J.D. Vance's awkward Mountain Dew joke falls flat at Trump campaign rally

J.D. Vance, Donald Trump's vice presidential pick, made an awkward joke during a Monday campaign rally that left social media users scratching their heads. While speaking about voter ID laws, Vance said, "It is the weirdest thing to me. Democrats say that it is racist to believe... Well, they say it's racist to do anything." He then added, "I had a diet Mountain Dew yesterday and one today and I'm sure they're going to call that racist, too. But, it's good."

The joke was met with silence from the audience, except for one person who clapped, and Vance's attempt to laugh it off only made the moment more awkward. Social media users were quick to weigh in, calling the moment "awkward" and "cringe."

Even some of Vance's colleagues offered their takes, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who wrote on X (formerly Twitter): "Vance's stump has got a nice Jeb Bush quality to it. And I mean that in the worst way possible." The Kamala Harris campaign also shared footage of Vance's joke, leaving other social media users to weigh in.