Crowd erupts as Vance smacks down protester waving Mexican flag: 'Get your a-- over there'

DALLAS — Vice President JD Vance confronted an interruption from the floor of the Republican National Convention Thursday night, telling a person waving Mexican and Palestinian flags that if they loved Mexico so much, they should go there.

The exchange occurred during Vance’s primetime keynote at the American Airlines Center in Dallas before thousands of convention attendees. It was not captured on the convention’s official television feed, but Vance raised it to viewers watching at home.

“What the people at home missed is that we just had a protester interrupting us and waving the Mexican flag,” Vance said. “Well, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your ass over there. I’ll buy you the plane ticket.”

As the person was escorted from the event, the crowd responded with repeated chants of “USA! USA! USA!”

The incident briefly interrupted a speech built around Vance’s America First message and a push to rally Republican voters for the upcoming midterm election season. His remarks emphasized national identity, loyalty to the United States and attacks on Democrats.

Vance also made birthright citizenship a central theme, arguing that the rights of American children come from their status as Americans rather than from their parents’ background.

“I believe the Founders built this nation on a promise that echoes our Creator: That every American child is born an heir, born with a birthright,” Vance said. “Born with the right to inherit the blessings of this country. Not because of who their parents are. Not because of what they look like or where they come from. But because they are Americans.”

The audience repeatedly broke into chants of “JD! JD! JD!” during the address, and the room erupted again as Vance finished his remarks and left the stage.