Vance says sombrero meme not 'racist': 'I honestly don't even know what that means'

Vice President JD Vance said he could not understand why House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) would call President Donald Trump's AI-generated video of him wearing a sombrero and mustache "racist."

During Wednesday's White House briefing, Vance was asked about the meme shared on Trump's Truth Social account.

"I mean, Hakeem Jeffrey said it was racist, and I know that he said that," Vance remarked. "And I honestly don't even know what that means. Like, is he a Mexican-American that is offended by having a sombrero meme?"

"I mean, I saw one of the major TV stations put the meme up and then say, this is AI-generated," he continued. "It's like, do the American people, do you really not realize? The American people recognize that he did not actually come to the White House wearing a sombrero and a black curly animation mustache. Like, give the country a little bit of credit."

The vice president insisted that everyone in the Trump administration was "trying to do a very important job for the American people."

"The President of the United States likes to have a little bit of fun when he's doing it, and I think that's okay," he insisted.