Vance acknowledges Americans’ economic pain in speech that contrasts with Trump’s tone on affordability

By Adam Cancryn, CNN

(CNN) — Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday sought to rally gloomy Pennsylvania voters behind the Trump administration’s economic agenda, alleviate their cost-of living concerns — and accomplish it all more efficiently than President Donald Trump had done a week before.

Returning to the swing state just days after Trump delivered a winding and digressive affordability speech, Vance credited the administration’s policies for driving job growth and new investments. He heaped blame on former President Joe Biden, whose administration he asserted sparked high costs that the GOP is now struggling to bring down.

And above all, he pleaded with voters frustrated by the economy to be patient — arguing that Trump just needs a little more time to deliver on the “golden age” he promised them nearly 11 months ago.

“We’ve got to stay with it. We’ve got to keep on working,” Vance said. “We inherited a mess.”

The vice president’s speech in Allentown, Pennsylvania, represented the White House’s latest bid to address the cost-of-living backlash that’s sparked fears among Republicans that they’re headed toward a midterm disaster.

And it offered a window into the key role that Vance will play as an economic messenger, as officials recalibrate their messaging and try to win back voters dissatisfied with the economy and skeptical that Trump is doing enough to fix it.

“He’s a tremendous messenger on this kind of stuff,” said one Trump adviser, contending that Vance’s well-documented rise from childhood poverty to the White House gives him added credibility on affordability issues. “He believes in what he talks about.”

In contrast to the meandering 90-minute rally-like remarks Trump gave in Pennsylvania last week, Vance kept his speech to fewer than 20 minutes — offering a tighter and more focused assessment of the economy and Americans’ ongoing struggles.

Vance acknowledged that the administration’s agenda had not yet translated into widespread benefits for Americans, in contrast to Trump’s insistence that the economy is “unbelievable” and that prices are plummeting. And he sought to shift focus to 2026, predicting that brighter financial days were on the way.

Still, Vance declined to break in one notable way from Trump’s rosy economic view — a sign of the tricky balance he’ll repeatedly be forced to strike in the coming months. Pressed over Trump’s recent assessment of his economic performance as an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus,” Vance quickly backed him up, undercutting his own, more measured message in the process.

“President Trump, last week, gave his economy a grade of A-plus-plus-plus-plus. What grade would you give the economy today?” a reporter asked.

“A-plus-plus-plus,” Vance responded. “What we have been able to do: higher wages, lower inflation, a massive amount of investment and money coming into the United States of America. That stuff is incredible, and that is something to be proud of.”

Vance also parroted Trump in his criticism of the Biden administration, attempting to redirect responsibility for the current economy’s flaws.

The high housing, health care and grocery costs plaguing Americans now are driven by Biden-era policies, Vance claimed, despite data in recent months showing that inflation has begun to tick up again.

“We inherited a nightmare of an economy from Joe Biden,” Vance said at one point.

In all, he mentioned the former president more than two dozen times, at one point channeling Trump in mocking Biden’s “slow shuffle.”

“Joe Biden could fall walking up the steps in broad daylight, in 80-degree weather,” Vance said during a digression about the chilly weather. “Nobody would mind it.”

The vice president also offered little clarity on the administration’s plans for averting even higher health care costs, calling it Congress’ job to try to figure out how to avoid a spike in Affordable Care Act premiums next year.

Yet unlike Trump, Vance throughout his speech did not dismiss the affordability concerns as a “con job” or a “hoax.” The vice president instead encouraged voters to focus on the coming months that he vowed would be more prosperous, in a reflection of the administration’s hope that Americans will eventually see more benefits from its agenda.

A range of tax provisions from Republicans’ “One Big Beautiful Bill” is set to take effect early next year, spurring what Vance pledged would be “the best tax season in 2026 you’ve ever had.”

It was the kind of forward-looking message that White House officials believe can turn around their fortunes next year — at least as long as they can find a way to eventually follow through.

“That’s just the beginning,” Vance said. “If this doesn’t turn out to be true, I’ll come back here, and you can all tell me I’m wrong. But I’m telling you it’s going to be true.”

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