JD Vance calls out racist attacks on wife Usha
Vice President JD Vance has condemned attacks on his wife in a recent magazine interview, saying they “can eat shit” and singling out white supremacist Nick Fuentes over his racist remarks...
The Rebel Yellow - Issue #162
The Trump administration has moved to tighten immigration and increase oversight of cultural institutions, pausing the diversity visa lottery indefinitely and threatening to withhold federal funding from the Smithsonian unless it complies with a political content review. Officials said the visa pause followed a deadly shooting involving a former lottery recipient, while critics warn the move adds uncertainty for immigrant communities — including Asian Americans — already facing expanded travel bans and a sharp rise in denaturalization efforts.
At the same time, race and identity tensions surfaced within the Republican Party, with Vivek Ramaswamy and Vice President JD Vance publicly condemning racist attacks targeting Indian Americans, including Vance’s wife, Usha. Abroad, fighting along the Thailand-Cambodia border has displaced nearly one million people as ceasefire talks falter, while Japan approved the restart of the world’s largest nuclear power plant for the first time since Fukushima, reflecting growing pressure to secure energy and cut emissions.
Trump admin pauses diversity visa program
The Trump administration has indefinitely paused the diversity visa program after the Brown University shooting suspect was identified as a green card holder who entered the country through the lottery-based system.
Driving the news: A State Department spokesperson announced last Friday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has “indefinitely paused the issuance of diversity visas until we can be sure we know exactly who we are letting into our country.” The decision came after Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old former Brown student from Portugal who received a similar visa in 2017, allegedly killed two Brown students on Dec. 13 and an MIT professor two days later. Authorities discovered him dead last Thursday night.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the action, describing it to Fox News as “a dangerous program” in which participants are “chosen by a lottery draw and given the benefits of standing alongside American citizens.” Under the program, the State Department randomly selects up to 55,000 applicants annually from nations with historically low U.S. immigration levels, though candidates must still pass security screenings and demonstrate either completion of high school or two years of specialized work experience.
What this means: The pause creates new uncertainty for Asian American communities already facing expanded enforcement policies. While most fiscal 2026 diversity visa participants came from Africa, with Asia ranking second and Europe third, the suspension arrives alongside other restrictive measures that disproportionately affect Asian immigrants. Last week, the Trump administration expanded travel bans to 39 nations and directed agencies to process 100 to 200 denaturalization referrals monthly, a sharp increase from the 16 average annual cases during the Biden presidency.
The stakes are particularly high for Asian communities given their immigration patterns. India, the Philippines and Vietnam were among the five leading source countries for over 800,000 individuals who became citizens during fiscal 2024. With 63% of Asian immigrants holding naturalized citizenship compared to 52% among all foreign-born residents — and countries like Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos showing naturalization rates above 80% — these communities face greater exposure to the administration’s denaturalization push.
The big picture: Trump has sought to end the diversity program throughout his political career, particularly after a 2017 New York City terrorist attack that killed eight people was carried out by an Uzbek national who had entered through the lottery system. The program itself was created following the Immigration Act of 1965, which eliminated country quotas that previously favored European immigrants. When Asian and Latin American immigration subsequently increased while European immigration fell, Irish American lawmakers responded by passing a 1986 temporary provision for nations “adversely affected” by the quota elimination. Sen. Chuck Schumer later made this a permanent program.
The diversity visa pause is part of a broader immigration overhaul under the administration. Around two million undocumented immigrants have left the country in 2025 under heightened enforcement, with the DHS now offering $3,000 payments to individuals who voluntarily depart by Dec. 31. On the legal immigration side, the administration plans to replace the H-1B visa lottery with a wage-based weighting system starting in 2027, prioritizing positions offering higher compensation.
The DHS has stopped processing green card applications for diversity visa lottery winners currently residing in the U.S.
Ramaswamy condemns GOP intolerance at Turning Point USA conference
Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy used a speech at AmericaFest in Phoenix on Dec. 20 to condemn rising intolerance within the Republican Party, including ethnic attacks aimed at Indian Americans and Second Lady Usha Vance. The remarks marked one of Ramaswamy’s strongest rebukes of far-right rhetoric, though his decision to speak out came only after similar language had been directed at him personally months earlier.
