After the death of Charlie Kirk, Second Lady Usha Vance reportedly started to worry about her husband, Vice President JD Vance. Seeking answers, JD, who was friends with Charlie, allegedly started embracing conspiracy theories, which led him down “countless online rabbit holes,” according to New York Times journalists Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman.
In their book, Regime Change, the journalists claimed that he was so “consumed” by conspiracy theories related to Charlie’s death. His obsession was bad enough that his wife noticed something was up.
He is said to have focused on “the most negative possibilities.”
The journalists wrote that Vance’s “instincts told him that there was a larger plot behind the murder,” per The New Republic. Because of this, he reportedly “went down countless online rabbit holes, becoming so consumed by the videos and the theories that his wife, Usha, told him she was worried about him.” There have, of course, been a ton of conspiracy theories spreading online after Charlie’s death. It’s unclear which theories Vance embraced, but the report makes it clear that he was obsessing over them enough for his wife to notice and see it as a problem.
Usha has not actually commented on this directly. However, Charlie’s wife, Erika Kirk, has said that JD and Usha have shown her a lot of support as she grieves. She described them both as “the most incredible people” who have shown her “genuine love.”
JD has said that Charlie’s death made his wife want a fourth child.
Previously, when talking about how Charlie’s death impacted him, JD said that he and his wife decided to prioritize having another child after a heartbreaking conversation with Erika. In his own book, JD wrote that “something changed” in his wife (who previously wasn’t sure if she wanted to be pregnant again) after “Erika told Usha between sobs that she regretted having only two kids with Charlie.”
He later described it differently, saying he’s not sure if this comment from Erika really impacted his wife all that much. It did, however, impact him. “For me, at least, that like really drove it home,” JD said during a podcast appearance. “I don’t know that it had the same effect on Usha. I think Usha’s just much more analytical about this stuff and had kind of been getting there in her own way, but for me it was like, ‘We have to have a fourth baby.’ And she got pregnant like six weeks later.”
People can understand why Usha would be worried about her husband after Charlie’s death.
Obviously, Charlie’s death really affected him. However, some critics of the Trump administration took issue with the whole “Usha was worried about him” part of the allegations. They acted like she should have started worrying about him long before he allegedly started embracing these particular conspiracy theories.
“Is that the only thing that alarmed his wife??” one person questioned on Reddit. And of all the things he’s done that could raise alarm bells, was his seeking answers after his friend’s death really the thing that did that for her? “This? THIS is what alarmed his wife? THIS?!” someone else wrote.
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