It’s hard to laugh at a bad joke. And in a clip posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, it looked like Usha Vance was bracing herself as her husband JD Vance said, “… Because the cameras are all on — anything that I say, no matter how crazy, Usha has to smile and laugh and celebrate.” It must’ve sounded like a better joke in JD’s head, because all it really admitted was that, well, Usha probably doesn’t want to be smiling and laughing at whatever crazy thing JD says in front of the whole world. It didn’t help that the video clip showed Usha looking completely trapped on stage.

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Vance: Here’s the thing. The cameras are all on; anything I say, no matter how crazy, she has to smile, laugh, and celebrate it. pic.twitter.com/KO36G1D7ju

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 14, 2025

One user on X was also not in on the joke, posting, “His attempt at humor is always tasteless … or is that just me?” Another user put it most succinctly by saying, “She looks miserable.” And they were right, Usha looking unhappy was perhaps the most telling throughline in the replies, with some going so far as to question whether the joke was a threat or telling her to run. But one user took a more party-wide view of the situation by posting, “Political spouses who just sit there grinning like puppets aren’t admirable. They’re useless. And it’s 2025. Women aren’t props.” While Usha may simply not find her husband funny (not uncommon), we do know that JD is very attentive of her. Just ask him about her green pants.

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While JD Vance appeared to find it funny to have his wife Usha Vance as an on-stage sidekick designed to smile, he should remember everything Usha has had to deal with since becoming second lady. In fact, Usha spoke to Fox News‘ Ainsley Earhardt about suddenly being a topic of public discussion and dealing with negative press about her husband, saying, “Sometimes I do see it and say, well this is not the JD I know, this is not accurate.” But she later added that, “I’ve gotten kinda accustomed to it and grown a bit of a thick skin.” We wonder if her skin was thick enough for when they were both embarrassingly booed on their night out at The Kennedy Center?

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But on an even more personal level, Usha has also been the subject of racist remarks, with JD appearing on “Face the Nation” to push back on people who did not approve of him having a non-white wife. JD responded to the hate by saying, “I signed up for it. My wife didn’t sign up for it,” adding that, “By the way she’s way out of their league … So I wished they’d just keep their mouth shut.” And while it was an honorable defense of Usha, based on his newly made comments about her having to smile and laugh, we can’t help but feel like she might also wish he’d keep his mouth shut sometimes.