Vice President J.D. Vance reportedly didn’t hold back this week during an appearance on the Ruthless podcast, where he skewered progressives for their outraged response to a seemingly harmless jeans ad featuring actress Sydney Sweeney.
With his trademark mix of humor and cultural commentary, Vance used the controversy to highlight what he sees as a deepening disconnect between the American left and everyday cultural norms. “My political advice to the Democrats is: continue to tell everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive is a Nazi,” Vance quipped. “That appears to be their actual strategy.”
The ad in question, for American Eagle, features Sweeney — a rising star with a classic Hollywood look — and playfully references her “good jeans,” a pun that ignited backlash from some corners of the left.
While critics accused the campaign of promoting outdated ideals or veiled eugenics, conservatives across the spectrum have responded with derision, pointing to the absurdity of the outrage.
“I mean, it actually reveals something pretty interesting about the Dems,” Vance continued. “You have like a normal, all-American, beautiful girl doing like a normal jeans ad… and they have managed to somehow unhinge themselves over this thing.”
The vice president’s comments underscore what many on the right view as a growing culture of hypersensitivity among progressives, one increasingly out of step with the broader American public.
Co-host Josh Holmes noted the irony of the Democrats’ post-election promise to moderate. “Their course correction lasted about 30 seconds,” Holmes said.
“That’s right,” Vance replied. “Somehow, they have gotten even crazier.”
He went on to describe the backlash as part of a wider trend of cultural alienation among liberal elites.
“So much of the Democrats are oriented around hostility to basic American life,” Vance said. “You have a pretty girl doing a jeans ad, and they can’t help but freak out. It reveals a lot more about them than it does us.”
Media figures on the right echoed the sentiment throughout the week. Megyn Kelly weighed in on X, writing, “I love how the leftist meltdown over the Sydney Sweeney ad has only resulted in a beautiful white blonde girl with blue eyes getting 1000x the exposure for her ‘good genes.’”
For Vance and others in the conservative movement, the dust-up over denim isn’t just about jeans or a celebrity endorsement — it’s a symptom of what they argue is a broader Democratic hostility to normalcy, beauty, and American tradition.
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