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Published 13:05 24 Jun 2026 GMT
Once again, US Vice President JD Vance has been grilled online after a “painfully awkward” moment between him and his wife went viral.
The couple was participating in a summer reading challenge that involved the pair being filmed as they read a children’s story.
However, it was not the heartwarming storytelling that caught the attention of viewers. Instead, it was the moment after Usha Vance introduced her husband and he patted her on the knee.
As the camera panned the room, Usha said: “That's right. Today's special reader is my husband, Vice President of the United States, JD Vance.
"Thanks for joining us today, honey."
The Vice President then leaned over to his heavily pregnant wife and patted her on the knee briskly.
He sheepishly added: "Of course. Good to see you," hinting that the couple perhaps does not spend much time together thanks to his demanding job.
As soon as a clip of the moment surfaced online, it went viral, and X users flocked to the comments to share how much it made them squirm.
One person wrote: "Nothing says 'happy marriage' quite like greeting your own wife as if you just met her."
Another added: "I’ve seen more chemistry during the Iran negotiations. This guy will never be president."
One user joked: "I have never in my entire life of reluctant heterosexuality had a man slap my knee like that. You can’t convince me these people know each other’s coffee orders let alone have been intimate together."
The backlash online comes just days after Vance humiliated his wife by dragging her into a joke and comparing her to the Pakistani Field Marshal.
In what was supposed to be a diplomatic icebreaker during a meeting with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir at Switzerland’s Bürgenstock Resort, Vance made his wife the punchline.
Embarrassingly, he said: “Since Field Marshal Asim Munir welcomed us with the Prime Minister in Islamabad, I have joked that I have two very, very important people in my life: an Indian and a Pakistani.”
Then, in the cringeworthy moment, he added: “The Indian is my wife. And the Pakistani is Field Marshal Munir.”
Critics were quick to call out the author of Hillbilly Elegy for comparing his wife of 12 years to the controversial head of the armed forces, well-known for overpowering civilian politics, and using harsh repression against opponents.
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JD Vance, the Vice President of the United States, has sharply responded to accusations that he was yelling at his wife, Usha, in a viral photograph taken at a restaurant earlier this week.
The image quickly sparked criticism and speculation about the state of their marriage, but Vance is setting the record straight with his own comment on social media.
The drama began when an unverified photograph began circulating online, showing Vance, dressed in a white T-shirt, seemingly mid-yell at his wife while sitting across from her in a restaurant booth.
In the photo, Usha, his wife of over a decade, can be seen with her head in her hands, which led some to believe the couple was engaged in a heated argument.
Critics quickly pounced on the image, with some questioning the nature of the couple's relationship.
One commenter posted on Facebook: “Looks like things are not so good in Republicanistan.”
The same person also pointed out the apparent political divide between the couple, noting: “Usha is a liberal. Always has been.”
JD and Usha Vance have been married for over 10 years. Credit: Drew Angerer / Getty
As the rumors swirled, Vance took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to shut down the claims with his signature sarcastic humor.
He wrote: “I always wear an undershirt when I go out in public to have a fight loudly with my wife.”
His response, dripping with sarcasm, was meant to defuse the tension surrounding the image. It also hinted at how he handles online speculation with a dose of humor.
This came after some suggested the photo might be an AI-generated fake, further complicating the narrative.
The controversy over the restaurant photo isn't the first time the Vances' relationship has caught the public's attention.
Rumors have been swirling for months about the couple's dynamic, especially after a lingering embrace between JD Vance and Erika Kirk, the widow of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was tragically assassinated in September.
During that period, Erika, who is now the CEO of Turning Point USA, drew attention to the similarities between her late husband and Vance.
She also endorsed Vance for a potential 2028 presidential bid, fueling even more public curiosity about the Vice President’s personal life.
Adding fuel to the fire, Usha Vance was recently spotted without her wedding ring at various public events, including appearances alongside First Lady Melania Trump.
This raised further questions about the state of her marriage, especially when she was photographed without her ring at a moment when her public profile was under intense scrutiny.
Usha Vance was spotted without her wedding ring. Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty
Usha, however, addressed the speculation with a lighthearted comment through a spokesperson.
She explained that her busy schedule as a mother and homemaker, which includes doing "a lot of dishes" and giving "lots of baths," often causes her to forget to wear her rings, per PEOPLE.
The spokesperson clarified: “She’s busy being a mom and running a household."
US Vice President JD Vance spoke about how obsessed he was with his wife, Usha, before they started going out.
