Republican Representative Mike Collins tried to support J.D. Vance by posting a picture of the vice presidential nominee on X Wednesday morning. It backfired. Collins inexplicably posted a very clearly edited image of Vance’s face, slimmed down with enhanced features like a chin implant. The post immediately drew mockery, with social media commentators coming up with their own photoshopped pictures. Other commentators pointed out how this is another example of the Republicans coming off as weird. Collins’s post reminded some X users about the GOP culture-war stance of opposing gender-affirming care, with the post exposing conservative hypocrisy over medical procedures to change one’s appearance. The roots of the photo seem to come from a years-old meme of “yassifying” photos to improve a person’s physical appearance, as well as the online far-right obsession over a standard of male physical appearance, specifically the “Chad” archetype that has become prevalent in right-wing memes. Was this image a nod to that far-right online base and its infamous 2016 efforts, or was it just a misguided attempt to boost J.D. Vance? Either way, much of the internet was left scratching their heads.
https://newrepublic.com/post/186646/gop-congressman-collins-posts-edited-photo-jd-vance