Usha Vance is putting action behind her plans to lead by example, not just flashy campaigns.
Vice President J.D. Vance’s wife seldom participates in public engagements and is heard from even less often, making her rare public remarks all the more calculated.
The mother of three, who is currently pregnant with her and JD’s fourth child, recently stepped back into the spotlight to announce her second annual Summer Reading Challenge.
Part of her promotional plan included an exclusive interview with Linsey Davis for ABC News.
“It is troubling to me that our literacy proficiency rates are so much lower now than they were even when I was a child,” Usha told Davis. “I wanted to do something to help with that.”
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The challenge began on June 1 and is open to children in kindergarten through eighth grade.
“It’s really easy. All you have to do is read 12 books, write them down in your reading log, and have your parents or guardian send me the list at the end of the summer,” said Usha in a social media video.
One reader and their family will be selected from a drawing to visit the White House. The initiative generated support from several people, JD included. He tweeted, “Usha’s Summer Reading Challenge was a hit last year, and I’m so proud of her. Summer Reading is back again this year, so be sure to check it out!”
Usha's Summer Reading Challenge was a hit last year, and I'm so proud of her.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) June 1, 2026
Summer Reading is back again this year, so be sure to check it out! https://t.co/ypaoIFj6Dx
His co-sign inadvertently invited critics to unleash their harsh reactions, and no one was off limits. At first, an X user asked, “Can Melania enroll?” A response states, “She can barely speak English, and you want her to read??”
Donald Trump’s wife has stumbled through several speeches, her tongue twisting over simple words, provoking critics to complain about her Slavic accent.
A third jab aimed at Usha read, “You want her to be Michelle so bad…. But she will never reach those heights.”
Like anyone in the public eye, Usha has experienced her share of backlash.
The Yale University alumna told Davis how she shields her kids from the political turmoil that can unfold during live events.
“My children are not really on screens, so they’re not really watching anything in real-time… They hear about things happening in the world, but they don’t hear about them through television news,” she said.
In an ABC News exclusive, second lady Usha Vance sat down with ABC News' Linsey Davis to open up about the White House Correspondents’ Dinner incident, her family, and whether her husband, Vice President J.D. Vance, would make a good president. pic.twitter.com/uxGOx2cjoy
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) June 2, 2026
When trouble arises, such as the White House Correspondents’ Dinner incident, she is compelled to address it.
Then she dropped an unexpected truth bomb about other encounters with detractors.
Usha shared, “Maybe we encounter protesters on the street, maybe we see someone flick off a motorcade or something like that, and we talk about it in terms of behavior. What would you do?”
She said her and Vance’s don’t get much further engagement than that.
A viewer wondered, “Does she even know who her husband is or what he does or says out loud to actual people???” Another person wrote, “She’s so far gone. It’s so cringey.” A third person added, “LOL, what a joke. The SCOTUS is simply an arm of trump.”
As for Trump, Usha expressed that he has “a really good sense of humor and has a sort of gentleness towards his children.”
She dodged a question about JD running for president, only offering, “I think JD would make a great anything he’d like to be.”
Voters are convinced that a rift has formed between the vice president and Trump.
