Vice President JD Vance hopped back on social media this week and immediately chose violence, dropping a weight joke on Washington Post columnist and Fox News regular Marc Thiessen after the pundit basically told young Americans to stop whining about expensive burritos. As Trending Politics reported, Thiessen responded to complaints about $20 burritos by telling people to "cry me a river" and pointing out that college cafeteria burritos are covered by meal plans. Real helpful stuff, Marc.
Vance saw his opening and took it like a man who has been off social media for months and had pent up energy to burn. He wrote on X: "I'm surprised to hear Mark say this. If you've ever met him in person, it's quite obvious the man has never missed a burrito." That's the Vice President of the United States making a fat joke about a Fox News analyst over tortilla wrapped protein. What a time to be alive.
Now, the burrito discourse might sound silly, but there are actual numbers behind it. A chicken burrito at an Illinois Chipotle currently runs about $9.65 before tax. That same order was roughly $6.50 back in 2015. A viral receipt from last year showed two chicken bowls and a chicken burrito with guac costing $21.45 in 2015, while the identical order was later estimated at $30.80 before taxes. So yeah, the struggle is real and wrapped in foil.
Beyond Mexican food, inflation has jacked up prices on housing, college tuition, health care, and energy. A dollar from 2019 now needs about $1.33 to purchase the same stuff. Inflation clocked in at 3.5% for the year ending in June, still above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. And 57% of Americans described affordability as a full blown crisis in one Guardian survey. But sure, let's tell them to stop crying about burritos.
This little food fight actually reveals a genuine split inside the Republican Party. Vance has positioned himself with populist conservatives who argue that leaders should take cost of living concerns seriously instead of lecturing families about their spending habits. He told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that four decades of bipartisan economic policy "has failed" and that the Trump administration is making long term investments in rebuilding American manufacturing.
Meanwhile, traditional free market conservatives like Thiessen have pushed personal responsibility messaging and warned that tariffs and populist economic policies could also raise consumer costs. Their beef with Vance, pun absolutely intended, goes beyond food prices. Thiessen has also criticized how Vance has handled the Iran situation, while the VP has long opposed the interventionist foreign policy favored by establishment Republicans.
President Donald Trump also weighed in during a Nevada appearance, declaring that "costs are coming way down" and claiming the press invented the word "affordability." Spoiler alert: they did not invent that word.
As for why Vance had been so quiet online recently, he explained that he deleted X from his phone for Lent. He said he eventually wanted to come back because he needed exposure to "unfiltered raw opinions" as a political leader. Well, mission accomplished. He came back and immediately served up an unfiltered opinion about a pundit's relationship with burritos. Welcome back, Mr. Vice President.
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