This is part of Hello, TrumpworldSlate’s reluctant guide to the people who will be calling the shots now—at least for as long as they last in Washington.
Hear the heavy sigh of Indian Americans across the country—both those who voted for Trump (there were several, and we all got in a fight at Thanksgiving, rest assured) and those who did not: We were always going to be burdened with South Asian identity politics, no matter who won, but did it need to be so stupid?
Already, I can see down the hallway of the next four years—decorated like Melania did the White House that one Christmas where the theme was “haunted hospital waiting room.” With J.D. Vance and his Indian wife and children now formally ensconced in the administration, it feels like we’re doomed to four (more) years of incessant jabber about whether an administration can really be racist if it also has brown people in it.
Vance’s wife, Usha, has already been the center of such conversation throughout the campaign cycle. She’s Yale-educated, a former civil litigation lawyer who famously clerked for Brett “But My Calendars!” Kavanaugh. If there was any lingering belief that being a woman of color automatically meant you were a liberal, Usha’s history reminds us how false that assumption is. Now, as second lady, Usha has the heady job of reminding everyone that, actually, a Telegu Brahmin is perfectly capable of aligning with an often racist Republican party. Just wait until everyone finds out about the Kashmiri Brahmins! (As a Kashmiri Brahmin, I can make this joke. Do not take this punch line to a party: If it lands, you’re in more trouble than if it doesn’t.)
The spouses of presidents and vice presidents define their own roles in the White House, but they’re usually simple and in service of furthering their partners’ likability and agenda. Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, Doug Emhoff—their public works and personas were designed to maintain the humanity of the politician they’re married to. Usha, meanwhile, was used sparingly in the campaign, only showing up when she needed to, which only added to the public delusion that she wasn’t actually down with the cause. Usha was employed only when Vance’s likability index was tanking, or to maybe reassure everyone that he definitely did not fuck a couch.
Well, Vance doesn’t seem to be getting any more pleasant now that he’s entering office, so who knows when his long-suffering wife will be sent back to a Fox News studio to tell everyone that, actually, her husband is super normal. Prepare for four years of secondhand embarrassment.
The real thing I’m waiting for? Whatever incomprehensibly awkward interaction Usha will have with Melania in the next few years. Nothing but two wives who absolutely do not want to be here! If Mark Burnett really wanted to strike reality television gold one more time with the Trump family, he’d pitch NBC on an Usha/Melania Simple Life spinoff.
