Vice President JD Vance is facing a furious backlash for telling a Black state lawmaker in Florida running for U.S. Senate that she doesn’t “belong in America.”
Vance traveled to Lakeland, Florida, Thursday to campaign for Republican candidates saddled to the unpopular President Donald Trump and Vance.
The pair are using the last few weeks ahead of the midterms to try and shore up support for GOP candidates in states they easily won in 2024. Trump is on a campaign tour of five red states. Vance is also on the stump for embattled GOP candidates.
Republicans in reliably red districts are struggling to overcome Trump and Vance’s unpopular war in Iran and skyrocketing prices, among other disliked policies.
But Vance may have crossed a line in Lakeland, critics contend.
“Ladies and gentlemen, when Angie Nixon calls herself a socialist, I think the right response is to say, then get the hell out of here. You don’t belong in America if those are your views,” Vance told the MAGA audience.
After the clip hit social media, X’s chatbot Grok posted a community note clarifying Nixon’s views.
“JD Vance said at a Florida rally that if Angie Nixon calls herself a socialist, she should ‘get the hell out’ because those views don’t belong in America. Basis is her DSA [Democratic Socialists of America] membership and progressive stances,” Grok wrote.
“She joined DSA for healthcare/housing goals but says she is not a socialist, owns a business, rejects defunding police or abolishing all prisons. Policies center on Medicare for All, rent freezes, free childcare, and taxing billionaires,” the AI agent explained.
The U.S. has many political parties, not just Democrats and Republicans. In fact, Democratic Socialists have been part of the blue wave winning state elections since Trump returned to office. Several Independents and Libertarians also hold seats in Congress. There’s also the Green Alliance and the Constitution Party, and yes there’s an American Communist party, too.
A furious Nixon immediately took to social media to rebuke Vance.
“The most ordinary man imaginable came to my home state to tell me to ‘get out of America’ while he & Absent Ashley enjoyed the comfort of buildings my ancestors helped build,” Nixon wrote on X.
She’s referring there to U.S. Senator Ashley Moody, who was appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill in for Secretary of State Marco Rubio until the November midterm election.
“Imagine standing on the shoulders of the people who built this country & then telling their descendants they don’t belong here,” Nixon said criticizing Vance.
“They can take their tech-bro cash and their weird, intrusive agenda somewhere else, because I’m not going any damn place,” she added.
California congressman Ro Khanna weighed in, firing back at Vance.
“Telling a Black woman who is a descendant of enslaved people to leave America @JDVance I do not know what to say. Even I didn’t believe you would go this low,” Khanna criticized.
Social media rallied around Nixon, calling out Vance and referencing his ties to white nationalism.
“Another day, another Klan rally,” an X user stated.
Another angry X user declared, “JD Vance is a POS! Please ignore their ignorance. All they have is lies and fear-mongering, that’s it!”
This commenter thinks Vance is just a shady politician, pleading for votes as Republicans trail by double digits in some polls across the country.
“It’s really pathetic to cause you know he doesn’t believe what he’s saying; he’s a shapeshifting loser trying to say whatever anyone wants to hear to get votes.”
Nixon, a Jacksonville native and state lawmaker in Florida, says on her campaign website that she’s a “mother born and raised in Jacksonville who has spent her career fighting for hardworking Floridians.”
