Usha Vance has finally addressed the controversy surrounding her husband, JD Vance, backing a racist staff. Marko Elez, a 25-year-old DOGE employee, was rehired after Elon Musk conducted a social media vote for the same. Elez became known for his racist and inflammatory content targeting Indians, which he posted via his now-deleted X (formerly Twitter) account.
Following a series of Xenophobic posts, he had to resign from DOGE but was eventually reinstated. Marko’s offensive posts clearly showed his racist mindset. In one post, he wrote, “Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool.” In another, he declared, “You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity.” However, perhaps his most controversial post was when he called for “Normalize Indian hate.”
People were outraged to see how boldly he expressed his India hate, and his resignation as a DOGE employee seemed like a fitted ending. However, not too long after, Elon Musk, who has been serving as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, called for his reinstatement.
He conducted a poll on X, leaving the ultimate decision to his followers. “Bring back @DOGE staffer who made inappropriate statements via a now-deleted pseudonym?” wrote Musk.
Bring back @DOGE staffer who made inappropriate statements via a now deleted pseudonym?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2025
The situation drew further attention when JD Vance openly supported the rehiring of Marko Elez. People were shocked to see the Vice President stepping in to save the racist staffer, given his wife Usha is an Indian herself. On Social media, many even urged Mrs. Vance to get a divorce from her husband.
Following the outrage, Vance decided to defend himself. On X, he wrote, “Here’s my view: I obviously disagree with some of Elez’s posts, but I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life. We shouldn’t reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever. So I say bring him back. If he’s a bad dude or a terrible member of the team, fire him for that.”
Here’s my view:
I obviously disagree with some of Elez’s posts, but I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life.
We shouldn’t reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever.
So I say bring him back.
If he’s a bad dude or a terrible member of… https://t.co/OgG6Z3hKPE
— JD Vance (@JDVance) February 7, 2025
His response further shocked people, who questioned how he could support the reinstatement of someone whose views directly hurt his wife and her family’s heritage. Even Ro Khanna, a Democratic representative, who is also Indian, couldn’t help but state, “Are you going to tell him to apologize for saying ‘Normalize Indian hate’ before this rehire? Just asking for the sake of both of our kids.”
Now, Usha Vance has finally responded to JD Vance’s statement from February. Speaking with the Free Press, the Second Lady said, “Do I think it’s great when people talk about ‘normalizing Indian hate’ or something like that? Absolutely not. I think it’s terrible.”
🚨 Usha Vance breaks silence on “Normalize Indian Hate” scandal:
🗣️ “Absolutely not. I think it’s terrible.”
As the 1st Indian-American Second Lady, she confronts racism head-on—even as VP J.D. Vance backs the staffer who made the slur.
Identity. Power. Politics.🔥#UshaVance pic.twitter.com/oeTkXlie2H
— HotTakeInsight (@HotTakeInsight) April 9, 2025
“I think it’s our relationship to this information…that is potentially new,” she added. Usha noted while such racism is nothing new, the way it’s spread through social media is alarming. “Very, very intelligent people say things that are sometimes very, very ill-founded because we are now in this world in which all conversations happen based on limited information very quickly, without the kind of reflection that might have been possible before.”
