JD Vance mocked as he says he is ‘closely tracking’ a situation which has already happened

It was last Sunday when Alaska was hit by the remnants of Typhoon Halong, a storm which resulted in hundreds of people being evacuated and the destruction of more than 120 homes in the village of Kipnuk (which was struck alongside Kwigillingok) – but it was this week that US vice president JD Vance said he was closely monitoring a disaster which has already taken place.

In a post to Twitter/X on Friday (17 October), Vance told his followers: “President Trump & I are closely tracking the storm devastation that resulted in over 1,000 citizens being airlifted out of Alaska villages.

“Alaskans, our prayers are with you and your federal government is working closely with @SenDanSullivan and @GovDunleavy to get you the help you need.”

This prompted fellow social media users to criticise the Trump administration for their lateness, with disaster scientist Rebekah Jones among those raising eyebrows:

And if you’re minded to point out that Vance mentioned tracking the devastation – or aftermath – of the disaster, rather than the storm itself, Jones went on to add that “tracking implies movement and change”:

The press office for California governor Gavin Newsom also chipped in:

Another account sarcastically referred to Vance as Looney Tunes character “Speedy Gonzales”, before pointing out that the Trump administration – via the Environmental Protection Agency – withdrew a $200 million grant designed to protect the Kipnuk coastline:

“Maybe you should work more and spend less time tweeting,” suggested a third:

Media organisation MeidasTouch wrote: “WTF?! This happened like a week ago.”

Awkward.

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