Just as Ellen DeGeneres confirmed Sunday that she and her wife, Portia de Rossi, permanently settled in the UK countryside in November to escape the presidency of Donald Trump, the UK media reported that Trump’s combative vice president, J.D. Vance, plans to vacation near DeGeneres’ new home in August, with protesters planning to turn up and derail his family getaway.
Vance, his wife Usha and their three children plan to spend some time exploring London, then will rent a cottage in the Cotswolds, The Telegraph reported. This is the picturesque region in southwest England, known for its rolling hills and quaint villages, where DeGeneres and de Rossi relocated in November, just ahead of the presidential election.
Their Cotswolds home was supposed to be a “part-time” retreat, DeGeneres said at an event Sunday in the Cotswolds town of Cheltenham, according to the BBC. But the day after Trump was elected, DeGeneres said they woke up to texts from friends “with crying emojis … and we’re like, ‘We’re staying here.’”
Since then, DeGeneres and de Rossi have been enchanted by their new home: “It’s absolutely beautiful,” the comedian said during a conversation with British broadcaster Richard Bacon at Cheltenham’s Everyman theater. “The villages and the towns and the architecture — everything you see is charming and it’s just a simpler way of life.”
But that “simple way of life” also has made the Cotswolds “the Hamptons of England,” a hotspot destination for celebrities and the wealthy elite, including David and Victoria Beckham, Hugh Grant, as well as former prime ministers Boris Johnston and David Cameron. And now, Vance sees it as a place to bring his wife and children, ages 8, 5 and 3, for a quiet family vacation.
But, to critics of Trump and his MAGA politics, Vance’s visit to the Cotswolds feels like “a particular provocation,” given his “extreme views” and his “bullying” and “gaslighting” way of expressing those views, as The Guardian columnist Zoe Williams wrote. The Telegraph also noted that Vance has angered the British public at times, making apparently dismissive comments about America’s allies and fierce attacks on what he claims are restrictions on free speech in the UK.
To counteract Vance’s apparent provocation, anti-Trump protesters have vowed that they will derail his family’s English countryside vacation, the Daily Beast reported.
The Stop Trump Coalition, which helped mobilize mass protests against Trump’s first state visit to the U.K. in 2019, warned that even in the heart of the English countryside, the vice president “will find the resistance waiting,” the Daily Beast reported.
“J.D. Vance is every bit as unwelcome in the U.K. as Donald Trump,” a spokesperson for the group said, according to the Daily Beast.
It’s not clear whether DeGeneres will be witness to any of the planned anti-Vance protests, or have her peaceful countryside existence disrupted. It no doubt depends on whether the Vances rent a cottage near DeGeneres and de Rossi’s estate, while the Cotswolds spreads out across nearly 800 square miles.
But the Stop Trump Coalition said it definitely hopes to be the latest resistance group to disrupt a Vance family vacation.
In March, protesters in Vermont forced Vance and his family to flee a ski resort after demonstrations sprang up against the administration’s Ukraine stance, the Daily Beast reported. He was told to “go ski in Russia,” and branded a “national disgrace.”
The Vances also were met with resistance when they visited Disneyland earlier this month. The day before the Vances visited Disneyland, more than 100 protesters held a demonstration against the Trump administration’s mass deportations of immigrants outside the hotel where the family was booked. A smaller crowd of protesters showed up at Disneyland the day the Vances visited, with the park reportedly shutting down certain rides for the family to enjoy privately, causing delays for other park guests.
Even California Gov. Gavin Newsom tried to let Vance know that he was unwelcome in Orange County, writing on X: “Hope you enjoy your family time, @JDVance. The families you’re tearing apart certainly won’t.”
The Stop Trump Coalition also said it will protest against Trump’s visit this month to Scotland, where he has his golf courses and where he will meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Aberdeen, on the country’s northeast coast, the Daily Beast reported. The group said it will protest during Trump’s state visit to the UK in September.