Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday that during Tuesday evening’s State of the Union address, he had only one thought running through his head the entire time: “Don’t make a stupid face for two hours.”
Vance, who sat directly behind President Donald Trump with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) during Trump’s record-setting speech, knew that he was going to be on camera the whole time the president was speaking, and was absolutely set on not making a fool of himself.
WATCH:
Vance: I have one thought in my head the whole time which is don’t make a stupid face for two hours, which is hard for me. pic.twitter.com/zqkUWPZyXo
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 26, 2026
The vice president revealed his “inner monologue” while speaking in Wisconsin on Thursday, saying that when congressional Democrats began saying and doing things in an attempt to disrupt Trump’s speech, he was worried that he might struggle with keeping a straight face.
Vance began by explaining that as he watched the events of the evening unfold — and as Democrats in the chamber shouted things at the president and one was even escorted out — he thought to himself what President Trump eventually said out loud: “These people are crazy!”
In that context, he added, “I have the best seat in the house in many ways. I’m sitting right next to the Speaker of the House, I’m sitting right behind the President of the United States, and I’ve got one internal monologue going on, one thought in my head the whole time, which is, ‘Don’t make a stupid face for two hours,’ which is hard for me.”
“When you’re on TV for two hours, and the Democrats are doing crazy things — so I’ll give you a little lay of the land,” he continued. “So to the left, my left, is all of the Republicans, okay, because I’m sitting right behind the president. And to my right is some Republicans but mostly the Democrats. So I see the reaction of all the Congressional Democrats, and it’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen … they’re just scowling. They cannot clap their hands for a six-year-old who survived an attack from an illegal alien. What is that? What kind of a person can’t stand up and cheer for an innocent young girl who’s doing well and showing the entire country strength and resilience?”