We Got Rid Of JD Vance's Signature Beard (& Wish We Hadn't)

Not too long ago, we wanted to see how JD Vance would look with Donald Trump's hair, so we made it happen. However, once we'd saw the final result, we couldn't help but wonder how Trump's running partner would look with another makeover. This time, we were curious to see how the vice presidential hopeful would look sans beard. Once again, Static Media's photo editors were on hand to give us an exclusive look ... but we kinda wish they hadn't. 

Fans of Vance may remember that when he first became a public figure as the author of "Hillbilly Elegy," he was actually beard-free. In fact, he made a ton of appearances without facial hair, with stubble being the most we saw on him. At the time, it was endearing. After all, he was much younger. 

Of course, Vance is older now, and as such, the baby face look is a little incongruous with that. More than his age, though, when Vance first emerged on the scene, he wasn't involved in politics. That's since changed, too, and unfortunately for the bestselling author, that particular pivot hasn't exactly been met with enthusiasm from many who used to admire him. With that in mind, seeing Vance without the beard has us remembering him pre-politics — and it's a little sad.

While seeing JD Vance without a beard does come as a shock, we'll preface this by saying he doesn't look awful without it. In fact, he probably could pull it off. However, the fact that Vance only started growing his beard once his previous stance on Donald Trump began to change means we kind of associate it with who he is today.

One of the many strange things we can't ignore about Vance is his blatant hypocrisy when it's come to Donald Trump over the span of the last few years. For starters, there's the fact that back in 2016, Vance took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to declare, "Trump makes people I care about afraid. Immigrants, Muslims, etc. Because of this I find him reprehensible." Vance has since deleted the post, but screenshots don't die. Even more seriously, Vance once admitted in a conversation with a friend that he saw Trump as, "America's Hitler" (via Ohio Capital Journal). Fast-forward to Vance becoming Trump's VP pick, and taking the job.

Of course, it does bear mentioning that Vance has also copped to changing his stance in an interview with Time where he explained that it came down to wanting to serve his community, so we guess he gets credit for acknowledging how strange it all seems. Nevertheless, there can be no denying that pre-beard, Vance had one stance, and post-beard, he has another, and never the twain shall cross.