It’s either Kamala or Usha a heartbeat away from the White House
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WASHINGTON: Who ever wins the US presidency, one way or the other, there will be an Indian-American woman a heartbeat away from the White House at 1, Observatory Circle — home to the American vice-president. It will either be incumbent vice-president Kamala Harris if Biden wins, or Usha Chilukuri, Trump running mate JD Vance‘s spouse, who will move in to what is formally called the Naval Observatory as the Second Lady.
It has been a checkered journey for the San Diego-born and raised Yale graduate, whose accomplished parents — dad a mechanical engineer and mom a biologist — immigrated from India. Once a registered Democrat from the liberal enclave of California, she met Vance, who grew up in conservative Middle America, in law school, and has been a fellow companion in their journey to the MAGA Republican side of the political spectrum.
In his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, Vance credits Usha for his personal and professional growth, calling her “my Yale spirit guide,” and a brilliant partner who “instinctively understood the questions I didn’t even know to ask and she always encouraged me to seek opportunities that I didn’t know existed.” Studying, meeting, (and courting), under the tutelage of Amy Chua, author of the controversial book Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mother, they married in Kentucky in 2013, with both a Christian and Hindu ceremony.
Photos of the wedding showing them in Indian togs have now surfaced on social media much to the delight of Hindu activists in the US who see in the highlighting of her Hindu heritage validation of the community’s growth and relevance. “These increasing mentions of Hinduism in mainstream media may seem trite, but positive mentions are critical for minority communities like ours,” tweeted Suhag Shukla, Executive Director of the Hindu American Foundation.
Some Hindu activists are looking even further than November 2024. “JD has an extremely smart Yale educated Hindu wife, Usha. Don’t forget 2028. US is in good hands. US and Bharat shall be best friends,” Trump acolyte and Republican Hindu Coalition founder Shalli Kumar, who has been backing Trump from the time he was a political novice, told his supporters.
In part, attention to Usha Chilukuri Vance’s Hindu heritage has come to the fore from her own talking it up. Asked in one interview about Vance’s spiritual growth as a Christian, which she has supported, she explained that she herself grew up in a religious household and her parents are Hindu. “That is one of the reasons why they made such good parents. That made them very good people. And I think I have seen the power of that in my own life. And I knew that JD was searching for something. This just felt right for him,” she told Fox and Friends recently.
Not everyone is chuffed about the ethnic mix and religious orientation of the couple, with critical notes surfacing on social media. “Trump’s VP pick in Vance whose wife Usha is of Indian descent, will not only garner mid-west voters but politically hollow Indian Americans voting on identity politics & Hindu supremacists who will see this as an opportunity to further Christian & Hindu supremacist unity,” noted one critic. “Usha Vance, the latest Indian American woman delighted to do the bidding of white supremacy. Who needs white women when brown ones are ready to serve!” chirped another. A MAGA proponent skeptical of all immigrants posted a photo of the Vances with their mixed race children with the comment:
“I’m sure this guy is going to be great on immigration.”
None of this appears to bother Trump, whose political calculus has involved an unapologetic outreach to Hindus ( “I am a big fan of Hindu. And I am a big fan of India. Big, big fan.” Trump said at an event organized by Shalli Kumar in New Jersey in 2016). According to media reports, Trump’s assessment of Vance as a running mate involved reaching out to Usha to ask her how she liked political life, and when she gave an anodyne answer, he told her his wife Melania hated it too.
Where Usha departs from the MAGA base, which has sparse college-educated voters, is her academic and professional chops, with even Vance acknowledging that she is far more accomplished than him. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University and a master’s of philosophy from the University of Cambridge, her time at Yale Law School included serving in editorial positions at the Yale Law Journal and the Yale Journal of Law & Technology. She later clerked for US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. “People look at her credentials and think that she’s so impressive… People don’t realize just how brilliant she is. She can digest 1000-page books in hours and just absorb the information incredibly,” Vance said in a 2020 podcast.
