JD Vance's election-eve attack on divisive politicians backfires: ‘Pot meet keetle!'

Vice President JD Vance faced a wave of ridicule Monday after declaring he was tired of politicians dividing Americans against one another — prompting critics to point to his own rhetoric and that of President Donald Trump.

Speaking on the eve of the critical midterm elections, Vance railed against politicians who he claimed pit Americans against one another based on race.

“I’m sick of politicians dividing us against each other,” Vance declared. “I’m sick of politicians who say that you’re privileged if you have this skin color, but you’re disadvantaged if you have that skin color.”

The remarks quickly drew accusations of hypocrisy from critics who pointed to Vance’s own history of inflammatory claims about immigrants.

“Says guy who literally does only that,” the Tennessee Holler responded on X.

“Pot meet keetle!” added national opinion columnist Sophia A. Nelson.

“He's correct. Those who eat cats and those who eat dogs should not be pitted against one another, let alone everyone else,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote in a sarcastic reminder of Vance’s promotion of false claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.

“His entire political career has involved targeting different minority groups,” Hemant Mehta, a “Jeopardy!” champion, posted on social media Monday.

Tahra Hoops, a senior director at the Chamber of Progress, pointed to Vance’s earlier remarks about Somali immigrants.

“Minutes ago, Vance was pushing a false narrative that there are ‘illegal immigrant Somalis’ who are trying to drown out the votes of real Americans,” she wrote on X. “So. Spare me.”

Other critics turned their attention to Vance's boss.

“Dude, do you know who your boss is?” asked economics researcher Kevin Boyd.

Former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan delivered an even more blistering assessment.

“Vance admitted in 2024 that he is happy to make up stories to get media attention,” he wrote in an X post. “A truly sick, dishonest, racist individual. I hope his biracial kids grow up to be ashamed of their Nazi-leaning dad.”