Vice President JD Vance on Thursday echoed one of President Trump’s jokes about a “Palestinian” member of Congress, mocking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) over the government shutdown and a Middle East peace deal while praising special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
“The reason we’re here is because the president actually charted a different course with a different team,” Vance said. “Obviously, the president of the United States, a New York real estate billionaire, one of the most famous New Yorkers in the world, has a lot of interaction with a lot of people who are very pro-Israel.”
Vance then joked: “He also, of course, knew one of the most famous Palestinians in the world, Chuck Schumer.”
Schumer responded in a statement. “Someone like JD Vance should know to ‘couch’ his language more carefully. Anyways, I’ll be here, ready to make a deal to save Americans’ healthcare and reopen the federal government that Republicans shut down.”
Schumer, long known as Congress’s highest-ranking Jewish member, was dubbed a “Palestinian” by Trump during the 2024 campaign for what he called weak support of Israel—a label Trump also used for Joe Biden.
“As far as Israel and Hamas, Israel’s the one that wants to go — he said the only one who wants to keep going is Hamas. Actually, Israel is the one. And you should let them go and let them finish the job,” Trump said during his June 27, 2024, debate against the Democratic incumbent. “He doesn’t want to do it. He’s become like a Palestinian. But they don’t like him, because he’s a very bad Palestinian. He’s a weak one.”
Trump later mocked Schumer after the Senate leader urged Israelis to vote out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid the war with Hamas, quipping: “He’s become a Palestinian. He’s a Palestinian now. Congratulations. He was very loyal to Israel and to Jewish people. He’s Jewish. But he’s become a Palestinian because they have a couple more votes or something.”
Earlier this year, Trump again declared to reporters in the Oval Office that “Schumer is a Palestinian, as far as I’m concerned. He’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian.”
WATCH: VP Vance jokingly declares Sen. Schumer to be “one of the most famous Palestinians in the world” while discussing President Trump’s peace deal.
“He also, of course, knew one of the most famous Palestinians in the world, Chuck Schumer. And I think without that kind of… pic.twitter.com/kx1Elr0doo
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 9, 2025
