Usha Vance Dreams of Being Far from the White House

If Donald Trump abides by the Constitution—and, that’s a very big if—he will be unable to serve another term as president and, come January 20, 2029, will have to go home. While many things could change between now and then—maybe Trump will anoint himself king! Maybe Canada will take pity on the US and annex us!—Vice President JD Vance is currently favored to win the 2028 GOP primary, according to a new poll. What does second lady Usha Vance think of the prospect of moving to the White House in four years? Well, she doesn’t seem jazzed about the idea!

During an interview with Vance for the podcast Citizen McCain, Meghan McCain told the second lady, “There is not a small chance you could be our first lady in a few years” and asked, “Is that exciting? Is that something you think about?” To which Vance, sitting in a living room in her new house at the Naval Observatory, responded: “My attitude is that this a four year period where I have a set of responsibilities to my family to myself and obviously the country and that’s what I’m focused on. I’m not plotting out next steps or really trying for anything after this. In a dream world, eventually, I’ll be able to live in my home and kind of continue my career and all those sorts of things. And if that happens in four years, I understand. If that happens at some other point in the future, I understand. [I’m] just sort of along for the ride and enjoying it while I can.” Earlier in the interview, Vance told McCain that she and the vice president called their home in Ohio their “dream house” and “forever house” and that it’s the place she “feel[s] most at home.” During a question about date nights, she said “being anonymous in public is honestly the best of all dates for us because that is what a good life is supposed to be like. It’s like what a good life is like.”

Old friends of Vance recently told The New York Times that they are “bewildered by her transformation” and that she “may be the wife of the vice president…but she must be appalled by the Trump administration’s attacks on academia, law firms, judges, diversity programs and immigrants.” (Vance is the daughter of two Indian immigrants, who moved to California in the early ’80s.) On the other hand, friends told the Times, if the second lady is unhappy, we probably wouldn’t know.

The vice president himself suggested as much at an event in March, saying, of his wife, “I think she’s doing a great job as second lady of the United States. And here’s the thing: Because the cameras are all on, anything that I say, no matter how crazy, Usha has to smile and laugh and celebrate it.” Doubly so if Husband of the Year becomes president in 2028!