Vice President JD Vance told U.S. Army soldiers that he did not believe them when they claimed to enjoy eating turkey.
Vance delivered Thanksgiving remarks in Kentucky at Fort Campbell, the home of the 101st Airborne Division, on Wednesday.
“If you think about all the holidays that we celebrate, Thanksgiving is the most uniquely American holiday,” the vice president said. “Christmas, of course, the birth of Jesus. All these other holidays are very important. And I love Christmas as much as anybody. I’ve got three little kids. But Christmas is a holiday that 1.8 billion Christians celebrate all over the world.”
Vance then pivoted to the culinary portion of his speech and asked those in attendance their views on turkey.
“Thanksgiving, what we celebrate tomorrow, that is a uniquely American thing,” he continued. “That’s why, for example, we have turkey. Think about turkey. Who really likes – be honest with yourself – who really likes turkey?”
Some of the assembled soldiers hooted.
Vance told them:
You’re all full of sh*t. Everybody who raised your hands. Think about it. And here’s how I know that every single one of you who raised your hand is lying to me. How many times do you roast an 18-pound turkey just randomly? Just, you know, a nice summer afternoon, we’re gonna go get an 18-pound turkey. Nobody does it because turkey doesn’
t actually taste that good.But on Thanksgiving, on the most American holiday… we’re gonna cook a turkey, by God, because that’s what Americans do. We cook this gigantic American bird, and we do all kinds of crazy things to make it taste good.
Vance told the crowd he will deep-fry a turkey on Thanksgiving.
“Here the thing,” he added. “If you’ve gotta deep-fry something to make it taste good, it probably isn’t that good. That’s a pretty good rule of thumb when it comes to food. Chicken is good all the time. Chicken is good when you deep fry it, but it’s also good outside of it.”
Watch above via C-SPAN.