“Affordability” is the trigger word of this political season. It’s used as a cudgel to beat both political adversaries and voters until they are bloodied senseless. Vice President J.D. Vance has lived on the edge of financial disaster. He is not ashamed of his youth. He survived, overcame and thrived. Vance has the credentials to speak authoritatively and genuinely to every constituency. Hallelujah!

Republicans, in particular, are tired of political types sanitized for their protection aka inauthentic. The consultants conduct focus groups, develop the narrative and feed the narrative to the politicians who follow it to the letter. Thus, we get the Democrats bleating about affordability after pumping billions into the economy. The Democrat cosplay of authenticity is dropping “f” bombs all over Hell and half of Georgia.

When V.P. Vance enters the chat, it is utterly remarkable. Vance is the ying to President Donald Trump’s yang, especially when talking about American household realities. He was a rockstar the other day. Behold:

If you don’t have the time to watch his brilliance you can read The Allentown Morning Call:

Vance and other GOP officials who spoke before him lauded provisions of Republicans’ “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which extended $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that were set to expire and added new cuts, including eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay, Social Security and car loan interest. The law broadly cuts taxes for nearly all Americans, although critics say the wealthiest are expected to benefit the most.

Vance placed blame for high inflation and stagnant job growth on Joe Biden and other Democrats, and made the case that Trump has presented a solution to the economy.

“When I hear the Democrats talk about the affordability crisis that they created, it’s a little bit like Charles Manson criticizing violent crime. Look in the mirror, my friend,” Vance said. “You are the cause of the problem, and Donald J. Trump’s administration is the solution to the problem you created.”

The Daily Signal noticed:

JD Vance to Democrats on Affordability:  ‘You Are the Cause of the Problem'@VP JD Vance calls out Democrat hypocrisy on "affordability" while giving a speech on the economy at Uline Shipping Supplies in Alburtis, Pennsylvania.

He recalls their criticisms on rising egg prices… pic.twitter.com/FaQvFy3kfP

— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) December 16, 2025

The Daily Signal captured the point of his Grandmother choosing between prescriptions and buying food:

When Vice President JD Vance recalled his grandmother’s choice between putting food on their table and paying for her medications, he arose as the Republicans’ secret weapon on affordability messaging.

“I know what it’s like for a woman who’s trying to support a grandson but can’t afford her prescription drugs because pharmaceutical companies are taking advantage of the United States of America,” he said in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Tuesday.

“I remember what it’s like when you have to choose between putting food on the table or getting the prescription that you need to stay healthy. And that is not a life that [President] Donald Trump or I want for the citizens in the greatest country in the world.”

Although Vance is from Hamilton and I am from Cincinnati (30 miles) and his family is from Breathitt County and mine is from Perry County, Eastern Kentucky (30 miles), I know nothing about that. Good jobs, excellent Ford Motor Company healthcare and frugal parents are blessings. No choosing between food and prescriptions. In a right thinking world without drug addictions, that should be the way.

Noah Rothman of National Review had a take that I disagree with and don’t much care for:

The president says the dissatisfaction voters are registering with consumer costs is a “hoax” – a “con job by Democrats,” he said last month. Maybe he thought he had no choice. To countenance the existence of an affordability crisis would be to abandon the notion that the American “golden age” began shortly after Donald Trump’s second inaugural.

The vice president has taken a different approach — one with far more potential to earn the public’s sympathy and patience:

“The thing I’d ask for the American people is a little bit of patience,” JD Vance told reporters at a November confab organized by the outlet Breitbart. That solicitation — a statement that betrays a level of uncertainty and humility to which the president himself is allergic — represented a welcome shift from the administration’s typical bravado.

Of course, Vance rejected the notion that the Trump administration’s economic policies had contributed to the consumer cost burden that voters already resented when they put Trump back into office. But Vance steered clear of the trap into which Joe Biden fell — one that Trump risks careening into with his insistence that voters should compartmentalize their own financial experience. “And as much progress as we’ve made,” he continued, “it’s going to take a little bit of time for every American to feel that economic boom, which we really do believe is coming.”

No. No. And NO! The costs to consumers are not a hoax. The Democrats trying to place blame on the Republicans is a hoax. Bigly. Trump’s economic policies will help consumers of every age and income level. They are not a hoax. To many extents, they are not implemented yet.

The Democrats have decided that “affordability” is the issue that will win the next election cycle. Are they daft? The most unaffordable states and cities in the country are Democrat strongholds.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Democrat from New York, one of the least…

— John Paul Harmon (@johnpaulharmon) December 13, 2025

It is not Trump versus Vance. It’s a double act. You can go with Trump or you can go with Vance. You can’t go wrong. They are both right. The affordability crisis is owned by the Democrats.

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