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Vice President JD Vance ignited a torrent of outrage Friday after publicly wishing his Hindu wife, Usha Vance, would embrace Christianity during a Thursday night rally at the University of Mississippi, a move critics branded as a craven betrayal for fleeting applause from far-right fringes.
Adding fuel to the inferno, viral clips of Vance's lingering, handsy hug with Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk — the widow of the slain conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk — sparked a public frenzy over what onlookers decried as an overtly flirtatious display unfit for a married father of three.
The dual scandals erupted at TPUSA's "This Is the Turning Point" campus tour stop on Thurdsay night, where over 15,000 students packed the Pavilion at Ole Miss amid tight security and protests.
The embrace overshadowed Vance's onstage remarks, where he fielded a pointed question from an audience member probing his interfaith marriage and the primacy of Christianity in MAGA circles.
"How are you teaching your kids not to keep your religion ahead of their mother’s religion?" the guest asked. "Why are we making Christianity one of the major [things] that you have to have in common to be one of you guys to show that I love America, just as much as you do? Why is that still a question? Why do I have to be a Christian?"
Vance, who met Usha at Yale Law School when both identified as agnostics, responded candidly.
"As I’ve told her and I’ve said publicly and I’ll say now in front of 10,000 of my closest friends, do I hope eventually that [Usha] is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by church? Yeah," he said. "I honestly, I do wish that, because I believe in the Christian gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way, but if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me."
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He added that Usha, raised in a Hindu family he described as "not a particularly religious one," now attends church with him most Sundays and that the couple opted to raise their three children in the Christian faith.
Groypers, a loose online collective of "America First" activists idolize a vision of American leadership rooted in ethno-nationalism and unyielding Christian dominance. They view Christianity not merely as a personal creed but as an indispensable bulwark against multiculturalism, immigration and "globalist" influences, demanding public figures renounce non-Christian ties to prove loyalty.
Backlash cascaded across social media. Nirmalya Dutta, an editorial consultant at The Times of India, labeled Vance a "hypocrite," posting a clip of Usha recounting how her faith inspired his spiritual reawakening.
"I’m sorry, they have been married for 11 years and he is somehow still hoping she will change religions? And saying it in public?" wrote Democratic strategist Ally Sammarco on X. "If I’m her, I’m PISSED."
Canadian media personality Ezra Levant fired off a now-deleted tweet, "It’s weird to throw your wife’s religion under the bus, in public, for a moment’s acceptance by groypers."
"No one criticized your faith, JD. The concern is that you publicly downplayed your wife’s Hindu identity to appease a political base uncomfortable with it. Sharing faith is one thing. Rewriting someone else’s is another," another X user noted.
Vance fired back Friday afternoon on X, excoriating Levant directly.
"What a disgusting comment, and it's hardly been the only one along these lines," he wrote. "My Christian faith tells me the Gospel is true and is good for human beings. My wife--as I said at the TPUSA--is the most amazing blessing I have in my life. She herself encouraged me to reengage with my faith many years ago. She is not a Christian and has no plans to convert, but like many people in an interfaith marriage--or any interfaith relationship--I hope she may one day see things as I do," he wrote.
"Regardless, I'll continue to love and support her and talk to her about faith and life and everything else, because she's my wife. Third, posts like this wreak of anti-Christian bigotry," Vance continued. "Yes, Christians have beliefs. And yes, those beliefs have many consequences, one of which is that we want to share them with other people. That is a completely normal thing, and anyone who's telling you otherwise has an agenda."
Kirk, donning a stark white "Freedom" T-shirt in homage to her assassinated husband, gleefully introduced Vance as a "dear friend" before pulling him into a prolonged embrace.
Video footage, shared widely on X, captured Kirk cupping the back of Vance's head then stroking his arm before strutting away in skin-tight leather pants.
Vance reciprocated by gripping her waist firmly, then — as she turned to exit the stage — appeared to swat playfully near her backside, drawing gasps from the crowd and swift condemnation online.
As the Ole Miss lights dim on Vance's pandering circus, the stench of betrayal hangs thicker than Mississippi humidity: a craven politician hawking his wife's sacred heritage for cheap claps while pawing at a comely widow onstage.
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