There’s a saying when politicians spend any time with the press — “nothing is ever off the record.” Perhaps that lesson never reached some in the Donald Trump administration when they agreed to what may be their first (and perhaps last) glossy magazine profile, where Vice President JD Vance had a mask-slipping moment and revealed just how much these colleagues don’t like each other.
Most of the chatter online has focused on the White House chief of staff’s disparaging comments about people in the inner circle of the Trump administration. But there’s a seldom-discussed aspect of the story that centers solely on the pictures — and considering we already know how critical, and somewhat vain, Trump has always been about which photos a publication chooses to run of him, it turns out the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
J.D. Vance was reportedly probing the editors of Vanity Fair while being directed for the shoot, joking, “Is this the part where you say we’re all evil?” Vance then reportedly added, “I’ll give you $100 for every person you make look really s***ty compared to me. And $1,000 if it’s Marco.” There’s little doubt Christopher Anderson took that challenge and more than delivered, judging by the photos of the administration’s members.
A lot gets said about magazine photos once they’re published, and it’s not just about Trump or even celebrities. For years, fans of certain actors have criticized photographers for failing to properly photograph darker-skinned people — sometimes the lighting is too harsh, sometimes too naturalistic. But one thing that can’t be denied is that there’s usually clear artistic intentionality behind these images, even when it misses the mark. This time, the intention seemed obvious: to zoom in uncomfortably close and present these figures exactly as they are.
Under Marco Rubio’s photo, one commenter asked why his dejected expression made it look like he’d just killed a dog (which, as another noted, wouldn’t even be a first for this administration). In Vance’s photo, someone suggested the image should have come with a trigger warning. In Karoline Leavitt’s photo, a user even claimed you could see her lip filler injections at that proximity.
You’d think an administration that has spent years insisting it wants honest, accurate coverage would recognize it had been beaten at its own game. Instead, members scrambled to social media to claim the story and photos were a hit piece — despite the fact that they agreed to the profile, and none of the quotes or images were fabricated. They are real. Exactly the coverage they asked for. When someone holds up a mirror, it’s useless to be angry at the image. If you don’t like what you see, change what you’re presenting.
It is obvious to most people that Vanity Fair deliberately manipulated pictures and reported statements without context to try and make the WH team look bad
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 17, 2025
And there is nobody more loyal or committed to President Trump’s mission than Susie Wiles. She is one of the main reasons…
The most ludicrous part of the entire saga, however, is that during the setup for the shoot, someone reportedly had the foresight to say, “We’re all going to get fired for this.” Trump has said he will address the nation on Dec. 17 at 9 p.m., where he will most likely address this crack in his administration.
