Vice President JD Vance responded after a protester interrupted his speech while waving a Mexican flag, telling the heckler to leave the United States if he loved Mexico so much. Vance then went one step further and offered to personally purchase the protester’s plane ticket. His unscripted reaction drew loud cheers and chants of “USA” from the Republican crowd.
The interruption happened Thursday, September 10th, while Vance addressed the RNC Midterm Convention at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Vance was delivering a wide-ranging speech focused on American families, national identity, border security, and the choice facing voters in November. The protester began shouting from the audience and waving a Mexican flag before security personnel moved in.
The official broadcast did not show viewers the initial disruption, but Vance stopped his remarks and explained what had happened inside the arena. The crowd could be heard booing the protester as he was removed. Vance waited for the commotion to settle before directing his response straight at the heckler.
“What the people at home missed is that we just had a protester interrupting us and waving the Mexican flag,” Vance said in a video posted to X. He looked around and then delivered the line that sent the crowd into an absolute uproar: “Well, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your ass over there. I’ll buy you the plane ticket.”
Security escorted the protester from the arena as attendees began chanting “USA, USA,” according to the New York Post. The Post reported that the interruption was the first time during the two-day Republican gathering that a protester managed to disrupt one of the speeches. Rather than immediately returning to his prepared remarks, Vance used the spectacle to criticize the political left and defend American patriotism.
See Vance’s response and the crowd’s reaction here:
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“Ladies and gentlemen, I had a whole speech written, but I think I gotta change it because we just discovered the symbol of the far left,” Vance continued. He described that symbol as “an idiot waving a Mexican flag at a protest when he should be waving the flag of the United States of America.” The crowd again responded with cheers as Vance contrasted the foreign flag with the American cities he referenced.
“As much as that person might wave around a foreign flag, he’d much rather live in Dallas or in Cincinnati, or in any one of our great cities than Mexico,” Vance said. He returned to the central argument of his speech, telling the audience that Americans must continue defending the prosperity, safety, and opportunity handed down to them. “But while we wave the American flag and fight for the American dream, we have to remind ourselves tonight that the good life that is the foundation of this country’s promise is not guaranteed.”
Vance went on to accuse Democrats of running candidates who seek to control what children can say, how Americans can live, and who they’re expected to hate. He called on Republican voters to remain united even when they disagree with the administration on individual policies and warned against handing control of the country to political radicals. Vance closed that portion of his address with a direct message for November: “Let’s send these lunatics packing and govern our country for the future.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.