JD Vance Just Said The Quiet Part Out Loud About What Trump Really 'Takes Seriously' As President—And Yep, That Tracks

In his announcement this week that the Trump administration will be withholding $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments from California due to alleged fraud, Vice President JD Vance had people raising their eyebrows after claiming that President Donald Trump "takes fraud seriously."

As part of his role overseeing anti-fraud efforts, Vance said the administration is targeting California because state officials are not taking Medicaid fraud seriously enough. Vance claimed both California and American taxpayers were being “defrauded” and alleged that some patients had been given unnecessary medications after fraudsters encouraged “false prescriptions” and improper treatment.

The administration’s action mirrors a similar move taken earlier this year against Minnesota, where Medicaid payments were suspended. Vance also warned that all 50 states could face cuts to funding for their Medicaid Fraud Control Units if they fail to “aggressively prosecute Medicaid fraud,” saying the administration is prepared to “turn off the money” to units that do not do their jobs.

Then at another point, he made this claim:

"Let me just close with one final observation here. First of all, why are we doing this now? Why weren't we doing this two years ago? The simple answer is because we didn't have a president and we didn't have an administration that took fraud seriously."

"I want to thank the President of the United States though I know he's busy in China. All of these efforts, all of these things we are finding are because we have a president who has told us: 'Take the fraud seriously, get to root of it, and turn off the money when we find out money goes to fraudsters.'"

"That's exactly what we're doing."

You can hear what Vance said in the video below.

Saying Trump "takes fraud seriously" is an understatement.

Trump has used his presidency to enrich himself at the expense of taxpayers at a dizzying rate, whether it's false promises about a "made in America" Trump phone, his $10 billion suit against the IRS, or Eric and Don investing in companies that win no-bid contracts with the U.S. government.

This is the same man who has spent years lying about the integrity of the 2020 election and was convicted in 2024 on 34 felony counts, including falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels to illegally influence the 2016 election.

This is the same man who a jury ruled was responsible for the sexual abuse and defamation of writer E. Jean Carroll, awarding her $5 million in damages as the appropriate consequences for Trump's persistent dissemination of false defamatory statements after Carroll said Trump had sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City.

Separately, New York Attorney General Letitia James accused the Trump family business of engaging in “fraudulent or misleading” practices by misrepresenting the value of its assets.

A judge later imposed a financial penalty of $354.8 million on Trump, along with an additional sum of around $100 million in pre-judgment interest, determining Trump had artificially inflated his net worth with the intention of securing more favorable loan terms.

Trump eventually claimed the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on "excessive fines" makes the fine levied in his New York fraud trial unconstitutional. He failed to note that the stipulation about "excessive fines" applies to criminal cases, not civil ones.

Vance was instantly called out for saying the quiet part out loud.

Vance was joined at the event by Dr. Mehmet Oz, who also addressed the administration’s decision to defer certain reimbursements to California, claiming the state’s Medicaid records had raised “major red flags.”

Oz said officials were seeking clarification over hundreds of millions of dollars in billing, including expenditures he alleged were connected to healthcare coverage for undocumented immigrants, despite undocumented immigrants not being eligible for Medicaid benefits.

Sounds about what you'd expect from another man notorious for peddling pseudoscience and conspiracy theories.