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Senator and vice presidential hopeful JD Vance defended his wife, Usha Vance, and their children against racist attacks from far-right white supremacists.
The Ohio senator defended his wife on ABC News’ This Week, hosted by Jonathan Karl. Vance’s comments come nearly one month after he joined Donald Trump’s presidential ticket. Since then, his wife Usha and their three children have been subject to a slew of public racist attacks over their Indian heritage.
Karl asked the Ohio senator about a recent attack from white supremacist and right-wing media personality Nick Fuentes.
“Look, my attitude to these people attacking my wife is, she’s beautiful, she’s smart,” Vance told Karl on Sunday. “What kind of man marries Usha? A very smart man and a very lucky man, importantly.”
“Don’t attack my wife,” he continued. “She’s out of your league.”
Last month, Fuentes said Vance “doesn’t value his racial identity or his heritage.”
“What kind of man marries somebody named Usha?” Fuentes said.
“JD Vance also has an Indian wife and a kid named Vivek,” Fuentes said previously. “All his kids have Indian names, so it’s like, what exactly are we getting here?”
Karl also asked Vance about Trump’s decision to host Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022 — a dinner arranged and attended by rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
“And of course, it was Kanye West, the guy that’s praised Hitler, who arranged it all, that was back a year and a half ago,” Karl said. “And Trump still hasn’t given a full-throated denouncement of this guy, who said that terrible stuff, but he’s a white supremacist.”
When Vance said Trump has issued “plenty of condemnations,” Karl pushed back, noting he had not denounced Fuentes specifically.
“Something I like about Donald Trump, Jon, is that he actually will talk to anybody. But just because you talk to somebody doesn’t mean you endorse their views,” Vance responded.
“Donald Trump has spent a lot of quality time with my wife,” he continued. “Every time he sees her, he gives her a hug, tells us she’s beautiful, and jokes around with her a little bit.”
After the Trump campaign announced Vance would join the ticket, racist attacks against Usha skyrocketed online, according to Stop AAPI Hate, an organization dedicated to fighting racism against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
“We are seeing a dangerous pattern of political leaders, conservative commentators, and far-right extremists blatantly targeting South Asians,” the organization told Politico.
Last month, Vance also spoke to Megyn Kelly about the racist attacks against his wife.
“I love my wife so much,” Vance said. “I love her because she’s who she is. Obviously, she’s not a white person and we’ve been attacked by some white supremacists over that. But, I love Usha, she’s such a good mom.”
