The White House tried to insult a journalist on social media, but ended up drawing attention to Vice President JD Vance’s mistakes instead. On Wednesday, July 8, Vance was in Milwaukee speaking about fraud. In an attempt to make a point, he tried to show an image of Markita Barnes, a woman who was convicted of health care fraud. But according to footage circulating on social media, the image was not visible from some angles due to a glare from the lighting.
When a journalist posted about how the reflection obscured the actual image Vance was talking about during his speech, the White House lashed out at him, and it really backfired.
The White House tried to accuse the journalist of hiding the identity of the woman in the photo.
Vance pointing to picture obscured by light: Look at this woman. pic.twitter.com/gN02f1ZdtH
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 8, 2026
Except the photo wasn’t edited or blurred. It just looked like that from that angle. MeidasTouch editor Acyn, who frequently posts updates about the Trump administration, was the one who shared the short clip from Vance’s speech. Acyn captioned it with, “Vance pointing to picture obscured by light: Look at this woman.”
In the clip, Vance says, “But look at this woman in the front with the smug look and the Louis Vuitton bag.” But in that particular clip, you can’t look at the woman in the photo. The White House tried to blame Acyn for this, and ended up humiliating Vance and making themselves look bad instead.
“Your dumb a– is shielding a criminal who stole $2.4 million in taxpayer-funded benefits meant to help at-risk pregnant women and women with young kids,” the official White House Rapid Response account, which is dedicated to “holding the Fake News accountable,” wrote in response to the clip.
But people pointed out that the journalist wasn’t “shielding” anything.
Um… Do they think @Acyn blurred their faces? It was Vance who obscured her by placing the board the way he did. The White House essentially just called Vance a "dumb ass." https://t.co/yBzGuRmpvd pic.twitter.com/CsHBhKNuOR
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) July 8, 2026
Someone on X told the White House that, in reality, “the vice president shielded the criminal by pointing out a picture where she could not be seen.” Oof. The editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch, Ron Filipkowski, also responded to the White House’s reaction with, “The White House called Acyn a ‘dumb a–‘ for posting an unedited video of Vance and quoting him. Quality day all around for the WH Comms shop.”
And the MeidasTouch account questioned how the White House thought Acyn was responsible for the unclear photo. “Um… Do they think @Acyn blurred their faces?” the account’s post read. “It was Vance who obscured her by placing the board the way he did. The White House essentially just called Vance a ‘dumb a–.'”
Quoting President Donald Trump himself, other people on X said that the White House was really “dumb with a b” for doing this (because “most people don’t know” the word has a “b” in it, according to Trump).
But, in a way, critics thought the White House was speaking the truth. “Well, for once they’re right,” one person commented. “Vance IS a dumb a–.”
People found this “so embarrassing” for Vance.
Your dumb ass is shielding a criminal who stole $2.4 million in taxpayer-funded benefits meant to help at-risk pregnant women and women with young kids.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 8, 2026
She's spending the next decade in federal prison thanks to this Administration's relentless work to end the fraud. https://t.co/wZKOIHWQoz pic.twitter.com/vBTsSIoftF
This awkward moment during his speech has presumably gotten way more attention than it otherwise would’ve, all because the White House felt it was necessary to say something about this short clip, of all things.
“Does anybody see a woman here?” one person wrote in response to the clip from Vance’s speech after it went viral. “I just see a smug a–hole pretending he’s next in line for the presidency.”
And someone else said, “Vance is a dumb a– and I’m glad he got called out.”
Meanwhile, people also found the White House communications team’s behavior embarrassing. “Why is an official White House account saying ‘your dumb a–?'” a critic wrote. “This administration has the maturity level of 7th graders.”
Since the White House really wanted to go there, numerous people responded by saying that whoever is managing the account seems to be the actual “dumb a–.” One of them said, “Your dumb a– can’t tell the difference between a blurred picture and light reflecting off a glossy photo.”
“The official White House staffers who run this official White House account do not understand the concept of light glare,” someone else concluded.
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