J.D. Vance recently defended former President Donald Trump after Trump had dinner in 2022 with white supremacist Nick Fuentes, despite Fuentes making racist remarks about Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, who is of Indian descent.
Fuentes had criticized Vance for marrying someone of a different race, questioning his commitment to “White identity.” Vance, however, downplayed the significance of Trump’s meeting with Fuentes, suggesting that Trump’s willingness to speak with various people does not equate to endorsing their views.
During an interview on ABC’s *This Week*, Vance reiterated his support for Trump, even after being questioned about the dinner with Fuentes, who has expressed extreme anti-Semitic and white supremacist views.
Vance highlighted Trump’s friendliness towards his wife as evidence of his character, arguing that Trump’s actions should not be conflated with approval of Fuentes’ ideology. Vance also noted that Trump has never explicitly disavowed Fuentes.
This defense of Trump is not new for Vance, who had previously justified the dinner in the past, even when criticizing President Joe Biden for alleged anti-Semitism. Vance also took the opportunity to defend his wife from Fuentes’ attacks, urging critics to target him instead of his family. He expressed frustration with the personal nature of these attacks, emphasizing that his wife should not be subjected to such criticism.
On another front, Vance appeared on CNN’s *State of the Union* where he criticized opponents like Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for labeling him and Trump as “weird.” Vance dismissed this label as childish and an attempt to distract from policy failures. He suggested that this kind of name-calling was akin to schoolyard bullying and reflected poorly on his opponents rather than himself.
Despite calling out such behavior as juvenile, Vance has previously praised Trump for his humor and willingness to mock others, including political opponents. This apparent contradiction between denouncing “bullying” while praising Trump’s similar actions highlights the complexities of Vance’s political messaging as he navigates criticism from both opponents and far-right extremists like Fuentes.