Vice President JD Vance declared on social media that President Donald Trump has accomplished more to save Black lives than any leader in American history, making the controversial statement while tagging New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie on the platform X.
Vance posted the message on June 29, 2025, writing that he was sure leaders and supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement would join him in celebrating Trump’s achievements. The statement came in response to another post Vance made on Bluesky regarding Trump’s role in brokering a peace deal between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.
The Vice President has been actively posting on Bluesky, where he maintains just 14,000 followers compared to his 4.4 million followers on X. Vance spent the week engaging with the platform’s predominantly left-leaning user base, making nine posts in the past week leading up to his controversial statement.
Vance characterized the treaty between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda as truly historic, a sentiment shared by politicians across party lines. However, experts disagree about whether Trump was the primary driving force behind the peace agreement, and some worry the years-long conflict may continue despite the treaty.
If the peace agreement holds, experts indicate it could spare tens of thousands of African lives and enable millions of displaced people to return to their homes. Vance did not make similar posts about the peace deal or his claims about Trump’s impact on Black lives on other social media platforms.
Users on Bluesky responded critically to Vance’s assertion about Trump’s legacy regarding Black lives. One commenter called the statement an outright lie, expressing disagreement with Vance’s characterization of Trump’s presidency and describing the former president as failed while calling Vance even less significant.
Another user pointed to the early impacts of the Department of Government Efficiency-induced changes in the current administration, suggesting that cuts to USAID have resulted in deaths in developing countries. The commenter indicated that subtracting deaths from aid reductions would diminish claims about saving lives.
Vance’s social media activity has included what many observers describe as trolling behavior directed at Democrats and liberals. Earlier in the week, he posted a congratulatory message to Zohran Mamdani, who won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, calling him the new leader of the Democratic Party.
The Vice President’s history of controversial statements about various demographic groups has drawn scrutiny throughout his political career. During the 2024 campaign period, Vance made statements suggesting that suburban women’s concerns about reproductive rights were not normal priorities for American women.
In August 2024, Vance told Fox News that he disagreed with the premise that suburban women were concerned about abortion access, stating that most suburban women care about normal things that most Americans care about. Polling data contradicted his assertion, showing that 39 percent of suburban women in battleground states considered abortion a make-or-break issue.
Vance’s vice presidential debate performance in October 2024 included several statements that fact-checkers later disputed. He claimed there were 20 to 25 million illegal immigrants in the country, a figure that exceeded official estimates by significant margins according to Department of Homeland Security data.
During the same debate, Vance made incorrect claims about Iran receiving over $100 billion from the current administration, when the actual amount involved was $6 billion in previously frozen Iranian assets that were subsequently re-frozen after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.
The Vice President’s latest social media post about Trump and Black lives represents another instance of his making sweeping claims that generate significant pushback from critics and fact-checkers. His pattern of controversial statements has continued since taking office, particularly on platforms where he engages directly with political opponents.
Vance’s decision to specifically tag Jamelle Bouie in his post about Trump and Black Lives Matter appeared designed to provoke a response from the prominent journalist and commentator. The Vice President’s social media strategy has increasingly focused on direct engagement with critics and commentators.
The timing of Vance’s statement coincided with ongoing discussions about the Congo-Rwanda peace agreement and its potential humanitarian implications. Political observers noted that while celebrating diplomatic achievements is common, the Vice President’s broader claims about Trump’s historical impact generated more controversy than support for the peace deal itself.
