J.D. Vance is the star of a mocking Philly mural. I went to witness its glory.

Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.

If you Google “What should I do with $300?,” the search engine’s inescapable A.I. bot will spout corporate gobbledygook about self-improvement back at you: Open a high-yield savings account, take a class or workshop, support a charity, yada yada. But Philadelphians know that another, arguably better, option exists: Call up some pals, buy some paint, and slap a larger-than-life mural ridiculing the smarmy visage of the vice president of the United States on the side of a local institution. After all, as the Philly way dictates, who needs self-improvement when disdain is on the table?

This is how I ended up staring into the terrifying eyes of a bald, babylike J.D. Vance painted in colorful strokes on the exterior of a restaurant in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, earlier this week.

The image is taken from a now-infamous infantilizing meme—part of a larger trend of edits depicting Vance as a baby and as other kinds of figures, sometimes simultaneously—which has taken on a life of its own since it cropped up on X in late 2024, just before the presidential election. This artistic interpretation of Vance, which reimagines him as a uniquely disturbing-looking grown infant, has haunted the veep for the better part of a year now, particularly on his sojourns across the pond. The Benjamin Button–esque political likeness has appeared this summer on the Irish parliamentary floor, and on both an English van and a billboard, taunting the VP during a visit to the U.K. The meme has reportedly become such a sore point that, according to one Norwegian tourist, it even got him denied entry into the U.S. (U.S. Homeland Security officials refuted this, but the fact that the claim was initially plausible speaks volumes.)

Now the visage also exists in Philadelphia, on the corner of Berks Street and E. Girard Avenue, on the side of the breakfast eatery Sulimay’s, a site that has inspired online awe, as well as a growing number of pilgrimages. Like the original image, the mural is unbelievably blue, pairing a cobalt backdrop with a cartoonishly rendered Vance whose head seems even more misshapen than what’s depicted in the meme. Despite the grotesquery, it’s evident that the mural was created with care: The shading technique resembles mini heat maps that get darker as you get lower, signaling even more danger as the viewer imagines what horrors lie below Vance’s shoulders. On the egglike face is a scraggly painted beard that looks fake in all the right ways. But the mural’s standout feature is certainly the eyes, complete with the vice president’s all-natural emo eyeliner and orbs so light blue they couldn’t possibly have life behind them. Naturally, the new painting is positioned directly next to an intricate, beautifully crafted mural of the Philadelphia 76ers logo, just the way God—yes, I mean William Penn—intended.

I stared at this evil Vance-a Lisa, whose eyes follow you no matter where you move, for 10 minutes straight on a gloomy Monday afternoon. It immediately brought to mind the face of the actor Benedict Wong, specifically as seen in the trailer of the horror movie du jour Weapons (only, granted, free of blood and less smashed in—for now, at least). Vance’s gaze pierced my soul; I could feel it trying to cull every ounce of humanity I had left. My staring contest left me shaken: I felt as though I had unlocked all the dark secrets to the world, at the cost of my hypothetical firstborn child. I also, for some inexplicable reason, felt as though I needed to go home and say sorry to my mother.

The mural is the work of FUBAR PAC (yes, as in the explicit military acronym FUBAR, which is a pretty apt take on the current state of our nation), which had $300, 12 hours, and a dream. The group was founded by Jack Inacker, a Philly native, Air Force vet, and, per the official PAC site, “expert hater.” A recent FUBAR demonstration saw “a group of angry Democrats,” as local news outlet Billy Penn described the PAC, and local celebrity Philly Elmo smashing a Tesla in protest against Elon Musk’s development of DOGE. Now Inacker is on to the next challenge, saying in a social media clip that the mural “will serve as a physical reminder of how J.D. Vance is a fucking weirdo”—the words weird and weirdo having assumed a specifically harsh connotation in Philadelphia—“and a total sycophant for Donald Trump.” In a press email, Inacker explained that his may be “a city of murals” but that it’s also “a city of haters”; he “wanted to add to that rich tapestry with some dumb bullshit” that both titillates and seeks to “expose people to some of the actual, terrible harms” that Trump’s administration is causing.

Since the mural went up this past weekend, locals have, naturally, begun flocking to the area, transforming it into a viral sacred site of sorts. (If anything, Philadelphians love making a mockery of kakistocracy. It’s a pastime as sacred as climbing greased poles and booing our own teams’ players.) As I stood by the painting, on my own pilgrimage, multiple passing cars slowed down to take a photo. In one was a middle-aged couple who had driven more than three hours from their Pennsylvanian town to drop their son off at Temple University for the upcoming semester. They were making a point to see the mural before they left the city, and they even took a selfie with it. (“Fucking hilarious,” the woman proclaimed.) Another visitor, 54-year-old Loren, was on a semiregular walk from Center City, but this time he had planned the route with the mural as his designated stop. His thoughts on the latest portrait of Vance to grace our city and the internet? “As long as he hates it, I love it.” Still others—of all apparent ages, ethnicities, and fashion styles—stopped by on my visit to the mural, circling around for a cheery photo before going on their way.

The author, posing with the mural’s unnerving gaze.
Nadira Goffe

1. It’s a Forbidden Behavior in Today’s Restaurants. These Chefs Say It Massively Improved Their Careers.
   

2. Employees Are Being Forced to Do Something Excruciating at Work. Sometimes It Involves Sleepovers.
   

3. 
   This Content is Available for Slate Plus members only

   J.D. Vance Is the Star of a Mocking New Mural. I Went to Witness It in All Its Glory.
   

4. I Knew the Hollywood Version of My Parents’ Country. Returning There With Them Was Entirely Different.
   

Inacker told me that Sulimay’s had been one of the first small businesses to volunteer after he put out a public call on Reddit for wall space. Restaurant operator Chad Todd (self-identifying as “owner, chef, antagonist”) told me over Instagram that he “can’t be complicit and not do anything” about the havoc this administration is wreaking simply “because it’s not happening to me.” Both Inacker and Sulimay’s have reported that the response to the mural has been overwhelmingly positive and much larger than anticipated, although there’s been some amount of pushback too. When it comes to the naysayers, Sulimay’s stands firm: “These poor brainwashed people saying they will never eat here! I don’t care. If I wanted them to eat here, I’d put pictures on the menu.”

At its core, the mural just makes sense in Philadelphia. Kara, a visitor to the mural who had walked from down the block with her dogs, quipped: “I guess if Virginia is for lovers, Philly is for haters.” You’ve got that right, Kara: The small print on the City of Brotherly Love’s spiritual contract is to recognize that you can’t have love without its opposite. Inacker stood firm on actualizing that ethos, explaining, in an email: “J.D. Vance gets a lot of hate. But it’s not enough. We can do better.” Still, that’s not all he has in store. In a follow-up email, he teased an ominous promise of all the love that’s yet to come: “Wait ’til we start adding hats for Halloween.”

Sign up for Slate’s evening newsletter.