JD Vance addressed blue-collar employees in Michigan on Wednesday. He criticized the Biden and Harris administration’s economic policies. The event was part of a series that the vice-presidential candidate will be held across the rest belt over the next few days. He will focus on contrasting the Trump campaign’s willingness to respond to questions with the Harris campaign’s refusal.
At the time of writing, neither Tim Walz nor Kamala Harris have responded to a single interview question. Vance holds them regularly. Trump is set to hold another one on Thursday.
Vance answered a question for The New York Times while in Michigan. He was standing in front of a long line of semi-trucks. The reporter, in an apparent jab at Trump’s campaign messaging, posited that the inflation rate was at its lowest level since mid-2021. This was a deliberate attempt to undermine Harris’ economic record by removing context. Vance was prepared to give some context.
JD Vance TORCHES a Fake News NYT reporter: “When they say that inflation is down, they mean from a baseline where groceries are already 30% more expensive than they were when Donald Trump was president… That is not a record to brag on, that’s a record to be ASHAMED OF.” pic.twitter.com/0xcFMchtsq
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 14, 2024
Reporter: I would like to ask you a question about the economic news that was released this morning. The inflation rate is now below three percent and the lowest since mid-2021. What’s your reaction to this news?
VANCE: I think that the reaction of the crowd says it all. When they say inflation is down, what they mean is that the baseline price of groceries has already dropped by 30 percent since Donald Trump became president. They’re not saying that it is going down. They are just saying that it is not increasing as quickly as it did three years ago. This is not something to be proud of. It’s something to be ashamed about. Why did they take so long to reach the current inflation rate, and why is it so high? Kamala Harris has failed in her duties.
The Democrats and their media lackeys are playing a game. They want to say that the Biden and Harris administration is deserving of praise for “bringing down inflation” from the 40-year-highs they caused. Do you thank someone who puts out the fires in your house after it has been burned down to a quarter? You ask why they lit your house on fire, and then call the police.
Biden and Harris, in a desperate effort to avoid a possible recession (which did occur), overheated the economic system. This was to result in a “soft land,” which is still used by the administration today. What is soft about the fact that prices rose over 20% while interest rates increased, putting an end to most people’s dream of owning a home? The administration may have avoided some bad headlines when it redefined recession for 2022, despite two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth, but nobody should boast about setting American families years or decades back.
Vance then called out Harris’s attempt to be on both sides of the fence.
VANCE: It’s funny. Kamala Harris will, on one hand, say that we are going to address the affordability crisis on the first day. And, as I mentioned earlier, Kamala Harris was the vice president for the past three and a quarter years. I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that she has been the acting President because we know Joe Biden won’t be home. She’s controlled government policy for the past three and 1/2 years.
She will say that she wants to deal with the affordability crisis immediately, but then she will say “Oh, we already have inflation under control.” Which one is it, Kamla? Which is it, Kamla? It’s a simple fact that American credit card debt continues to rise. The necessities of middle-class American life are becoming unaffordable. Americans, and especially the young, are becoming poor in their own country.
Our young generation will not own or have anything if we do not improve. They will be renting in the country that their parents and grandparents built. Inflation is a catastrophe. Kamala Harris has no basis to argue.
Kamala Harris is vice president now. She does not need to wait for “day one” before she takes on the affordability crisis that is affecting American families. It’s not as if Biden is stopping her from taking action. I was told that the president of the United States is the best of all time, and even worthy of Mount Rushmore.
The Harris campaign is utterly incoherent. Either the crisis has passed or more work needs to be accomplished. If the inflation crisis is over, then it’s time to get back to work.
