JD Vance fumbles Ohio State’s national title trophy during White House visit
JD Vance ended the Ohio State football team’s visit to the White House on Monday by fumbling the team’s national championship trophy.
After laudatory speeches by Donald Trump, Buckeyes coach Ryan Day and Vance on the South Lawn, the vice-president – an Ohio State graduate – tried to lift the trophy.
He didn’t appear to realize that the top of the trophy is detachable from its base. After a moment of struggle, the vice-president lost his grip on the two pieces. OSU running back TreVeyon Henderson, standing behind Vance, grabbed the football-shaped top of the trophy. But the base fell to the ground, forcing Vance to grasp around as it rolled away from him.
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Some of the players around the vice-president winced. The United States Marine Corps Band, which performs at presidential events, had to compete with audible gasps from the players and crowd as it played We Are the Champions.
Henderson and Day helped Vance reassemble the trophy, and he later held just the top, cradling it in his arms while the players around him chuckled.
As pictures and videos of Vance’s fumble spread across the internet, the vice-president tried to explain away the gaffe with self-deprecation: “I didn’t want anyone after Ohio State to get the trophy so I decided to break it,” he wrote on X.
Trump credited the Ohio State team with winning the 2024 college football championship despite “adversity,” including the team’s upset loss to arch-rivals Michigan 13-10 at home in November.
Before fumbling the trophy, Vance also used part of his speech to mention the Buckeyes’ biggest rival – singling out an audience member in a Michigan hat. “I don’t know who let the guy over in the corner here, in a Michigan hat, into this celebration,” Vance said. “But I’m about to tell the Secret Service, ‘You’ve got a dangerous weapon, sir.’”
