'Pod Save America' hosts mock JD Vance over blood libel definition before botching it themselves

"Pod Save America" co-hosts Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett mocked Vice President JD Vance during a Wednesday episode for his use of the term "blood libel," only to offer incorrect explanations of the centuries-old antisemitic accusation. They eventually arrived on its historical definition, but drew criticism from Commentary senior editor Seth Mandel.

The hosts laughed while discussing Vances usage and suggested he was interpreting the phrase literally through "bloodline" and being "liable," before Lovett offered his own definition.

"The blood libel is that we killed Jesus. Thats it. We killed Jesus," he said.

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Favreau immediately rejected that explanation but then connected the term to the biblical Passover story in which Israelites marked their doors with lambs blood so the plague killing Egypts firstborn would pass over their homes.

"No, the blood libel is that Jews supposedly, um, uh, put blood on... this is an Old Testament story... on a house so that when like the angel of death came by, they would skip over the houses with the blood on it but kill the firstborn," he said.

After recognizing that the story was Passover, the hosts eventually read the historical definition of blood libel aloud.

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Vance explained his understanding of the term while discussing antisemitism before the Republican Jewish Coalition.

"The idea that because of your genetics, because of your blood, because of your ancestry, you are guilty of a crime that you never committed," Vance said. Jewish Insider reported that Vance used "blood libel" and "blood guilt" interchangeably during the appearance.

Mandel said the hosts confusion over the meaning of blood libel reflected a broader problem in how accusations of antisemitism are sometimes dismissed, warning that treating Jewish concerns as exaggerated or unserious can both minimize the history behind such tropes and make it easier for antisemitic rhetoric to persist.

"Anti-Semites know how to graft Medieval blood libels onto baseless accusations against Israel and the Jewish community today. The Jewish victims of these blood libels also, of course, know their history quite well. The Pod Save America hosts represent a third group: the self-righteous ignoramuses who automatically dismiss accusations of anti-Semitism against their political allies," Mandel said in a statement to on Friday.

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"If you start from a position of, essentially, the Jews are silly and oversensitive, you will set yourself up to look like a fool, as the Pod bros did. You will also only encourage anti-Semitism to continue, as the Pod bros do," he continued.

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