JD Vance Makes Smooth Recovery After College Football Trophy Incident, With an Assist From Ted Cruz

Last Monday, RedState reported on the humorous moment during a White House ceremony involving the Los Angeles Dodgers when President Donald Trump took a well-deserved swipe at his longtime foe, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA).

The event was held to celebrate and honor the Dodgers' 2024 World Series victory over the New York Yankees, which the Dodgers won 4-1.

While giving his speech, Trump introduced some Golden State Republican political figures who were in attendance but also said he was opting not to introduce the notorious Russia collusion hoaxster nor his fellow California Senator, Alex Padilla, because he didn't "particularly like them." He later quipped, after the crowd laughed, that he didn't think the statement would be that controversial because "it's Washington."

Fast forward a week, and the White House held another sports-related gathering, this time involving the Ohio State University Buckeyes, who won the College Football Playoff National Championship (CFP) in January, defeating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 34-23.

On hand for the festivities were, of course, Trump and also Vice President JD Vance, an Ohio native and OSU graduate.

One moment that captured a lot of media and social media attention came when Vance was preparing to pose for a photo with the group, along with the championship trophy. But an unfortunate moment saw the trophy separate in two, with running back TreVeyon Henderson holding the top and Vance losing control of the base of it, which looked heavy:

The base of the 35-pound trophy broke off as Vance held it up with help from star Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson. With Vance gripping the base and Henderson grabbing the gold football, the break occurred when they tilted the trophy instead of raising it straight upward.
[Vance] dropped the base, but fortunately, another teammate helped catch the main part of the trophy before it could fall to the ground.

This clip shows that Vance quickly recovered, and the photo was then taken afterward:

JD Vance drops Ohio State national championship trophy while Marine band plays "We are the Champions": https://t.co/Q2gmZ6Asbe pic.twitter.com/6OvgmMJCcF
— Local 12/WKRC-TV (@Local12) April 14, 2025

While that's obviously something Vance didn't want to happen, he quipped on Twitter/X that he did it on purpose.

"I didn’t want anyone after Ohio State to get the trophy so I decided to break it," Vance joked.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) also chimed in after seeing Vance had called him out at the ceremony for not fulfilling the terms of a bet Cruz lost on an Ohio State/Texas game.

"Tragic. @JDVance fear not, you’ll get your TX BBQ, Blue Bell ice cream & Shiner Bock," Cruz wrote, "and yes I’ll even be wearing an Ohio State jersey (shudder). Although you sure would have looked good in burnt orange…."

And just for the record, the trophy did not "break," according to RealClearPolitics reporter Philip Wegmann:

The award is two separate pieces--the trophy and the base with the idea being that the trophy is what's held aloft, not the base.
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) April 14, 2025

JD Vance did not “break” the National Championship trophy.

It disconnects from the base into two separate pieces. pic.twitter.com/vpYNxyh5Fc
— Sarah Fields (@SarahisCensored) April 14, 2025

Though Vance no doubt took some ribbing after the event and is being memed as we speak, good on him for injecting humor into an awkward moment. And good on him for not waiting on or directing anyone else to pick it up, something we no doubt would have seen under the previous administration had a similar incident happened.

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