After years of criticizing former President Donald Trump for spreading false information and crazy stories, Democrats are now making fun of his running mate with a debunked rumor.
The JD Vance couch controversy started as a joke that went viral. It began with a fake story from Vance’s 2016 book, “Hillbilly Elegy,” saying he had a sexual experience with a couch.
The fake story spread quickly, leading to many jokes and memes, even though the person who made up the joke said it wasn’t true and later made his account private. Many news sites also checked and confirmed that the story was false.
Democrats, who aren’t known for having a sense of humor, are having fun with the couch story—maybe a little too much fun.
On July 26, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee published a news release criticizing Vance. The memo began by saying that House Republicans were “couching their public praise” of Trump’s running mate.
On the day Vice President Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, Walz told a big crowd that he was excited to debate Vance “if he’s willing to get off the couch.”
The crowd cheered, and Harris smiled behind him. Walz, who had recently started calling Republicans “weird,” joked, “You see what I did there?” The Harris campaign’s TikTok account, Kamala HQ, shared a video of this moment, which has been watched more than 5.3 million times.
Walz wasn’t the first to make jokes about the fake story. On July 27, almost two weeks after the fake tweet was first posted and a week after the person who made it took it down, the Harris campaign posted a picture on X of an old tweet from Vance making fun of “cat ladies.” She captioned the post, “JC Vance doesn’t couch his hatred for women.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, considered a possible pick as Harris’ running mate, used the couch joke twice in the following days. On the July 28 episode of ABC News’ “This Week,” he said Trump talked about “crazy stuff” and tied his comment to Vance’s “obsession with couches.”
He would follow up his knee slapper with another reference during a July 29 “White Dudes for Harris” Zoom fundraiser. He invited the attendees to the next Zoom meeting, “Couches Against Trump.”
Democrats continue to use the joke. As recently as Saturday, Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) warned Vance that he needed to “hide behind the sofa” because “we’re coming for you.” When asked about Titus’ comments, a spokesperson said the campaign would “stick with what was on the tape.”
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) shared a tweet in which Vance criticized Harris for not answering media questions. Moskowitz’s response to Vance’s concern was to tell the Republican VP nominee that Air Force 2 has a nice couch.
Fake stories spread quickly online, showing how easily social media mixes real and fake information. Often, Fact-checks are not shared as much as false stories.
The situation has led to arguments about which kind of false information is “worse” and how to distinguish between what is harmful and what is just making fun of someone.
It’s an easy distinction to make. Anything Trump says is misinformation, and anything Democrats spread is a gentle and affectionate mockery.
But Vance isn’t taking the situation lying down. He has said the story is untrue and has spoken out against people who spread it. Vance used this situation to show how dangerous false information can be and how it can be used to cause trouble in politics.
As the joke gains traction, Republicans are criticizing Democrats for spreading lies. Conservative legal scholar Jonathan Turley said the couch story has been debunked. He accused Harris and Walz of “rolling around with trolls.”
In response, Democrats say their jokes are just for fun and not harmful. They argue that Trump and other Republicans have spread much worse “lies” in the past, like claiming that Democrats are involved in “secret crimes.”
Democrats acknowledge that the rumor is false, but that doesn’t stop them from clinging to their one-joke sideshow. Moskowitz posted on X that for several years, Biden was cast as a criminal mastermind and chastised Republicans, “You will listen to the couch story.”
The Democrats are enjoying a rare moment of sofa-sticated humor, but it will do little to cushion Harris and Walz’s unpopularity in November.
