Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has publicly defended U.S. Second Lady Usha Vance, forcefully condemning the racist attacks directed at her and calling out the ideology behind them.
His remarks followed an appearance by far-right commentator Nick Fuentes on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” where Fuentes used the slur “jeet” to refer to Usha Vance. The comment sparked swift backlash across the political spectrum and reignited debate over how mainstream conservatives should respond to extremist rhetoric.
The issue resurfaced on Friday when Ramaswamy took the stage at AmericaFest, the first Turning Point USA conference held since the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. Videos from the Phoenix event quickly circulated on X, drawing renewed attention to Ramaswamy’s stance.
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On stage, the Ohio governor reiterated the position he had laid out in a recent New York Times opinion piece. Without naming Fuentes directly, he left little ambiguity about his message: “If you call Usha Vance, the second lady of the United States of America, a ‘jeet,’ you have no place in the future of the conservative movement.”
Ramaswamy has articulated that argument even more bluntly elsewhere, framing it as a test of leadership within conservatism itself. “First, conservative leaders should condemn — without hedging — Groyper transgressions. If, like Mr. Fuentes, you believe that Hitler was ‘really f-ing cool,’ or if you publicly call Usha Vance a ‘jeet,’ then you have no place in the conservative movement, period.”
He has stressed that the issue is not performative outrage, but preventing something more corrosive from taking hold. “The point isn’t to clutch pearls, but to prevent the gradual legitimization of this un-American animus. This online edgelording reminds me of toddlers testing their parents’ limits: The job of a real Republican leader is to set firm boundaries for young followers, as a good father does for a transgressive son.”
By contrast, the debate took a different turn after Vice President JD Vance weighed in, shifting the focus from racist language to what he described as systemic discrimination. Vance stated, “You don’t have to apologize for being while anymore.”
He went on to draw a sharp distinction between offensive slurs and policies he believes have real-world consequences. “It pisses me off that Fuentes calls my kids ‘jeet,’ and I appreciate that Ro Khanna would never do that,” Vance said. “You know what pisses me off a million times more? That Ro Khanna, AOC, and Chris Murphy would deny them jobs and opportunities because they have the wrong skin color.”
Usha Vance, JD Vance’s wife, is the first Indian American and Hindu Second Lady of the United States. Born in California to Telugu Indian immigrant parents who practice the Hindu faith, her visibility with Vance has made her a target.
A 2024 analysis by All In Together examined the scale of gendered and race-based attacks directed at Usha Vance across major social media platforms. The study identified roughly 1,800 unique public posts and about 16,000 posts, replies, and shares on X, Instagram, and TikTok containing such remarks between Jan. 1 and Aug. 11, 2024. Taken together, the content had a potential reach of nearly 216 million accounts.
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The report noted recurring themes in the online abuse. A significant portion referenced Nick Fuentes’ criticism of JD Vance for having an “Indian wife,” which accounted for around 13% of the posts analyzed. The most common line of attack, making up about 33% of the total, centered on insinuations that the Vance family’s son, Vivek, was named after Vivek Ramaswamy. Nearly 6% of the posts went further, accusing Usha Vance of links to Hindu nationalism.
All In Together, which conducted the analysis, describes itself as a non-profit organization focused on “encouraging, equipping, educating, and empowering voting-age women to participate fully in America’s civic and political life,” according to its official website.