The MAGA movement has been at a crossroads over the personality and actions of Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk’s widow, since the tragic assassination of the Turning Point USA founder.
For months, liberals and some conservatives have spread theories that Erika and Vice President J.D. Vance were engaged in a mysterious, secretive affair.
These claims were fueled by remarks made by Erika, in which she said that there would never be anyone like her husband, but Vance has many similarities to Charlie. In addition to this, the new Turning Point CEO also hugged Vance and put her hand on the back of his head.
In an interview with Megyn Kelly, Erika dismissed the rumors and lambasted those who believe her hug had romantic intentions behind it. “Whoever is hating on a hug needs a hug themselves,” she said.
Fueling speculation further, Second Lady Usha Vance was seen on multiple occasions without her wedding ring, leading many to believe that a divorce between the vice president and second lady had occurred but not been made public.
Nonetheless, Vance said that while such theories do put strain on his marriage with Usha, a divorce is not in the cards.
Despite his fierce dismissal, reports show that Usha is consistently seeking political and personal advice from First Lady Melania Trump on how to navigate the troubled waters ahead.
The second lady has said that, given her role and limited time availability, she occasionally forgets her wedding ring. Yet, this hasn’t changed the minds of many.
As the Daily Mail pointed out, during President Donald Trump’s first term, Melania was subjected to speculation and criticism from the media. The first lady, six years ago, was seen wearing a parka with the following message: “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” She wore such an attire while visiting a child detention center in Texas. Given this, Democrats immediately assumed that Melania was criticizing her husband’s immigration policies. As it turned out, the first lady wasn’t.
Usha now faces a similar fate, with the mainstream media and Democrats interpreting her actions a certain way.
Usha and Melania have been spotted together attending a slew of high-profile events in the past months. Most notably, however, the duo was seen addressing troops at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where the second lady was seen without her wedding ring.
With rumors exploding across the internet, a spokesman for the second lady said that she is “a mother of three young children, who does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths, and forgets her ring sometimes.”
One would believe that, from a political standpoint, Usha’s aides would ensure she never walked out of the vice presidential residence without her wedding ring again. Except that’s exactly what happened.
On Monday, the second lady visited Joint Base Andrews in Maryland with Melania, where she once again failed to wear the ring.
The vice president addressed the shocking rumors on Thursday.
“Oh, it’s funny,” he said, before recalling Usha’s reaction to not getting her ring after getting out of the shower to prepare for an event.
“She was like, ‘Oh, if I don’t go back and get them, there’s going to be some ridiculous psycho who talks about it on social media,’ Vance said. “And I was like, let them. It’s not even worth the trip to run back upstairs. So we actually have a little bit of fun with it. And we thought that whole viral social media cycle was kind of funny.”
