JD Vance Swarmed by Cat-Loving Protesters at GOP Fundraiser

As the Trump White House ramps up attacks on civil liberties, a defiant crowd of cat-themed demonstrators gave Vice President JD Vance a furry reckoning in Nantucket.

What was supposed to be a lavish evening of back-patting and big checks for the GOP turned into a public embarrassment for Vice President JD Vance—courtesy of a pack of irate protesters in whiskers and cat ears.

Dubbed the “Meowtucket” protest, the feline-fueled demonstration erupted outside a high-roller Republican National Committee fundraiser on Nantucket Tuesday night, where Vance was the keynote speaker. The $100,000-per-plate event raised a reported $3 million, but outside, the only thing piling up was outrage.

“Even cats know JD Vance is a lying fascist,” read one hand-drawn sign. Another warned, “Cat women scratch back.”

Hundreds of protesters lined the streets outside the luxury compound, many dressed in full cat regalia—complete with tails, masks, and glitter-painted signs. Their message? They haven’t forgotten Vance’s sneering 2021 jab calling Democratic voters “childless cat ladies.” And they’re not letting him live it down.

“This isn’t about cats. It’s about contempt—for women, for the childless, for anyone who doesn’t fit his ‘1950s Ohio dream,'” said protest co-organizer Amanda McGonigle, the voice behind the viral Instagram account “@catsonacouch,” which played a major role in mobilizing the demonstration.

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A post shared by Cats on a Couch by Amanda McGonigle (@catsonacouch)

McGonigle, who boasts nearly 600,000 followers, says Vance’s history of inflammatory rhetoric and far-right positions has made him “a magnet for mockery—and resistance.”

“Sometimes we go on petty little side quests to make his life miserable,” she said in a now-viral video. “This is one of them. We want him to know: no yacht party, no posh retreat, is safe.”

The “couch” in “catsandcouches” is a tongue-in-cheek reference to a long-running internet rumor that Vance detailed a bizarre anecdote involving a couch in Hillbilly Elegy—something fact-checkers say is false, but critics gleefully keep alive as internet folklore.

Yet the Meowtucket rally wasn’t just performance protest. Demonstrators also decried the Trump administration’s sweeping deportation initiative, controversial rollbacks of the Departments of Education and Energy, and ongoing efforts to criminalize reproductive care.

“You can’t call people ‘cat ladies’ and then expect them to roll over,” said local protester Marissa Kemp. “We’re watching him, and we’re not going anywhere.”

Vance’s camp declined to comment, continuing a recent pattern of ignoring public backlash. But insiders close to the RNC admitted privately the optics were “less than ideal,” especially as the party gears up for bruising 2026 midterms and tries to court suburban voters.

This wasn’t the vice president’s first run-in with cat-lady vengeance. Earlier this summer, he was booed by demonstrators at Disneyland during what was supposed to be a family-friendly photo op. More protests are already being organized ahead of his vacation in the UK’s Cotswolds next month.

For now, the Trump-Vance team may be raking in donor dollars—but they’re also racking up enemies with nine lives. And this particular crowd of “childless cat ladies”? They’re not declawed.