JD & Usha Vance Have Less Chemistry Than A Fox News Panel After Erika Kirk Rumors

By Kristin Conard
JD Vance and Usha Vance walking off of Air Force 2 Pool/Getty Images

It was the hug heard around the world when JD Vance and Erika Kirk embraced at a Turning Point USA event, helping to kickstart rumors that JD and Usha Vance's marriage was on the rocks. And the couple's latest appearance isn't doing much to dispel those rumors. Usha joined JD onstage at a Christmas party at the Naval Observatory honoring Sylvester Stallone, and conservative podcaster Benny Johnson shared a clip on X (formerly known as Twitter) of JD telling the story about how Donald Trump wanted to buy him new shoes (more on that later). And as the story unfolded, like a slow-motion car crash, even Usha's eye-catching sequin skirt couldn't distract us from just how uncomfortable and awkward Usha looked next to JD.

She gave the occasional, polite smile as JD was speaking, like you might do when your five-year-old is telling you a meandering story about a dream that they had. It seemed like there were a few moments where she suddenly remembered that she should smile, as the timing didn't always match up with him saying something that might resemble a laugh line. Perhaps she was just feeling a little awkward in the spotlight?

She also kept her hands clasped in front of her, though we did notice that she was wearing her wedding ring; Usha's been noticed skipping the wedding ring recently, which has helped fuel divorce rumors. But even with the ring on, if we didn't know that the two of them were married, we wouldn't have guessed it from this interaction.

Usha might not have liked the story that JD was telling

Usha and JD Vance at a Rose Garden ceremony Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Perhaps Usha Vance wasn't impressed with the story that JD Vance was telling, and yet she was forced to stand there and say nothing herself. It started with him essentially saying that Donald Trump didn't want to stay focused on an actual political or policy matter, but instead wanted to talk about shoes. JD said his shoe size was 13, and someone else that Trump wanted to get shoes for was a size 7. That was the set up for the predictably middle school punchline of the story. JD said, "The president, he kind of leans back in his chair and says, 'You know you can tell a lot about a man by his shoe size.'"

And just in case people didn't get it, he finished the story with another awkward JD attempt at a joke by saying, "We won't ask the second lady for comment on that particular topic." The maturity level is staggering, and we are admittedly impressed that Usha kept smiling through it and didn't roll here eyes. We weren't alone. "It's not even funny. His wife looks so uncomfortable next to him," a critic wrote on X.

Some seem to think that this is another example of signs that JD and Usha's marriage might not last. One person on X posted: "WTF is he nattering about? And why is Usha playing Stepford Wife to that nonsense?" Someone else said, "Just loves putting his wife on the spot in public. I hope she puts her foot down one day..."

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