Usha Vance is currently pregnant with their fourth child, a boy, who is due in July.
In addition to the family's upcoming latest addition, the couple had their first son, Ewan, in 2017, before having another son, Vivek, in 2020, and a baby girl named Mirabel in 2021.
So it's fair to say that Vance's determination may have paid off, with the family set to get even bigger, 12 years after tying the knot.
However, his admission of not being able to fall "head over heels" for a girl just months before he met his wife has now become public knowledge.
The Vice President met his future wife in law school, explaining the intricacies of the relationship in his new book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, which will be released on June 16.
He admitted to one of his best friends, Mike, at the time, that he couldn't get one of his classmates off his mind.
Her name? Usha Bala Chilukuri.
Vance was in his first year of law school at Yale and had been telling his buddy about classmates and girls on campus.
Speaking of Usha, as they were in the same study group, he admitted: “Dude, I think I’m obsessed with this chick in my small group. It’s unhealthy.”
He added in the memoir shared with USA TODAY: "I told him all about her: That she was smarter than everyone. That her smile could light up a room. That she had the most amazing posture."
While it may seem quite wholesome, it turns out that Vance hadn't always felt this open about prospective relationships.
Vance had told Mike months before this admission that he wasn't the type to fall head over heels in love, despite being in a relationship with a girl called Mary at the time.
At the time, Mike was going through a breakup and Vance claimed he could never see himself being so overcome with emotion, with his friend heartbroken over the end of his relationship.
He claimed: “I hadn’t felt the same heartache in my own dating life. For a couple of years during and after college, I’d dated a girl named Mary,
“My family got along with her fine. No relationship is perfect, but nothing seemed like a deal breaker.
“Still, I could never escape the feeling that, as much as I liked her, if she were to dump me the next day, I’d get over it quickly.”
He remembered telling Mike: “Dude, I don’t think I have that gene or something,
“I’ve just never fallen head over heels for a girl. Some are better, and some are worse. I could rate Mary on all these objective criteria, and she’s mostly great.
“But would I sob if she broke up with me? No way. Isn’t that a problem?”
Mike then suggested that she might not be the "right girl," to which Vance replied: “Maybe, but maybe I’m just not that emotional.”
He remembered saying that his future wife "doesn't even walk like normal people," pointing out that "normal girls" seemed to be less stable when wearing high heels.
"Not her," Vance said, adding: "Not her. She glides across the room in whatever shoes she wears. And her laugh, man. Whenever she laughs it’s, like, the most wonderful thing. She’s super reserved, but she has this chortle that is the best sound I’ve ever heard."
The Vice President said he was interrupted by his mate, saying: “Remember when you told me you don’t have the gene where you fall head over heels for a girl? I always thought that was BS. Now I know it is.”
A bizarre theory has emerged after JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, announced that they are expecting their fourth child.
On January 20, the Second Lady of the United States posted a statement on X, which read: "We’re very excited to share the news that Usha is pregnant with our fourth child, a boy.
"Usha and the baby are doing well, and we are all looking forward to welcoming him in late July."
"During this exciting and hectic time, we are particularly grateful for the military doctors who take excellent care of our family and for the staff members who do so much to ensure that we can serve the country while enjoying a wonderful life with our children," the message concluded.
The announcement was met with well-wishes, but it didn't take long for the internet's sleuths to make their own connections.
Many began speculating that the Vances' baby might have been conceived around the end of October, after the Vice President's viral Halloween costume.
In 2025, Vance, who had become the subject of countless memes after a memorable encounter with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, decided to embrace the humor surrounding him.
The meme, which centered on his remark to Zelenskyy - 'have you said thank you once?' - was quickly transformed into viral content, with AI-generated memes depicting Vance with wild, curly hair.
The 41-year-old seized the opportunity by donning a curly-haired wig for Halloween, and sharing a TikTok video of himself greeting trick-or-treaters with a line from the meme: "Happy Halloween, kids... Remember, say thank you!"
He then proceeded to spin around with the Twilight Zone theme playing in the background.
The connection between the wig and the pregnancy was too much for some to ignore.
"The child was conceived with the wig on," one commenter joked, while another chimed in: "Late July babies are often conceived on Halloween. And don't forget, this was @VP@JDVance's costume. Congratulations!"
The couple, who have been married since 2014 after meeting at Yale Law School, have previously spoken about their interfaith marriage and how they are raising their children.
In a 2025 interview with USA TODAY, Usha dismissed rumors of marital strife, saying she and her husband find such gossip “kind of funny.”
