Usha Vance, the Good Wife

What is this serious, brainy woman doing in MAGA Land?

Perhaps I’m projecting here but I don’t think Usha Vance is having a jolly time at the Republican National Convention. Though she was greeted with cheers during her introductory remarks about her husband J.D. Vance, the Republican vice president nominee, she didn't seem to be basking in the moment. To me, she looked alienated.

How can she not be? Here is a serious, brainy woman with creme de la creme credentials (B.A. and J.D. from Yale, MPhil. from Cambridge, clerkships with Justice John Roberts and then federal judge Brett Kavanaugh) now forced to rub shoulders with the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Kristi Noem, Lauren Boebert, and other MAGA luminaries. What can she possibly have in common with that crowd?

We don’t know her exact political leanings. A bit of a political sphinx by most accounts, she was once a registered Democrat who then switched parties to vote for her husband in his run for the Senate. But I’m guessing she’s not whole-hog MAGA. 

Did she not get the memo?

What stood out to me about her speech at the RNC was its undertone of ambivalence. She didn’t say a word about what an honor it is that Trump picked her husband to be his running mate or how voting for Team Trump is vital for America’s future. I don’t think she mentioned Trump at all. (Did she not get the memo that homage must be paid to the Dear Leader?) The only thing she said about her husband’s new status was that “neither J.D. nor I expected to find ourselves in this position”—which struck me as strangely equivocal. (In contrast, J.D. kissed up to Trump incessantly during his acceptance speech, calling him, “our last, best hope.” He also pledged breathlessly: “I will give you everything I have.”) 

Though her speech was all about what a great guy J.D. is and the love they share—”the J.D. I know today is the same J.D. I knew then,” alluding to how they fell in love at Yale Law School—she also noted their cultural differences. “Although he’s a meat and potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet and learned to cook food for my mother, Indian food,” she remarked.

Oh no, a vegetarian!

That statement got my attention. I mean, it’s bad enough coming out as a vegetarian before a red-meat crowd but then declaring a preference for ethnic vegetarian food? That’s practically code for being an un-American lefty. To add to Usha’s “foreign” aura, she’s not even a believer in Jesus Christ; she’s Hindu. (J.D. identifies as Catholic.) At this point, I couldn’t help but wonder what some of the MAGA folks, particularly Trump’s fervent evangelical base, really think of Usha. 

Already, some rightwingers find her too foreign, including racist Nick Fuentes, who ranted on his podcast: “J.D. Vance also has an Indian wife and a kid named Vivek. All his kids have Indian names—so it’s like, what exactly are we getting here?” (Remember, Fuentes was also Trump's dinner guest at Mar-a-Lago.)

Which brings me back to my original point: This is not Usha’s crowd, and I have to imagine she’s not truly comfortable swimming in this sea of MAGA devotees. 

An affinity for woke culture?

Until J.D. became the Republican vice president nominee, Usha managed to hold on to an independent life. She was a lawyer at Munger, Tolles & Olsen, an elite California-based firm that I described as almost “radically progressive” in The American Lawyer. So what does it say that she chose a brazenly liberal firm when she could have picked another top firm with much more conservative leanings, such as Jones Day, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher or Kirkland & Ellis? 

I don’t know her reasons for picking Munger Tolles but I have to think that she found an alignment with its values and culture. Perhaps she liked the firm’s reputation for diversity and that an Asian American woman (Hailyn Chen) serves as its co-managing partner. Or maybe she liked its democratic rule (associates get to vote on most matters, except partnerships), family-friendly policies, and pro bono commitment. (The firm’s pro bono work is decidedly liberal, including a robust practice focused on immigration rights. In fact, its pro bono projects read like a hit list for everything that Trump and J.D. are trying to go after.)

Within minutes of Trump’s announcement of his VP pick, Usha issued her resignation from the firm. “I am forever grateful for the opportunities I’ve had at Munger and for the excellent colleagues and friends I’ve worked with over the years,” she wrote in her departing note.

So who will now be her “excellent colleagues and friends”? Will she be hanging out with the real housewives of MAGA Land—Lara Trump, Kimberly Guilfoyle, or Princess Ivanka? Or perhaps she will find a kindred spirit in Melania, who steadfastly keeps her distance from Trumpworld. 

Anyway you look at it, it doesn’t seem as if Usha will be relishing her new role. "I'm not raring to change anything about our lives right now, but I believe in J.D. and I really love him, so we'll just sort of see what happens," she told Fox News before Trump formally picked her husband.

It comes down to stupid, foolish, crazy love. Why else would a woman like Usha put up with this nonsense?

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