For now though, she will be dialing down to look after their three children and backing Vance to replace Kamala Harris. On Monday, she resigned from the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, where she was a top litigator, saying she is “forever grateful” for the opportunities she’s had at the firm,” but “In light of today’s news (of Trump picking Vance as his running mate)… I have to focus on caring for our family.”
It has been a checkered journey for the San Diego-born and raised Yale graduate, whose accomplished parents — dad a mechanical engineer and mom a biologist — immigrated from India. Once a registered Democrat from the liberal enclave of California, she met Vance, who grew up in conservative Middle America, in law school, and has been a fellow companion in their journey to the MAGA Republican side of the political spectrum.
In his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, Vance credits Usha for his personal and professional growth, calling her “my Yale spirit guide,” and a brilliant partner who “instinctively understood the questions I didn’t even know to ask and she always encouraged me to seek opportunities that I didn’t know existed.” Studying, meeting, (and courting), under the tutelage of Amy Chua, author of the controversial book Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mother, they married in Kentucky in 2013, with both a Christian and Hindu ceremony.
Photos of the wedding showing them in Indian togs have now surfaced on social media much to the delight of Hindu activists in the US who see in the highlighting of her Hindu heritage validation of the community’s growth and relevance. “These increasing mentions of Hinduism in mainstream media may seem trite, but positive mentions are critical for minority communities like ours,” tweeted Suhag Shukla, Executive Director of the Hindu American Foundation.
Some Hindu activists are looking even further than November 2024. “JD has an extremely smart Yale educated Hindu wife, Usha. Don’t forget 2028. US is in good hands. US and Bharat shall be best friends,” Trump acolyte and Republican Hindu Coalition founder Shalli Kumar, who has been backing Trump from the time he was a political novice, told his supporters.
In part, attention to Usha Chilukuri Vance’s Hindu heritage has come to the fore from her own talking it up. Asked in one interview about Vance’s spiritual growth as a Christian, which she has supported, she explained that she herself grew up in a religious household and her parents are Hindu. “That is one of the reasons why they made such good parents. That made them very good people. And I think I have seen the power of that in my own life. And I knew that JD was searching for something. This just felt right for him,” she told Fox and Friends recently.
Not everyone is chuffed about the ethnic mix and religious orientation of the couple, with critical notes surfacing on social media. “Trump’s VP pick in Vance whose wife Usha is of Indian descent, will not only garner mid-west voters but politically hollow Indian Americans voting on identity politics & Hindu supremacists who will see this as an opportunity to further Christian & Hindu supremacist unity,” noted one critic. “Usha Vance, the latest Indian American woman delighted to do the bidding of white supremacy. Who needs white women when brown ones are ready to serve!” chirped another. A MAGA proponent skeptical of all immigrants posted a photo of the Vances with their mixed race children with the comment:
“I’m sure this guy is going to be great on immigration.”
None of this appears to bother Trump, whose political calculus has involved an unapologetic outreach to Hindus ( “I am a big fan of Hindu. And I am a big fan of India. Big, big fan.” Trump said at an event organized by Shalli Kumar in New Jersey in 2016). According to media reports, Trump’s assessment of Vance as a running mate involved reaching out to Usha to ask her how she liked political life, and when she gave an anodyne answer, he told her his wife Melania hated it too.
Where Usha departs from the MAGA base, which has sparse college-educated voters, is her academic and professional chops, with even Vance acknowledging that she is far more accomplished than him. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University and a master’s of philosophy from the University of Cambridge, her time at Yale Law School included serving in editorial positions at the Yale Law Journal and the Yale Journal of Law & Technology. She later clerked for US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. “People look at her credentials and think that she’s so impressive… People don’t realize just how brilliant she is. She can digest 1000-page books in hours and just absorb the information incredibly,” Vance said in a 2020 podcast.
For now though, she will be dialing down to look after their three children and backing Vance to replace Kamala Harris. On Monday, she resigned from the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, where she was a top litigator, saying she is “forever grateful” for the opportunities she’s had at the firm,” but “In light of today’s news (of Trump picking Vance as his running mate)… I have to focus on caring for our family.”
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