J.D. Vance is on the ticket with Donald Trump, who has spouted a lifetime’s worth of racist abuse and has also been traveling of late with a woman, Laura Loomer, who recently sent a tweet loaded with offensive stereotypes about people from India. If Kamala Harris becomes president, Loomer tweeted, “The White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center.”

The tweet was so offensive that even Marjorie Taylor Greene distanced herself from it- and it earned a rare-for-the-Musk era “Visibility limited: this Post may violate X’s rules against Hateful Conduct” message on X.

J.D. Vance is married to an Indian-American woman, Usha Vance. What does Mrs. Vance think of an ally of Vance’s running time, trafficking in vicious stereotypes about Kamala Harris, who is Indian-American on her mother’s side?

Welker to JD Vance: "In 2016, you said 'Trump makes people I care about afraid. Immigrants, Muslims' … are you not doing the very thing you once called reprehensible?"

pic.twitter.com/gIXKHNiswq

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 15, 2024

Vance was asked that exact question, by host Kristen Welker when he appeared Sunday on Meet the Press:

In answering, Vance pivoted to talking about Haitians in Ohio, before noting that “I make a mean chicken curry. I don’t think that it’s insulting for anybody to talk about their dietary preferences or what they want to do in the White House.” He added that he does not agree with Loomer’s comments, but is more focused on Harris, since she’s running for president and Loomer is not.

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Also raised on Meet the Press, during a later panel? There are large numbers of Indian-American voters in such swing states as North Carolina and Georgia, who may find themselves repelled by those comments from an unofficial adviser of the former president. Donald Trump has sought to cultivate Indian-American support in the past, including as president, when he hosted the president of India for a rally at a Houston football stadium. However, Politico reported in 2020 that Joe Biden’s choice of Harris as his running mate in 2020 helped undercut those efforts.

Usha Vance has not publicly commented on anything related to Laura Loomer.

JD Vance downplays Trump traveling with Laura Loomer and Loomer's racist comments about Indian-Americans like Vance's wife: "Is Laura Loomer running for president? No. Kamala Harris is running for president…I don't look at the internet for every single thing to get offended by" pic.twitter.com/sdGuF1yibl

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 15, 2024

It’s often assumed, especially by opponents of the Republicans, that the wives of top Republican politicians, like Melania Trump and Usha Vance, must be closeted liberals who secretly hate their husbands and are maybe even plotting their escapes.

But Usha Vance has never shown any indication, in the entire time of the two of them in public life, that she sees things any differently, politically, from how her husband does.