You’ve seen the memes. They were everywhere in the summer of 2024. One minute Donald Trump announces JD Vance as his running mate, and the next, your entire timeline is filled with jokes about sectionals, loveseats, and a very specific, very gross rumor.
But did JD Vance actually do it?
The short answer is no. Honestly, it never happened. But the way this story took over the national conversation tells us a lot more about how we consume news today than the actual "act" ever could. It’s a wild ride of a story involving a deleted tweet, a panicked Associated Press retraction, and a book that definitely doesn’t contain the passage everyone was looking for.
The Tweet That Started the Fire
On July 15, 2024, a user on X (formerly Twitter) named @rickrudescalves posted something that would accidentally change the course of the election cycle. The post claimed that in his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, Vance admitted to—well, let’s just say it involved an inside-out latex glove and two couch cushions.
The tweet even gave specific page numbers: 179-181.
That was the "genius" part of the prank. By including page numbers, it felt real. People didn’t check; they just retweeted. Within hours, the internet was convinced that the future Vice President had a very intimate history with furniture.
The joke worked because it tapped into a vibe. People were already calling Vance "weird." The couch story just felt like the ultimate "weird" cherry on top. It didn't matter if it was true; it mattered that it felt like something people could joke about.
The AP Blunder: When Fact-Checking Goes Wrong
Usually, when a fake story goes viral, a news outlet debunks it, and everyone moves on. Not this time.
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The Associated Press (AP) published a fact-check titled "No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch." It was meant to kill the rumor. Instead, it gave it a massive boost.
Why? Because the headline was so absurd that people started sharing the fact-check as a joke. Then, in a move that made everything ten times worse, the AP deleted the article. They claimed it "didn't go through our standard editing process."
When a major news organization deletes a debunking of a crazy story, the internet goes into conspiracy mode.
- "Why did they delete it?"
- "Did the campaign pressure them?"
- "Is the story actually true?"
By trying to fix the mistake, the AP accidentally turned a fringe joke into a mainstream news event. It was a classic "Streisand Effect" situation—the more you try to hide something, the more people look at it.
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What’s Actually in Hillbilly Elegy?
I’ve looked. Thousands of others have looked. If you crack open Hillbilly Elegy and turn to pages 179 through 181, you’ll find... nothing.
Well, not nothing. You'll find Vance talking about his time at Ohio State University and his experiences in the Marine Corps. There isn't a single mention of a latex glove, a couch, or any furniture-based romance.
The rumor was a total fabrication.
But that didn't stop Tim Walz from leaning into it. During his first rally as Kamala Harris’s running mate, he made a quip about Vance being "willing to get off the couch." The crowd went wild. It was a "wink-wink" moment that showed the Democrats were happy to let the meme live on, even if the facts didn't back it up.
Why the Meme Refused to Die
In the 2024 landscape, truth often takes a backseat to "vibes."
Political strategists noticed that the couch jokes were doing something that serious policy debates couldn't: they were making Vance look uncool. In politics, being called a "threat to democracy" can sometimes make a candidate look strong to their base. Being the "couch guy"? That just makes you a punchline.
It’s a tactic called "malinformation"—taking something fake but using it to highlight a "truth" about a candidate's personality. Critics of Vance felt he was out of touch, so they used the couch meme as a shorthand for that feeling.
The Takeaway: How to Spot the Next "Couch"
We’re living in an era where a single tweet can become a national headline in 24 hours. Honestly, it’s kinda scary. If you want to avoid getting fooled next time, keep these things in mind:
- Check the source: If the only "proof" is a screenshot of a tweet, be skeptical.
- Verify citations: If someone gives page numbers for a book, search those pages on Google Books or a digital library.
- Watch the retractions: When a news site deletes a story, look for the "why" before assuming a cover-up.
The JD Vance couch saga was a masterclass in how modern misinformation works. It wasn't a deepfake or a complex Russian bot farm. It was just a guy with a joke and a bunch of people who wanted to believe it.
Next time you see a wild claim about a politician, remember the couch. It probably didn't happen, but the fact that you're talking about it is exactly what the person who made it up wanted.
If you're interested in how these memes impact polling, you should look into the "favorability" ratings of VP picks before and after viral cycles. It's usually a pretty steep drop once the jokes start sticking.
Practical Next Steps:
To stay better informed during election cycles, you can set up a "Fact Check" folder in your browser bookmarks. Include sites like PolitiFact, Snopes, and the AP Fact Check landing page. When a story seems too "perfect" to be true, run it through those filters before hitting the share button. You can also use the "Search Image with Google" feature on any viral memes to find their original source and see if they've been flagged as satire.