JD Vance Responds On Whether He Will Shave His Beard After Secretary Of War Pete Hegseth Calls For All Military Members To Be Clean Shaven

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Vice President JD Vance has weighed in on whether he will keep his beard.

On Monday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told top military generals and admirals that they must be clean shaven.

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In response to Hegseth’s remarks many people have speculated on whether Vance will shave his beard or not.

Well, Vance responded to the speculation and shared as the Vice President the rules do not apply to him but did not when he was in the military he did not have any facial hair.

The Hill reported more on Hegseth’s remarks and how JD Vance has responded:

Vice President Vance said he can have a beard in his current role but that he was clean-shaven while in the military, defending Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for declaring soldiers have to shave their facial hair.

Hegseth told the U.S. military’s senior-most officers Tuesday that he no longer wants to see “fat generals and admirals” or overweight troops. He also said, “If you want a beard, you can join Special Forces. If not, then shave.”

“I didn’t see that particular comment, I thought Pete gave a hell of a speech. And a speech that really is just oriented around returning the American military to the very high standards it has had for virtually its entire history until [former President] Joe Biden came along and decided to lower standards. I think it was bad for our military and it was bad for our troops,” Vance said Wednesday at the White House about Hegseth’s comments in Quantico, Va.

“When I was a young United States Marine, I did not have a beard. I am now the vice president, so I get to do what I want to do,” Vance added. “But, I think Pete’s trying to implement high standards and that’s a very good thing.”

Vance served in the Marine Corps for four years and was deployed to the Iraq War in 2005.

Watch Vance here:

Politico reported in a throwback report revealed Vance is the first Vice President in a century to sport a beard:

Beards are seemingly ubiquitous in pop culture and public life. From sports stars to country singers to Hollywood actors, facial hair has made a noticeable comeback in recent years — except in politics.

It’s been more than a century since a sitting president or vice president sported a beard, and nearly 80 years since a candidate for the White House had any facial hair whatsoever. Even in Congress, those with beards remain few and far between.

Enter Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance. The Ohio politician’s full beard is so novel on a presidential ticket that it’s been the subject of a disproportionate amount of the chatter surrounding his selection.

Pundits had speculated as to whether it would ultimately be a deal-breaker for Donald Trump, whose well-known aversion to facial hair reportedly doomed some potential picks for his first-term Cabinet. Trump’s preferences mirror the long-standing societal stereotypes, which is part of why most pols have avoided facial hair in recent decades: For most of the 20th century in the United States, beards were seen as unprofessional and unhygienic. More recent research has shown that voters perceive facial hair as deeply masculine, which can come with both positive connotations (like competence) and negative ones (like aggression and less support of feminist issues).

By sporting a beard, Vance is on the cutting edge of a generational shift in facial hair styles — but he’s also in uncharted, potentially tricky territory. He, and by extension Trump’s campaign, are betting that voters will see his facial hair as a sign of Vance as the rugged everyman — “a young Abraham Lincoln,” as Trump said earlier this month — rather than giving off undertones of an untrustworthy aggressor.



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