Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) evidently thought he hardly needed to add words to his post boasting on Republican Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance, after Vance debated Democratic VP nominee Mike Walz in the 2024 election’s sole VP debate.
Most Republicans contended that Vance won the verbal battle, and Collins simply posted his photo of Vance with the caption “gm”, letting the picture say its proverbial thousand words on its own.
But the picture, also shared by others, isn’t of JD Vance. Or at least it’s not the “real” JD Vance, but instead a heavily edited version of Vance that renders him more like a movie star than the author of Hillbilly Elegy.
Collins was mocked (it’s the internet) for his reimagining of Vance, but the enhanced presentation was of a piece with how Vance’s running mate Donald Trump is often represented by the MAGA faithful.
I walked through a county courthouse square.
— Jack’d 🇺🇸✊🏻 (@MINFORMACI0N) June 13, 2023
On a park bench, an old man was sittin' there. I said, "Your old courthouse is kinda run down," He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town."
——
(I stand with Trump.) pic.twitter.com/LrSn4DLpy2
Vance recently said he is willing — in order to bring attention to his political messages — to forego reality and “create stories” such as the false tale about Haitian migrants eating people’s pets in Ohio.
But even for a MAGA brand built on distorting reality, Vance’s embellished photo — in which his features are smoothed and his face made leaner and more Hollywood-friendly — takes the distance from fact to another level.
You've probably seen Republicans sharing this fake photo of JD Vance today, but it's funnier when you see them side by side. The pathology required to think this was necessary is so deeply disturbing. pic.twitter.com/oVieRGP5iG
— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) October 2, 2024
Sharing the enhanced photo and the photo from which it is created side by side, columnist and CPOB board member and Brandon Friedman writes: “The pathology required to think this was necessary is so deeply disturbing.”
Others agreed, using different turns of phrase.
It appeared a supposedly straight Republican Rep stayed up all night photoshopping JD Vance to look more like Chris Hemsworth? Rep. Mike Collins, are you okay? pic.twitter.com/UTBNFcEHOn
— Dana Goldberg (@DGComedy) October 2, 2024
In response, another commenter with photo editing software had a go at Collins who, well, does not look like this.
YESSSSShttps://t.co/gXbyHF5wUO
— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) October 2, 2024
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