Conservative columnist Marc Thiessen is desperately defending his stance on the online MAGA burrito debate after Vice President JD Vance fat-shamed him.
The bizarre burrito drama began when the right-wing personality Matt Walsh said that the high cost of groceries was becoming a vulnerability for President Donald Trump. In response, Turning Point USA’s Andrew Kolvet offered anecdotal evidence about college students feeling economic strain through high burrito prices.
Thiessen then inserted himself into the debate, writing that college students should not even be spending their money to go out for a casual meal. He wrote, “Cry me a river. The burritos in the college cafeteria are included in your meal plan.”
That comment then pulled the vice president into the burrito drama as he made a dig at Thiessen’s eating habits.
“I’m surprised to hear Mark say this. If you’ve ever met him in person, it’s quite obvious the man has never missed a burrito,” Vance posted, while misspelling Thiessen’s first name.
While Thiessen has yet to address Vance’s dig at him, he has doubled down on his burrito position online, firing off several angry posts lashing out at critics of his original burrito commentary.
To his original point, someone pointed out that on-campus meal plans are expensive and typically cost thousands of dollars each semester. On that notion, Thiessan stuck with his original comment that college students should not enjoy casual food options.
“I’m sure they are, but so are everyone’s expectations,” he said. “You don’t need Chipotle and Starbucks in college.”
A few minutes later, he doubled down on that post, replying to himself, “And I have three kids in college, the food in the cafeterias is so much better now than the slop the food ladies served me.”
Right-wing conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec then pointed out that Thiessen—the son of two Manhattan doctors—attended the Taft School in Waterbury, Connecticut, which now costs $81,400 annually for boarding students. He said the school likely wasn’t serving “slop,” and a ticked-off Thiessen responded to Posobiec by writing, “You’re such a moron.”
Thiessen also asserted that burritos “only cost $20 when you buy it on Door Dash because you’re too lazy to walk over to Chipotle or Taco Bell (where you can get one for $3.99).”
“When I graduated, I lived on ramen noodles, had two roommates, and worked two jobs. I didn’t whine about affordability, I worked hard so I could one day afford a better life,” he proclaimed.
He also fired off several posts showing the burrito prices at Taco Bell, even though he had just minutes before said students should not get to enjoy Starbucks or Chipotle, to support his evidence that burritos do not cost $20.
At one point, when Sean Davis, editor-in-chief of the far-right outlet the Federalist, pointed out that Trump’s war in Iran, which has caused gas prices to skyrocket, has had an harmful impact on the cost of food, Thiessen dismissed that idea altogether.
Thiessen has been a key ally of the Trump administration for years, but more recently has emerged as one of the most unwavering supporters of the president’s war in Iran.
Just days before Vance took a swing at his diet, he penned an op-ed in The Washington Post that was highly critical of Vance’s posture on the war. His online crashout on Wednesday comes as other leading conservatives have brawled online about the true cost of living, with an emphasis on the price of burritos specifically.
Of particular ire was one viral tweet claiming that one can feed a family of eight making burritos with 20 dollars worth of ingredients.
Walsh reentered the debate that he started by saying he made his family of eight enchiladas, but that the cost was much higher than $20.
“Since we’re on the subject, I made burritos (actually enchiladas, but basically the same thing) for my family of eight on Monday. I did not buy expensive organic ingredients or whatever because I don’t care about eating organic,” Walsh said. “It was definitely more than 20 dollars.”
Looking ahead to the midterms, Walsh suggested in another post that “conservatives better come up with an answer that is not just ‘learn how to make cheap burritos’ or we will get absolutely crushed. That’s another reality.”
Ben Shapiro, who has been on the outs with MAGA in recent months, also inserted himself into the drama, but again found himself in the MAGA fringe as he appeared to agree with Thiessen’s seemingly less popular analysis of the matter.
“I hear that young people are upset about $20 burritos. Okay, young people: a burrito does not cost $20. If you’re paying $20 for a burrito and you’re not independently wealthy, you’re doing life wrong,” Shapiro wrote online. “We have enough problems as a country without insane expectations that the government is going to provide us gourmet-quality burritos.”
