Months ago, a little anecdote Vice President JD Vance shared about expanding his family sparked a ton of backlash online. Apparently, it was not enough to inspire much self-reflection or editing of his speech, because he recently told the same story again — and continued to disgust people.
To those who defend JD, the anecdote is lighthearted and not that deep. But his critics think it is that deep, actually. Because they think the way he tells the story says a lot about how he thinks about his wife, bodily autonomy, and women in general.
JD once again suggested that his wife was more reluctant to have a fourth child.
Oh this is DISGUSTING https://t.co/rFLRWD1wXk
— mavsmarie (@mavsmarie) August 24, 2026
Both JD and his wife, Usha Vance, have said that she wasn’t totally opposed to welcoming another child, but she had some reservations. They’ve offered different explanations for how they reached a point where they decided they wanted to expand their family. JD has said that Charlie Kirk’s death played a significant role. He later admitted that Charlie’s death was a major factor for him, but not necessarily for his wife. Instead, he thought that she “had kind of been getting there in her own way.”
But the anecdote he recently repeated has raised concerns that he put some pressure on his wife to welcome another child with him.
He has boasted about being “persuasive.”
This doesn’t land with women the way he thinks it does. https://t.co/cP6jmTrmkx
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) August 24, 2026
And while JD seems to think this is a flex, his critics definitely disagree (and actually find it “disgusting”). At a recent event in Maine, JD reiterated the same story that disturbed people the first time he told it.
He claimed that when President Donald Trump asked him to be his running mate, Usha told him he could pick one: running with Trump or having a fourth child. And yet, JD is currently vice president and he and his wife also recently welcomed their fourth child together. JD has seemed super proud when he’s asserted that he managed to do both of these things, in spite of what his wife told him.
Meanwhile, some of his critics felt sorry for his wife. “The second lady said, ‘Well, you can have one of two things. You can be vice president, or you can have a fourth child,'” JD said during his speech. “Ladies and gentlemen, I must be pretty persuasive, because I got both.”
His word choice really gave people the ick. Persuasive? Really? “What a strange thing to say out loud,” one critic wrote on X. Several people pointed out that the phrasing made it sound coercive. “No, he is repulsive,” another person commented. “He didn’t respect his wife’s wishes.”
People also accused him of trying to appeal to men but “alienating women” in the process.
Vance tries to show off for younger men but he just ends up alienating more womenhttps://t.co/fRfOQaRVOP
— Nick Field (@nick_field90) August 24, 2026
Others were confused by what he was trying to achieve by telling this story. “Can he really be this stupid?” one critic questioned. Because people did not find it impressive, funny, or relevant, even. “So Vance disregarded his wife’s feelings about a couple of their most major life decisions as a couple and now he’s bragging about it?” another person wrote.
People also accused him of publicly “humiliating” his wife. “I feel second hand embarrassment for Usha,” a third commenter said. And someone else added, “I feel sorry for his wife, for so many reasons.”
READ NEXT: Usha Vance Admits She Doesn’t Always Agree With JD Vance