The VP also shared insights into how they are raising their kids, explaining in a Turning Point USA event last October that while Usha was raised in a Hindu family, they had decided to raise their children Christian.
"Our two oldest kids, who go to school, they go to a Christian school," he added, per The Independent.
The Vances aren’t the only members of the Trump administration to share family news, as just last month, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 28, announced she and her husband, real estate developer Nicholas Riccio, 59, are expecting a baby girl in May.
JD Vance’s wife Usha has been spotted out and about without her wedding ring on, sparking huge debate about the couple’s relationship.
The Second Lady was visiting Camp Lejeune military base in North Carolina when she was seen missing one key accessory.
JD Vance has been at the center of some controversy recently - makes a change, eh? - after he was seen embracing Erika Kirk on stage in a way that some thought hinted at something more.
What’s more, he also made some comments recently about his own faith and his wife’s religion, and was accused of putting himself before the personal beliefs of his wife, according to many reports.
But, there’s nothing official that has emerged about the state of the pair’s relationship.
Well, until this was noticed, anyway.
Vance was seen exiting a plane with Melania Trump at the armed forces camp in Richlands, North Carolina, and her left hand was clearly in view, but without the usual adornment of a wedding ring.
It seems as if she kept the wedding ring off during the whole visit, too.
Well, there are obviously a bunch of perfectly normal and innocuous reasons why someone might not wear their wedding ring - you could forget it, for starters.
But, it does seem strange to engage in a whole state trip without it, especially in the knowledge that you’ll have photos taken of you the whole time.
At a separate even in Washington on Thursday, JD was seen wearing his own wedding band.
The rumors started back in October when JD made comments about his Catholicism and said that he’d asked his wife to convert from Hinduism to his own religion.
This isn’t the first time Usha has been sighted without her wedding ring on, either.
In fact, she was seen without it earlier this month while on a trip with her husband, also to a medical base.
At that time, a spokesperson for the couple said: “Usha is a mother of three young children who does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths, and forgets her ring sometimes.”
All sorted, then?
Of course not - this is the internet we’re dealing with here.
One comment read: “Anybody who wants to speculate that Usha Vance just happened to leave her wedding ring at home when she appears here, perfectly coiffed, in a designer dress with shoes of the exact same shade is puffing smoke up your bum.”
Another said: "It’s interesting that Usha isn’t wearing a wedding ring. I hope Vance isn’t leaving her…"
However, most people support the idea that it might just be a genuine mistake.
As we've covered - there are perfectly legitimate reasons you might forget a wedding ring.
It won't stop the debate, though...
JD Vance has become the subject of online mockery once again, after a joke he made failed to land with both a live audience and people on social media.
The US Vice President’s stand-up aspirations took a knock, and not because of his comical policies… The 41-year-old second-in-command spoke at the IAFF’s Alfred K. Whitehead Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., on March 9, where he reaffirmed the Trump administration’s support for firefighters.
Addressing the crowd, he praised their work, saying there was no group more hardworking or more vital to communities than rescue workers tackling burning material.
Before getting into his main remarks, however, Vance tried to open with a joke. After walking on stage to applause, he greeted the audience and commented on the large turnout. He then paused and said he couldn’t actually see anyone because the stage lights were so bright.
He followed up by joking that whoever set up the lights “must be a Democrat,” adding that although he couldn’t see the crowd, he had been told there were around 700 people there. Embarrassingly, the remark was met with almost complete silence, drawing a faintly audible sympathy chuckle from some of those in attendance.
Online, the reaction was far harsher. Many social media users criticized the attempt at humor, with one person writing, “AND THE CROWD GOES MILD,” while another asked what the joke was supposed to be. Others described him as awkward and questioned why he keeps trying to make jokes that don’t seem to work.
Several people mocked the moment using sarcasm, with one saying the spotlights must have been searching for a good joke but couldn’t find one. Another complained that his attempts at humor often fall flat and can be inappropriate.
This isn’t the first time Vance’s jokes have drawn criticism. Just last month, during the inaugural Board of Peace meeting, he tried to poke fun at Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by referencing a moment when she paused while answering a question about Taiwan at the Munich Security Conference.
Vance attempted to imitate the pause by standing silently for about 20 seconds, but the audience responded with little more than silence. Ocasio-Cortez later joked on social media that the crowd’s quiet reaction lasted even longer than her original pause.
Given the repeated awkward moments, some observers online suggested that comedy might not be the best backup career if his political career goes down the drain.
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