Vice President JD Vance posted glossy photos of his personal training session with Navy SEALs—but the beachside stunt immediately drew mockery and accusations of political tone-deafness.
The 41-year-old former Marine, who served in Iraq before entering politics, had joined the Navy’s special-operations community for an early-morning workout at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in California, a longtime hub for SEAL selection and training.
From the official @VP account, Vance shared images on Monday of himself sprinting along the surf, hauling a log with helmeted operators whose faces were blurred, scrambling up a cargo net, and riding in a small boat punching through the waves.
“Vice President Vance trains with @USNavy Seals at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado,” the caption read. On his personal account, Vance gushed that he had “just finished PT with the Navy SEALs for 90 minutes.”
He added, “They took it easy on me and I still feel like I got hit by a freight train. So grateful to all of our warriors who keep us safe and keep the highest standards anywhere in the world!”
Critics were unimpressed. “Nice cosplay as a Navy SEAL,” one user wrote, adding: “Leadership isn’t about photo ops, it’s about fixing the mess at home.”
Other critics photoshopped the infamous meme of Vance with a cartoonishly puffy face onto the soldiers he was working out with, using “GI Jello” as a punchline.
Another commenter sneered that it was a “desperate photo op for a Vice President who cares more about his military ‘aesthetic’ than actually governing.”
Digital strategist Mike Nellis jabbed: “Cool, man—but when you’re done cosplaying, can you and your boss do something about housing and grocery prices? Thanks.”
And Democratic strategist Christopher Hale wrote on X, “It’s the middle of the workday. While Americans are grinding to make Christmas work, the vice president is burning taxpayer dollars pretending to be a Navy SEAL.”
Vance’s made-for-camera workout follows a Trumpian trend of the president’s inner circle engaging in theatrics. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, 45, marked the D-Day anniversary and his birthday in June by leading a filmed PT session with troops on Omaha Beach before delivering a speech at the Normandy American Cemetery, a spectacle that also drew scrutiny as self-promotion.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has repeatedly been mocked as “ICE Barbie” for using federal law enforcement as props in a string of stylized photo ops, from tactical-gear raids to glossy fitness clips.
This is also not the first time Vance has tried to curry favor with the military. Ahead of Thanksgiving, he delivered a comedy skit to troops at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
The Daily Beast has contacted the vice president’s office for comment.
