It all started with a tweet about a couch. Within hours of Donald Trump announcing the Ohio senator JD Vance as his running mate in the presidential race, a rather lurid accusation cropped up on social media.

The user of a since-deleted X account wrote last month, “can’t say for sure but he might be the first vp pick to have admitted in a ny times bestseller to fucking an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions (vance, hillbilly elegy, pp. 179-181).”

The fake page citation from Vance’s bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy lent credibility to what turned out to be a baseless claim, as detailed in a now-removed fact check from the Associated Press. Soon, the internet was awash in memes mocking Vance’s relationship with various pieces of furniture. “I did not have sectional relations,” one X user joked, paraphrasing Bill Clinton’s infamous quote about his extramarital affair. Another user added: “Who hasn’t been excited by the thrill of the chaise?”

Even Kamala Harris’s newly launched presidential campaign appeared to get in on the fun, tweeting: “JD Vance does not couch his hatred for women.”

  • expr@programming.dev
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    4 months ago

    Wait so the couch fucking thing was bullshit? It’s just so… specific. Talk about an impressive shitpost.

    • pewter@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      It was always bs, but people on the Internet like spreading lies. I saw some politician go on MSNBC and she brought it up too. It’s embarrassing if she believed it and spread it.

      • EarthShipTechIntern@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        It’s only proper: Faux had been hyping ‘immigrant crime’ and every Trump positive, Biden negative bullshit they can. Spreading bullshit & lies? Republican marching orders. Pogram against Democracy. Putin smiles.

      • ImADifferentBird
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        4 months ago

        It’s about as true as the idea that Kamala isn’t really black or that Biden is the head of a crime family.

    • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      Yeah. Some random dude tweeted it and it got passed around. The original tweet was deleted because they realized it was getting taken seriously.