Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) said he “disavows” far-right white supremacist Nick Fuentes, who criticized Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, for her Indian heritage, while arguing the best response is to “ignore” the attacks.
Fuentes, who dined at Mar-a-Lago with former President Trump in 2022, went after Vance and his family after he joined the former president’s reelection ticket last month.
“Who is this guy, really? Do we really expect that the guy who has an Indian wife and named their kid Vivek is going to support white identity?” Fuentes said of Vance last month.
When asked on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” about the comments, Vance said they “don’t have any room in the MAGA movement.”
“And of course — and of course Donald Trump has criticized this person. Look, I think the guy’s a total loser. Certainly, I disavow him. But if you ask me what I care more about, is it a person attacking me personally, or is it government policy that discriminates based on race? That’s what I really worry about,” Vance continued, “is bad government policy that harms people based on their immutable characteristics. Look, a lot of losers are going to attack me and attack my family.”
“I think the proper response to them is to ignore them. Don’t feed the trolls, and they largely go away,” he added.
While he did not initially condemn the comments, Vance acknowledged the white supremacist attacks against his wife last month.
“Look, I love my wife so much. I love her because she’s who she is,” he told host Megyn Kelly on her show last month. “Obviously, she’s not a white person, and we’ve been accused, attacked by some white supremacists over that. But I just, I love Usha.”
“She’s such a good mom,” Vance added of his wife. “She’s such a brilliant lawyer, and I’m so proud of her. But yes, her experience has given me some perspective on the way in which it’s really hard for working families in this country.”
Trump’s meeting with Fuentes in 2022 drew harsh criticism, even by many in his own party. The meeting also included the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who said he’d stoked the former president’s ire by asking Trump to be his running mate in 2024.
The Justice Department has labeled Fuentes a white supremacist, and he is known for his racist and antisemitic rhetoric. Ye, too, came under fire for antisemitic comments.
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