The funny thing about this is that some of these memes started as leftist attacks, but the right co-opted them and ran with it. Why would they do it?

I think Tim Pool actually nailed it in a conversation he had about the memes. There are going to be people who don't get why Vance's own supporters would make memes that make fun of Vance, and a lot of these people are going to be women. Not bashing women, but the way men and women communicate is different.

When men like each other, they'll actively make fun of one another. It's how we express ourselves to one another in a way that might not seem close, and possibly even confrontational, but it's actually an expression of appreciation and respect. //

These memes are communicating to the public that Vance is fun, culturally relevant, and culturally irreverent at the same time. He can laugh with us, even at himself, making him more relatable and approachable. His levity stands in stark contrast to leftist severity, which makes him even more endearing to the people. //

Politics is downstream of culture, and Vance is being inserted into the culture in a way that is more or less unlooked-for but powerful nonetheless. Memes are a powerful cognitive tool, especially in the age of the internet, and Vance starring in so many — especially in the form of good-natured mocking — is making him a cultural mainstay.

It's the kind of popularity politicians wish they could get, but rarely do.