MAGA Makes Racist Attacks Against JD Vance's Wife
Published Jul 17, 2024 at 5:03 AM EDT
Updated Jul 18, 2024 at 5:01 PM EDT
By Ewan Palmer
News Reporter
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Extremist figures and members of the Make America Great Again movement have criticized the wife of Ohio Senator JD Vance after former President Donald Trump named him as his running mate in the 2024 election.
Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants, was raised in San Diego before meeting her husband at Yale Law School. They were married in 2014 and later blessed by a Hindu pundit in a separate ceremony, The New York Times reported.
In the wake of Trump's vice presidential announcement on Monday, numerous conservative and far-right figures have taken to social media to launch racist attacks against Usha Vance because of her Indian heritage and the assumption that her influence on her husband's political career means the Republican Party will be softer on immigration.
"I'm sure this guy is going to be great on immigration," Jaden McNeil, a far-right activist and the founder of America First Students, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, while sharing a picture of the Vances with their newborn baby.
JD and Usha Vance
Ohio Senator JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, looking on as he is nominated for the office of vice president on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in... More Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist who visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home along with rapper Kanye West in November 2022, suggested that Vance would not be a "defender of white identity" because of his wife's Indian heritage.
"Who is this guy, really?" Fuentes said on his podcast. "Do we really expect that the guy who has an Indian wife and named their kid Vivek is going to support white identity?"
Vincent James Foxx, who was present at the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, wrote on X: "JD Vance gets tapped as VP and immediately there's a Hindu prayer at the RNC. Next we'll see Sen. Mike Lee and JD Vance team up to convince Trump to let in 10 million Indian immigrants. Green cards on diplomas!"
Conservative commentator Stew Peters wrote, "There is an obvious Indian coup taking place in the US right before our eyes," while sharing a screenshot of an article about the Vances' three children.
Saira Rao, a progressive activist and former Democratic congressional hopeful, also attacked Usha Vance on X.
"Usha Vance, the latest Indian American woman delighted to do the bidding of white supremacy. Who needs white women when brown ones are ready to serve," Rao wrote.
Newsweek contacted JD Vance's office for comment via email.
After graduating from Yale in 2013, Usha Vance worked as a clerk for Brett Kavanaugh, now an associate justice on the Supreme Court, when he served as an appeals court judge in Washington, D.C. She also worked as a law clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts.
Usha Vance went on to work as an attorney at Munger, Tolles and Olson, a prestigious law firm. She left the firm following Trump's announcement that her husband would be his new running mate.
"Usha has informed us she has decided to leave the firm," Munger, Tolles and Olson told the Associated Press. "Usha has been an excellent lawyer and colleague, and we thank her for her years of work and wish her the best in her future career."
Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna was among the MAGA figures who praised Usha Vance as "extremely impressive."
"Mom of 3, met JD at Yale Law School, degrees from Yale and Cambridge, corporate litigator, clerked for Supreme Court justices," Luna wrote on X.
JD Vance's confirmation as the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee on Monday caps off a major rise that has seen the Hillbilly Elegy author move, in two years, from political novice to potentially in line for the presidency.
In his bestselling memoir, JD Vance praised his wife. "Even at my best, I'm a delayed explosion—I can be defused, but only with skill and precision," he wrote. "It's not just that I've learned to control myself but that Usha has learned how to manage me."
Originally Posted by Swordsmyth
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