00:00Now, most Sundays Usha will come with me to church.
00:02Is J.D. Vance biting the hand that feeds him?
00:05I believe in the Christian gospel and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way.
00:10This is the U.S. Vice President standing at a Christian student event in Mississippi,
00:14talking about his wife Usha who was raised Hindu.
00:17He tells the crowd he hopes she'll embrace Christianity one day.
00:21Do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by church?
00:27Yeah, I honestly do wish that.
00:30Now, that sounds like a personal thought until you realize where he's saying it.
00:34In a room full of conservative Christians.
00:36And that's what makes this moment feel off.
00:39Because this wasn't about his marriage.
00:41It was about messaging.
00:42Vance knew exactly who he was speaking to and he gave them what they wanted to hear.
00:46A story of faith, order and conversion.
00:49A classic politician move.
00:51The irony?
00:52He has always called Usha his spirit guide, his anchor.
00:56And he's admitted it was Usha who taught him how to use cutlery.
00:59How to move through spaces that once made him feel out of place.
01:02In his memoir, he even wrote about feeling lost at Yale.
01:06Unsure how to fit in.
01:07Until Usha showed him the rules of that world.
01:10She helped him belong.
01:11And now he's framing her as the one who still needs to be guided.
01:14Because Usha hasn't converted.
01:16She's never said she plans to.
01:18Reports say she continues to engage with both faiths.
01:21Attending church with JD while staying connected to her Hindu roots.
01:25So why frame it like she might?
01:26Why make her belief part of this public talking points?
01:30The Hindu American foundation didn't hold back.
01:32If you want your wife to engage with Christianity, they said,
01:35maybe you should engage with her Hinduism.
01:38God says everybody has free will.
01:40So when JD Vance stands on stage and talks about his wife's free will,
01:44it's less about her freedom and more about his alignment.
01:47He wants voters to see a picture-perfect Christian family,
01:50even if the reality is far more layered.
01:52Because in today's America, especially the one Vance is trying to represent,
01:55faith isn't just personal, it's political capital.
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