By The American Tribune | Created at 2026-08-07 10:21:53 | Updated at 2026-08-07 11:43:43
1 hour ago
Vice President JD Vance delivered a brutal one-line takedown of Fox News pundit Marc Thiessen after the neoconservative commentator dismissed a college student’s concerns about the rising cost of food. What began as an online discussion about $20 burritos and expensive groceries quickly turned into a public roasting when Vance entered into the discourse.
The exchange unfolded on X after Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet shared a comment from a college student about the affordability problems facing young Americans. According to Kolvet, the student summarized the situation by saying, “A burrito shouldn’t cost $20,” while pointing to the broader rise in food prices since the COVID-19 pandemic. Thiessen was unmoved by the complaint and suggested that students should simply eat whatever was already covered by their college meal plans.
“Cry me a river. The burritos in the college cafeteria are included in your meal plan,” Thiessen wrote. His response belittled the student’s concern about the price of an ordinary meal and treated the complaint as evidence of unrealistic expectations. Vance then jumped into the thread with a much more personal observation about the Fox News contributor.
“I’m surprised to hear Mark say this,” Vance wrote, misspelling Thiessen’s first name. “If you’ve ever met him in person, it’s quite obvious the man has never missed a burrito.” Vance’s clap back turned Thiessen’s condescension back on him and supplied a sharp rebuke in what has now become a sprawling online argument.
As the Daily Caller reported, the debate also drew comments from Daily Wire host Matt Walsh and Joel Berry, a producer for “The Jeremy Boering Show.” Walsh argued that elected officials should treat food prices as a serious political problem. “Grocery prices are insane. They’re still rising. Addressing this problem should be the number one priority of every elected leader,” he wrote.
Walsh also connected the affordability crisis to America’s foreign policy priorities. “End the stupid foreign wars and focus on this issue. It’s one of the main reasons socialists are gaining power,” he added. Berry took a different stance, saying his wife had prepared homemade burritos for their family of eight for less than $20 total and joked that the affordability crisis might partly be an “I don’t know how to cook” crisis.
The food price discussion comes as many Americans are increasingly using debt to cover routine grocery purchases. A study found that nearly two-thirds of working-age adults use credit cards to buy groceries, with many struggling to pay those balances in full. “There is a substantial portion of people all around us who are having trouble being able to afford groceries and meet their basic needs,” Urban Institute senior research associate Kassandra Martinchek said.
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The friction between Vance and Thiessen also extends far beyond burritos. Thiessen recently attacked the Vice President in a Washington Post column over negotiations between the United States and Iran, blaming Vance for the breakdown of efforts to end the war. “Vance is lashing out at those with the temerity to point out that his memorandum of understanding has failed to change Iran’s behavior or produce a deal to end the war,” Thiessen wrote.
Thiessen then claimed Vance’s diplomatic approach had made renewed fighting unavoidable. “His failure has made a resumption of major combat inevitable,” he said. Thiessen ended the column by urging President Donald Trump to reject advice from Vance and other Republican voices pushing for military restraint, writing, “Perhaps it’s time for the President to take the advice of those who have delivered him success in Iran — not those like Vance who have failed him.”
Before the war, Thiessen had argued that military action against Iran carried little risk. “There is no downside to striking the regime,” he wrote in a January column. Thiessen pointed to previous American strikes and concluded, “Trump has already done so twice, and each time, Iran was unable or unwilling to retaliate.”
