A social media user felt the word the vice president used showed racism, arrogance, ignorance, and a colonial mindset.
It looks like Vice President JD Vance has forgotten his tough childhood in poor, rural Appalachia — but people online haven’t.
Last week, Vance went on “Fox & Friends” to support Donald Trump’s confusing and harmful tariffs. While trying to argue that relying less on imports would bring back American factories, Vance used a very questionable word to describe a country the U.S. owes money to and relies on for many goods.
“We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture,” Vance said on the show.
When the clip made its way to X (formerly Twitter), people were quick to call out Vance’s hypocrisy, given his own rough upbringing.
One user said, “You forgot where you came from… now you act like royalty?”
Another pointed out, “This is coming from someone who built his image on being an ‘American peasant.’”
Someone else wrote, “He said ‘Chinese peasants’ with so much hate. You’d think his own experience with poverty would make him more understanding, but it hasn’t.”
Others were just confused.
“If they’re peasants, how do they have money to lend us?” one person asked.
Most people were shocked that a politician would use such a disrespectful term.
“How does a vice president get away with calling Chinese people ‘peasants’ in 2025? Unreal,” someone tweeted.
Another said, “Racism, imperialism, arrogance and ignorance.”
“This kind of language is offensive and inappropriate, especially from someone in power,” a user commented.
One person added, “I like Vance, but why did he have to use the word ‘peasant’? He should know better.”
And finally, someone brutally joked, “Every day, it makes more sense why Vance’s mom picked painkillers over raising him.”
