JD Vance’s Donut Shop Visit Goes Viral; Internet Labels It ‘Awkward’

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance is facing online ridicule following an interaction with workers at a donut shop in Georgia, adding to a series of food-related missteps.

In a clip recorded on Thursday by C-SPAN, Vance can be seen visiting Holt’s Sweet Shop and thanking the woman behind the counter for letting them visit. Shortly after, she informs him: “I don’t want to be on film.”

Vance responds to his entourage, saying: “She doesn’t wanna be on film, guys, so just cut her out of anything.”

He then introduces himself, saying, “I’m JD Vance, I’m running for vice president, good to see you,” to which she merely replies, “OK.”

Vance proceeds to ask the shop employees how long they’ve worked there and inquires about the shop’s history. When selecting donuts, he suggests a few flavors, saying, “whatever makes sense.” The clip was shared widely on X, with users labeling the interaction as “awkward” and “cringe.”

Comedian W. Kamau Bell and others suggested that Vance’s team should have planned the visit better. Bell posted on X: “Fire your whole team. They clearly hate you. This is TV production 101, and they failed it.”

In his short campaign for vice president thus far, Vance has already gone viral for comments about Diet Mountain Dew and Swiss cheese at a cheesesteak sub restaurant in Philadelphia. USA TODAY reached out to Vance’s campaign for comment, and Holt’s Sweet Shop declined to comment.

Georgia is a critical battleground state. Vice President Kamala Harris has also campaigned there. Donald Trump won Georgia in 2016 by more than 5 percentage points but lost the state in 2020 by less than 12,000 votes, a margin of 0.2%.

Harris’ national poll numbers have been rising since she took over the top spot on the Democrats’ ticket from President Joe Biden. As of Friday, FiveThirtyEight’s national polling average shows Harris trailing Trump in Georgia by 0.6%, a smaller margin than July 30, when she was behind by 1.4%.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: JD Vance’s donut shop visit goes viral, internet calls it ‘awkward,’ ‘cringe’

Source: USA TODAY