Rejecting ancestry-based definitions of American identity
In his speech, the 40-year-old Cincinnati-born son of immigrants from Kerala rejected attempts to define American identity by lineage or genetics, describing the idea of a “heritage American” as a growing strain within parts of the online right. “There is no American who is more American than somebody else,” Ramaswamy said.
He warned that ancestry-based standards would exclude figures across the political spectrum, including elected officials and public servants whose families immigrated to the United States. Ramaswamy framed the issue as a test of whether conservatism would remain rooted in constitutional principles or move toward ethnic gatekeeping.
Calling out attacks on Usha Vance
Ramaswamy drew sustained applause when he addressed slurs aimed at Usha Vance, whose parents immigrated from India. “If you call Usha Vance, the second lady of the United States of America, a JEET, you have no place in the future of the conservative movement,” he said.
The remark stood out for its specificity and directness at a conference where leading Republican figures have generally avoided addressing harassment aimed at family members. Vice President JD Vance has not publicly responded to attacks directed at his wife, instead focusing his remarks on party unity and free speech.
Scrutiny over selective timing
Ramaswamy, an investor and entrepreneur, touched on these themes earlier in a recent New York Times opinion essay that also promoted large-scale national projects, including a proposed moon base, as a way to restore a shared sense of civic purpose. In the essay, he wrote about the ethnic hostility he has faced online and contrasted lineage-based views of American identity with citizenship grounded in constitutional allegiance.
It’s worth noting that Ramaswamy’s most direct challenge to far-right rhetoric followed months of skepticism from Republican voters and online attacks targeting his Indian heritage and Hindu faith, rather than emerging earlier as similar language circulated more broadly within conservative spaces.
JD Vance calls out racist attacks on wife Usha
Vice President JD Vance has condemned attacks on his wife in a recent magazine interview, saying they “can eat shit” and singling out white supremacist Nick Fuentes over his racist remarks.
Catch up: The vice president’s comments on UnHerd came after he was asked whether he disavows Fuentes, who has attacked his family with racist remarks. Described by the Anti-Defamation League as a white supremacist whose “antisemitic commentary largely focuses on themes of Jewish power and Holocaust denial,” Fuentes has attacked the Vance family with racist remarks, using a racial slur against Usha Vance and calling the vice president a “race traitor” during one of his livestreams over his wife and children’s Indian heritage.
Vance also called out MSNOW host and former Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki for comments on the “I’ve Had It” podcast in October that suggested the second lady needed rescuing from her marriage. “On Fuentes, I’ve criticized him in the past, but let me be clear: anyone who attacks my wife, whether their name is Jen Psaki or Nick Fuentes, can eat shit. That’s my official policy as vice president of the United States,” Vance told UnHerd.
A history of attacks: As the Rebel Yellow previously reported, the racist attacks against Usha began when her husband joined the 2024 ticket, which later made her the first Indian American second lady in U.S. history. Following President Donald Trump’s July 2024 running mate announcement, Fuentes used his podcast to question Vance’s immigration stance. “Do we really expect that the guy who has an Indian wife and named their kid Vivek is going to support white identity?” Fuentes questioned while promoting claims about “white genocide.”
At the time, Vance acknowledged the racist backlash with Megyn Kelly, saying “Obviously, she’s not a white person, and we’ve been accused, attacked by some white supremacists over that” but stopped short of publicly condemning such attackers. The scrutiny of Usha continued this month when Vance claimed that mass migration is “theft of the American Dream,” prompting Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), for one, to respond with a photo of Vance and his wife’s family, writing, “By your own logic, your wife’s entire family is ‘stealing the American dream.’”
Zoom out: Vance’s now-forceful defense of his wife comes amid growing speculation about their relationship and his careful positioning within a fractured Republican base. Photos surfaced recently showing Usha without her wedding ring on two occasions, fueling rumors that Vance dismissed as their marriage is “as strong as it’s ever been.”
The vice president also faces pressure from some conservatives to publicly reject not only Fuentes but also his longtime ally Tucker Carlson, who hosted Fuentes on his show this fall. At Sunday’s Turning Point USA AmericaFest in Phoenix, the group’s first major gathering since founder Charlie Kirk’s murder, Vance resisted such calls, saying “President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless, self-defeating purity tests.” Some critics, however, argue that he is being politically calculated.
Trump admin threatens to withhold Smithsonian funding over content review
The White House has threatened to withhold federal funding from the Smithsonian Institution unless it submits comprehensive documentation for a political content review by Jan. 13.
