RNC Send Bizarre Fundraising Text Purporting To Be From JD Vance: ‘Groceries Cost What They Cost’

AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.

The Republican National Committee reportedly sent a fundraising text in Vice President JD Vance’s name on Tuesday, bluntly declaring, “Groceries cost what they cost.”

The message was shared on X by The Washington Post’s Natalie Allison, who covers the White House and President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement for the paper. Her screenshot of the call to donate read, “If you can’t give right now, don’t, Natalie. Groceries cost what they cost.”

The text was signed “JD Vance.”

While there is an online archive of political emails, no such database exists for text messages, meaning Mediaite has only seen the above message through Allison’s X post. However, after the wild groceries jab, the text continued, “But can you answer this for me,” alongside a link. Using the copy-and-paste feature from the screenshot, Mediaite has independently verified that the link in question takes users to a webpage titled “A letter from JD Vance.”

The lengthy statement largely centered on distrust of political fundraising, with Vance — or whoever authored the message in his name — apologizing for tactics like “countdown clocks that expire at midnight and reset by morning.”

“I’ll tell you the truth, including the parts you don’t want to hear,” the letter pledged, before eventually acknowledging, “The Republican National Committee needs money.”

The page then repeated the line from the text message: “If you can’t give right now, don’t. Groceries cost what they cost. I’m not going to make you feel guilty over a number.”

But the fundraising page itself struck a somewhat different tone. Visitors were presented with several suggested donation amounts, including a preselected $47 contribution. The page also featured an option to donate recurringly and another checkbox asking donors to contribute an additional $47 on Aug. 28 while declaring, “ILLEGALS ARE TAKING YOUR MEDICAID BENEFITS!”

Another checkbox read, “VERIFY: I told JD Vance the truth.”

Notably, the message comes just days after Vance spoke on affordability in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio, where he claimed the Trump administration was making the “American dream of homeownership” accessible to young people again and incorrectly asserted that rents were falling “for the first time in over five years.”

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