A day after getting roasted online for claiming Thanksgiving turkeys now cost $90 because of “Bidenomics,” Fox News pundit Jason Chaffetz doubled down on Tuesday by posting a picture of the bird he bought—complete with a $114 price tag.
Though Chaffetz’s intention was to prove that President Joe Biden is to blame for out-of-control food prices around the holidays, critics soon pointed out that the former GOP congressman had actually just purchased an unusually high-priced, “woke” turkey from an organic and sustainable California farm.
And while the price of a Thanksgiving dinner is still higher than pre-pandemic, the average cost for ten people is down 4.5 percent from last year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. Additionally, a 16-pound turkey is averaging $27.35, down 5.6 percent from a year ago.
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As has been the case since Biden took office, Fox News has devoted much of its pre-Thanksgiving airtime to grousing about inflation’s impact on the average American’s holiday meal budget. Unlike the previous two years, however, inflation has eased a bit and the hit to the wallet is not expected to be as bad this time around.
Setting aside that downward trend, Chaffetz—who’s used to tossing around dumb takes—warned Fox News viewers on Monday night that their Thanksgiving feast would break the bank.
“I mean, we went to go buy a turkey today,” Chaffetz exclaimed on a “special edition” of Hannity. “It was $90 for a turkey! It’s all a choice by Joe Biden. That is what Bidenomics is!”
It didn’t take long for a video clip of his comments to go viral on social media, with some comparing his observation to New York Times columnist David Brooks’ infamous complaint that an airport meal cost him $78. “This is why Americans think the economy is terrible,” Brooks grumbled in a tweet, sharing a photo of a burger alongside a typically pricey glass of scotch.
Others shared the average prices for turkeys at local supermarkets, noting that in most areas they are barely above a dollar per pound. “Unless the turkey he bought was 70 pounds, this turkey overpaid for his turkey,” The Bulwark’s Bill Kristol remarked on X.
After taking on a heap of criticism, Chaffetz attempted to fire back at his detractors on Tuesday by sharing a photo of the 23-pound “premium young turkey” he had purchased.
Needless to say, revealing to the world that he spent $5 per pound on an organic turkey, “thoughtfully raised on sustainable family farms,” only opened the conservative pundit to more mockery.
“Dude bought the Rolls Royce of turkeys and is mad at Joe Biden,” one X user snarked.
“Tell me you’re a rich elitist snob too obnoxiously disconnected from the rest of America to get a simple Butterball without telling me you’re telling me your a rich elitist snob too obnoxiously disconnected from the rest of America to get a simple Butterball,” lawyer Bradley Moss reacted.
Of course, considering Fox News’ obsession with “wokeness,” it was just a matter of time before Chaffetz was ridiculed for going woke with his Thanksgiving purchase.
Former Washington Post reporter Christopher Ingraham, for instance, quipped that Chaffetz was “paying 5 bucks a pound for Woke Turkey to own the libs.” Another social media influencer added that it figures that “this idiot is buying expensive turkeys from a woke organic ranch in California and then going on Fox to cry about it.”
