Just how painfully awkward is JD Vance? So painfully awkward he can’t even order donuts like a regular person, let alone a person running for vice president who’s supposed to be able to make small talk with the common folk while the cameras are rolling.
Here’s a video—made on purpose, apparently—of Donald Trump’s somehow-even-weirder running mate attempting to have a conversation at a donut shop.
Vance asks each of the employees how long they’ve worked there. They tell him.
“Okay,” he answers each time. No follow-up questions. No “good for you!” or “how interesting.” Just “okay” and some awkward silence.
“When we selected this place, I didn’t know if it had been here for 20 years or four years,” Vance says as he waits for his donuts. “You never know. Sometimes you drop in.”
Cool story, bro!
Someone else behind the counter tells him it is a “cool story” and that the shop was started by a man and his uncle and it’s a whole family-run small business thing. What an opportunity to engage. Or not.
“Oh, okay,” Vance responds. He doesn’t ask their names or whether they like working there or what their favorite donuts are. He just has no idea how to do this. No wonder people don’t like him.
It’s Mitt Romney levels of awkward. Romney frequently struggled to sound human when he was on the campaign trail in 2012. He once infamously insulted some cookies at an event in Pennsylvania.
“I’m not sure about these cookies,” he said. “They don’t look like you made them. No, no. They came from a local 7-Eleven, bakery, or whatever.”
The cookies had actually been donated by a local beloved bakery. Oops.
While Vance didn’t insult the donuts he purchased Thursday—at least, not on camera—he’s definitely giving Romney a run for his money in the race to be the weirdest candidate ever.
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