Vice President JD Vance was blasted online for cranking up a racist message during a speech Tuesday in Pennsylvania on the economy.
The vice president addressed the affordability crisis in the crucial swing state a week after President Donald Trump attempted to do the same. While Trump claimed the issue was a Democratic "hoax," Vance preached patience and blamed higher housing costs on illegal immigration.
"Why have rents gone down for four consecutive months?" Vance said. "Because we're starting to get those illegal aliens out of the United States of America. Those criminals, those gang members, those people who are taking homes that ought by right to go to the people in this room, and your children and your grandchildren. It's simple economics. If you have fewer people, fewer illegal aliens, trying to buy homes that means American citizens are finally going to be able to afford a home again. It's very, very simple economics."
Vance's remarks, which came at a Uline shipping supplies distribution facility near Allentown, were met with fierce backlash.
"The administration is entirely post-truth," posted attorney Ken White.
"Getting more and more clear that the [White House] has nothing left to offer on [economic] policy except zero sum lebensraum posting," noted economist Joey Politano. "You can tell JD’s been stewing in Euro/UK/Canada immigration discourse too much because no American’s primary complaint about undocumented immigrants is that they contribute too little to housing supply. You hear it more in countries with more public housing & fewer immigrants in construction."
"S--t is way too expensive still [and] that’s very clearly not why rent has gone down in certain places!!!!" replied Zeteo's Asawin Suebsaeng.
"'Gang activity inflates rents' is too racist and stupid for most people but JD Vance isn’t most people," wrote popular Bluesky user Grudgie the Whale.
"I’m pretty pessimistic about Americans in general but not so sure 'everything sucks because of illegal immigrants' is really going to work at this point," opined Bluesky user Brent is Saw Gerrera-pilled.
"JD Vance blaming immigrants for housing costs while standing in front of a company that literally lobbies against affordable housing is performance art," stated progressive influencer Alex Cole.
"Vance lying about rents in order to demonize immigrants," wrote Bluesky user Mark Moffett. "The racism is blatant."
"Oh look JD Vance ascribing racism to something that happens every year," added Bluesky user Desarrayed, linking to a Fox News report showing trended lower during winter months.