JD Vance Heckled During DC National Guard Photo Op Amidst ‘Free DC!’ Chants

Senator JD Vance faced strong public disapproval, including boos and chants of “Free DC!”, during a recent photo opportunity with National Guard troops at Union Station in Washington. The incident occurred as Vance, accompanied by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, distributed hamburgers to troops deployed last week by former President Donald Trump.

Vance addressed the troops, stating, “We appreciate everything you’re doing,” and asserted that they had “brought some law and order back.” However, his remarks were met with protests outside, where demonstrators chanted slogans like “Free DC!” and “From DC to Palestine, occupation is a crime.” Some protesters also used expletives as the officials entered and later left the station.

When questioned about the troops’ presence at Union Station rather than areas with statistically higher crime rates, Vance claimed the station was overrun with “vagrants, drug addicts, the chronically homeless and the mentally ill,” arguing that visitors no longer felt safe. He stated, “This should be a monument to American greatness,” adding, “We do not have to live like this.”

Vance dismissed the protesters as “kind of bizarre,” characterizing them as “old, primarily white people who are out there protesting the policies that keep people safe when they’ve never felt danger in their entire lives.” He then co-opted the “Free DC” chant, framing it as a desire to make the city safe for families. Miller echoed these sentiments, labeling protesters as “crazy communists” and “stupid white hippies” who should “go home and take a nap.”

The deployment of approximately 1,900 National Guard troops, more than half from Republican-led states, followed Trump’s federalization of the city’s Metropolitan Police Department and directive to mobilize troops. This action was taken despite official statistics indicating a sharply falling crime rate in DC, with violent crime at a 30-year low.

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