The Late Show With Stephen Colbert shared a meme mocking Vice President JD Vance following his remarks about President Donald Trump’s use of an artificial intelligence video to mock Democratic leadership.
Newsweek reached out to Vance’s office for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Colbert’s post, viewed more than 250,000 times on TikTok, comes after Vance defended Trump’s posting of a similar video produced by AI that appears to show Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, describe his party as “woke pieces of s***.” The video stirred backlash from critics who viewed it as racist, but it has also fueled dialogue about the role of AI in politics.
Trump posted the video in response to Democrats’ declining to support a bill to temporarily fund the government, known as a continuing resolution (CR), until some of their concerns around health care are addressed. The CR failed to receive 60 votes in the Senate by the end of September, meaning the government has now shut down until legislators can reach an agreement.
What to Know
Prior to the shutdown, Trump posted an AI video mocking Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat. The video portrayed Jeffries wearing a sombrero and mustache and depicted Schumer repeating a Republican attack line that Democrats shut down the government to secure free health care for undocumented immigrants, a claim that Democrats have pushed back on.
Colbert defended Trump during a press conference this week.
Vice President JD Vance attends a White House press briefing in Washington, D.C., on October 1, 2025. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
“I think it’s funny,” he said. “The president is joking, and we’re having a good time. You can negotiate in good faith while also poking a little bit of fun at some of the absurdities of the Democrats’ positions and even poking some fun at the absurdity of the Democrats themselves,” he said.
Colbert discussed the back-and-forth during a monologue on his show Thursday, quipping that “this is now our level of political discourse.”
“The White House has a lot of blowback for such infantile bigotry, but at least JD Vance did the right thing and doubled down,” he said, playing a clip of Vance’s remarks. “If that’s how we’re doing it JD, then we here at the late show also enjoy humor. We’ve created our own funny, good-time animation based on something that isn’t real to help end the shutdown.”
He then played an animation depicting Vance humping a couch, and later posted a minute-long version on TikTok. The video is a reference to a false and debunked story that spread across social media about Vance having sexual intercourse with a couch.
The GOP-controlled House of Representatives has passed a bill that would fund the government on a temporary basis, but that bill has stalled in the Senate, where it must receive more bipartisan support to overcome the 60-vote filibuster. Democrats have pushed for concessions around the extension of health care tax credits set to expire and a rollback of recent Medicaid cuts.
What People Are Saying
Representative Madeleine Dean, a Pennsylvania Democrat, referring to Trump’s video, told House Speaker Mike Johnson: “It’s disgraceful, it’s bigoted, it’s racist. You should call it out.”
The Late Show wrote in a TikTok caption: “We heard that JD Vance loves a good-natured, funny meme, so we made one just for him!”
What Happens Next
The Senate is set to reconvene Friday to vote on bills to fund the government and end the shutdown, but it’s unclear whether lawmakers will be able to reach a consensus this week.
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