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TNR Quizzes

Who Said It: Jonah Ryan or JD Vance?

One is a fictional politician who everyone hates. The other is a real politician who everyone hates. Can you tell them apart?

Collage of J.D. Vance and Jonah Ryan
Illustration by The New Republic

Veep’s Jonah Ryan—the White House liaison turned congressman turned vice president—is one of the most loathsome and off-putting characters in American television history. No one likes Jonah, and it’s easy to see why: He’s a misogynistic creep who rubs everyone the wrong way. In this sense—and in his curious ability to rise in the political ranks despite his behavior—he resembles Ohio Senator JD Vance, perhaps the least-liked vice presidential nominee in the nation’s history. And Vance and Ryan are, above all, deeply weird. See if you can tell the difference between the fictional weirdo and the real one.