The White House had social media users cringing after sharing a photo of Vice President J.D. Vance at a Quantico firing range and referring to bullets as "freedom seeds"—as if "freedom fries" weren't already bad enough.
Vance visited Marine Corps Base Quantico on Wednesday, where videos shared on social media showed him serving lunch and conversing with Marines at the Dwyer Chow Hall. Another clip captured him touring different areas of the base before firing an M240B medium machine gun.
Then the White House got weird about it with the following post on social media:
"Just the Vice President of the United States sending some freedom seeds downrange. Doesn’t get more American than that."
You can see the post below.
And here's Vance shooting the "freedom seeds" in question.
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The White House also shared a screenshot of its X post to Instagram along with the caption "Semper Fi," short for "Semper Fidelis," a Latin phrase meaning "always faithful" or "always loyal."
But the thing on everyone's minds was definitely seeds, specifically these "freedom seeds."
First, what in the world?
People were critical, not to mention undeniably weirded out.
The visit was little more than a spectacle for the embattled vice president, as the fallout from the leaked group chat scandal deepens with each new revelation. Meanwhile, Vance is preparing to accompany his wife, Usha, on a trip to Greenland on Friday—despite officials there making it clear that no invitation was extended.
Following backlash, the trip will now focus on a visit to the American Pittufik space base, with Vance, second lady Usha Vance, national security adviser Michael Waltz—who has been implicated in the "Signalgate" scandal—and Energy Secretary Chris Wright in attendance.
The revised itinerary replaces an earlier plan that included stops in Nuuk, visits to Greenlandic heritage sites, and attendance at the territory’s national dogsled race.
The shift, which keeps the delegation away from major settlements, appears to have eased tensions in both Nuuk and Copenhagen, where officials had expressed concerns over U.S. intentions in the self-governing Danish territory.
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