The most anti-immigrant and pro-evangelical presidential candidate in modern history has chosen as his running mate a man whose wife is the daughter of immigrants and is not Christian.
Donald Trump’s selection of JD Vance as his vice presidential candidate means the United States could, for the first time, have a Hindu Second Lady. Vance is married to Usha Chilukuri Vance, whose parents are originally from the state of Andhra Pradesh in India.
Usha Vance was born and raised in San Diego, Calif., but is fluent in Telugu, one of the six classical languages of India.
The Times of India ran a story July 16 that detailed the vice presidential candidate’s courtship and marriage story.
That article asserts: “Usha Chilukuri Vance’s Hindu faith has had a profound impact on JD Vance’s spiritual journey and personal development. Their story begins at Yale University, where JD, who had distanced himself from religious beliefs, met Usha. At this point, JD considered himself an atheist, having drifted away from his Christian upbringing. However, his encounter with Usha marked the beginning of a significant transformation in his life.
“Raised in a devout Hindu household, Usha brought with her a deep-rooted sense of spirituality and religious values. Her background instilled in her a strong belief in the power of faith, which she saw as a guiding force in her own life. This perspective played a crucial role in how she supported JD during his spiritual rediscovery.”
“Raised in a devout Hindu household, Usha brought with her a deep-rooted sense of spirituality and religious values.”
The couple’s 2014 wedding ceremony was conducted, in part, by a Hindu priest.
By 2019, JD Vance had converted to Catholicism and identifies with a movement known as “Catholic integralism.” America magazine, a Catholic publication, describes this as “an intellectual movement that, experts say, prefers a ‘soft power’ approach to exerting Christian influence over society. Thinkers in the movement herald the importance of a Christian ‘strategic adviser’ to people in power.”
Kevin Vallier, a professor at Bowling Green State University and expert in Catholic integralism, told RNS previously: “There’s the sense that the liberal order is so corrupt that elite Catholics have to find positions of influence and use them in a kind of noble and appropriate way.”
America also noted: “Harvard University’s Adrian Vermeule, a leader in the movement, stated that integralists once viewed Trump as a figure similar to Constantine the Great, the Roman emperor who converted to Christianity. Vermeule has also praised Trump by likening him to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a leader widely decried as being authoritarian.”
One difference between Usha Vance’s family and other immigrant families demonized by the previous Trump administration is that they are well off.
Her mother is a biologist and a college provost at the University of California, San Diego; her father is an engineer and a lecturer at the college of engineering at San Diego State University.
Trump has notoriously ridiculed and threatened immigrants, especially those from non-European countries that are predominantly white. Whether Usha Vance would be a mediating force on a possible new Trump administration is not known. Her husband previously was a strident anti-Trumper but more recently has embraced Trump’s anti-immigrant, pro-Christian stance.
Melania Trump and Donald Trump meet Narendra Modi before bilateral talks at the India and United States Summit in 2019. (Photo by Pallava Bagla/Corbis via Getty Images)
One of Trump’s GOP primary opponents, Vivek Ramaswamy, also is from India and is Hindu. The New Arab reported in March: “Ramaswamy is part of a growing trend of Republicans working with Hindu supremacist organizations in the U.S. to bring voters into the Trump movement.”
Trump has been called the American version of Narendra Modi, the strongman prime minister of India who is fiercely anti-Muslim.
As far back as 2016, Trump declared himself “a big fan of Hindu” and “a big fan of India.”
In 2022, Trump Donald acknowledged Hinduphobia and promised to build a Hindu holocaust memorial in Washington, D.C.
The Times of India reported: “During a Diwali event organized by Republican Hindu Coalition at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Donald Trump said that he totally endorsed the idea of building a Hindu holocaust memorial in D.C. He also said that it was because of Hindus that his party won the 2016 presidential elections.”
Although most Indian American voters historically cast their ballots for Democrats, a sizable minority voted for Trump in 2016. That support waned in 2020, however, a factor Trump apparently wants to reverse in 2024.
Barron’s reported this week that a Hindu hardline group in India prayed for the enemies of Donald Trump to be “wiped out” after the failed assassination attempt.
“Trump has a sizable following among right-wing Hindu groups, who see the populist former U.S. leader and White House hopeful a kindred spirit aligned with their hostility towards Muslims,” the paper reported. “Their adulation has been bolstered by the warm relationship between him and Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, himself accused of discriminating against India’s largest religious minority.
“Around a dozen members of the Hindu Army activist group sat inside a temple in the capital New Delhi to conduct a ritual around an open fire, chanting prayers for Trump’s victory in November elections.”