Vice President JD Vance this weekend slammed political activist Nick Fuentes for disparaging comments he made about his wife, Usha Vance.
“Let me be clear. Anyone who attacks my wife, whether their name is Jen Psaki or Nick Fuentes, can eat s—,” said Vance in an interview published by the online magazine UnHerd. “This is my official policy as vice president of the United States.”
Fuentes – whom the Anti-Defamation League describes as a “white supremacist” whose “anti-Semitic commentary focuses largely on themes of Jewish power and Holocaust denial” – used an ethnic slur to describe Usha Vance, an American Indian from a Hindu family, and referred to JD Vance as a “race traitor” on one of his own.
USA TODAY has reached out to Vance and Fuentes for comment.
As an interview with Nick Fuentes exposed a growing divide of MAGA antisemitism
Republican Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance leave on September 14, 2024 in Greenville, North Carolina.
What did Jen Psaki say about Usha Vance?
Psaki – the former White House press secretary under President Joe Biden – suggested in October on the “I’ve Had It” podcast that the second wife needs to be saved by her husband.
“I always wonder what’s going through his wife’s mind,” said Psaki, who currently hosts a show on MSNOW. “Like, are you okay? Please tap me four times. Come here, we’ll save you.”
JD and Usha Vance married in 2014 and share three children. Before becoming the second wife, Usha Vance was a lawyer who was employed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts and the future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he sat on the Court of Appeal of the United States.
Who is Usha Vance? Here’s what you need to know about the second lady of the United States
‘I think it’s disgusting’
On Sunday, December 21, the vice president spoke at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The meeting marked the conservative group’s first annual summit since its founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed in September.
“Antisemitism and all forms of ethnic hatred have no place in the conservative movement,” JD Vance told UnHerd. “Whether you’re attacking someone because they’re white or because they’re black or because they’re Jewish, I think it’s disgusting.”
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: JD Vance hits back at Nick Fuentes’ insult to wife Usha