trump met with the Irish leader later in the day on Tuesday, amid mounting tensions between the president and European leaders over their reluctance to assist in his and Israel’s war in Iran.
Just before his meeting with Martin, Trump sounded off on Truth Social over NATO’s lack of compliance.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO ‘Allies’ that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump raged.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need.”
European leaders have argued that the international alliance is meant to be defensive, unlike Trump’s war with Iran.
“France’s position is purely defensive, in support of its allies, and can in no way justify any attack against it,” French President Emmanuel Macron said last week.
Martin, for his part, has said his people “prefer peaceful resolution of conflict” and has called for the war to end quickly and decisively.
Meanwhile, the vice president himself has also been uncharacteristically silent about Trump’s war since its launch on Feb. 28.
Vance is usually deployed as the president’s online attack dog, but the known isolationist has largely sat on the sidelines while Secretary of State Marco Rubio takes the lead defending Trump’s war on the world.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
