US Vice President JD Vance has jokingly compared himself to the character Macaulay Culkin played in the beloved 1990s Christmas film Home Alone, after President Donald Trump left him behind while jetting off to a high-stakes summit in China.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Vance said he often wanders the empty corridors of the West Wing, much like the film's protagonist. 'So as you know, Trump just landed in China,' Vance said. 'I sometimes feel like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. I walk into the White House, it's very quiet, and no one's there, and it takes me a second to realize exactly what's going on.'
The Vice President was conspicuously left off the guest list for the trip, with Trump instead travelling alongside top diplomatic advisers and a delegation of American tech billionaires. Vance has said that Secret Service protocols prevent him from travelling to high-risk countries at the same time as the President.
The joke comes amid recent revelations that Trump has left beyond-the-grave instructions for Vance should anything happen to him in office. The light-hearted remark highlights the unusual situation of a Vice President being left in charge of an eerily quiet White House while the President is abroad on a critical diplomatic mission.
