In a Thursday fireside chat, Vice President JD Vance acknowledged the economic crush some Americans are feeling — but blamed them on Democratic policies.
Vice President JD Vance on Thursday offered an explanation for the slate of political quagmires Republicans are juggling, including persistent cost of living issues and even divisions within the Republican Party itself.
He blamed them on the Democrats.
Speaking at a fireside chat hosted by the MAGA-friendly news outlet Breitbart, the vice president chalked up affordability concerns that catalyzed steep GOP losses in state elections earlier this month to former President Joe Biden’s policies and a government shutdown he called Democratic “economic terrorism.”
Also Democrats’ fault: widening rifts in the Republican Party, and expiring Obamacare subsidies, which he suggested wouldn’t be a problem if Democrats hadn’t “broken” health care to begin with.
“The thing I’d ask for the American people is a little bit of patience. This economy was not harmed in 10 months,” the vice president said, ticking off a host of ills he blamed on Democrats, including too much spending, regulation and taxation. “And as much progress as we’ve made, it’s going to take a little bit of time for every American to feel that economic boom, which we really do believe is coming.”
Vance’s blame game isn’t exactly surprising. Hanging the country’s ills on Democrats has been a go-to rhetorical playbook for the Trump administration, which signaled earlier this week that it plans to use it to blunt any documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Vance, who is seen as Trump’s most likely successor, is one of the administration’s top communicators and a figure the White House dispatches frequently in times of crisis. And he’s more apt to stay on message, especially in a moment when some Republicans are privately and publicly urging the White House to lean into affordability and away from foreign affairs.
And on Thursday, Vance threaded the needle: One part acknowledgment, one part blame.
“My message to the American people who are still feeling like things are unaffordable, who are still feeling like things are rough out there, is, look, we get it and we hear you and we know there’s a lot of work to do,” he said. “There’s a lot of wood to chop because the Biden administration put us in such a very, very tough spot.”
He lauded a new jobs report out Thursday for showing “the Trump economic policies are actually working” and celebrated “seeing the job growth go to native born American citizens” — blaming Biden for “a deliberate four-year administration that was making life harder for everyday Americans.”
Vance also responded to the cracks that have been appearing in the America First coalition over antisemitism and foreign policy, calling those divisions “the natural outgrowth of” a political realignment that has seen Republicans peel off Democratic and independent voters.
“Let these debates play out, but don’t let the debates that we’re having internally blind us to the fact that we are up against a radical leftist movement,” Vance said.
Vance also touched on health care, perhaps one of the most important cost-of-living drivers, especially if enhanced subsidies are allowed to expire at year’s end.
Vance said “the American people get crap health care, and they pay way too much for it” and teased a new health care plan he said was discussed in the Oval Office on Wednesday that could have bipartisan support.
But he also slammed Democrats, suggesting that the system “is broken” because “Democrats broke it.”
“But who cares? We’re going to work together if they’re willing to fix it.”