Vice president JD Vance’s appearance at a Republican National Committee fundraiser on the wealthy playground of Nantucket should have been a smooth chance to press the flesh and pocket their dollars.
Instead he was met by cat-themed protests—a reminder of one of his most notorious gaffes.
The vice president was the guest speaker at the $100,000-a-head event hosted at a private residence on the island, where a reported $3 million in donations was raised for the GOP ahead of the crucial 2026 midterms.
Vance’s appearance in Massachusetts sparked a so-called “Meowtucket” protest rally featuring hundreds of people booing the vice president and others as they arrived for the event. One of those who helped organize the rally was Amanda McGonigle, who is behind the popular “catsonacouch” Instagram account, which regularly attacks and mocks Vance.
The account’s name, which heavily promoted the demonstration, is a reference to the baseless claim that he wrote about having sex with a couch in his Hillbilly Elegy memoirs as well as his resurfaced remarks from 2021 where he referred to Democratic politicians as “childless cat ladies.”
The “Meowtucket” protests featured an array of cat-themed placards and signs attacking the vice president. Video posted on social media from local news site The Nantucket Current shows protesters holding signs on the side of the road reading “even cats know JD Vance is a lying fascist” and “cat women scratch back.”
The protest wasn’t just repeating memes from the 2024 election, as demonstrators also lined up to protest Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans and cutting of federal departments.
In an Instagram video promoting the “Meowtucket” protest, McGonigle said one of the “catsandcouches” page’s goals is to ensure that Vance does “not know a moment’s peace for the next three and a half years at least.”
“Sometimes we like to go on petty little side quests, just generally to make his life miserable. And this is one of them,” she added.
The fundraiser event attended by JD Vance raised a record amount for the RNC on the Massachusetts island. Aimee Dilger/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Vance has been met with a number of protests while out in public, including during a recent family trip to Disneyland in California. There are also expected to be demonstrations when Vance and his family visit the Cotswolds in South West England, another popular retreat spot for the rich and famous, in August.
A spokesperson for Vance did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.