Speak to many current member of the Republican party about January 6 back in 2021 and nearly all of the ‘moderates’ will have spoken out against it. Go back further still and even more will say that Trump would be a bad president, or a danger.

Its interesting to see how feeble some political beliefs can be when a modicum of power meets the nostrils of those who would be interested in it. Take J.D. Vance, who called Trump a “bad candidate, and frankly a really bad person,” is now a hair’s-breadth from joining his boss in the White House as vice-president.

Another member of the Vance family has been drawn into this ring of power, Vance’s wife, Usha. According to a Washington Post report, Usha Vance privately shared her deep concerns about the Capitol riots with friends. A close confidant, speaking anonymously, revealed that she was “outraged by Trump’s incitement of the deadly riot at the US Capitol and lamented the social breakdown that fueled his political support”.

The same friend stated that Usha was “generally appalled by Trump, from the moment of his first election”.

These reported views stand in stark contrast to her current public stance. At the Republican National Convention, where Donald Trump announced J.D. Vance as his running mate, Usha Vance was seen supporting her husband and the former president. Though she was previously a registered Democrat, she has since aligned with the Republican Party.

Who is Usha Vance?

Born Usha Chilukuri, she is a prominent lawyer. Raised in San Diego by Indian immigrant parents, she excelled academically, earning a BA from Yale and an MPhil from Cambridge University as a Gates Scholar. Usha met J.D. at Yale Law School, where their partnership began during a class project on social issues, leading to their marriage in 2014.

Professionally, Usha has clerked for Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts and worked as a trial lawyer at Munger, Tolles & Olson.