The Infuriating Hypocrisy of Usha Vance

The Second Lady thinks kids should read more. Too bad the Trump administration wants to defund the nation's libraries.

Usha Vance recently launched a podcast called “Storytime with the Second Lady.” It’s possible you missed this news, given how much has been going on lately. But in an interview with NBC News, Vance described the podcast as “an advertisement for reading… a way of getting people to think about books again, as a form of entertainment that they can turn to instead of all sorts of other things.”

In each episode of the podcast — which, like most podcasts these days, is really more of a YouTube show you can half-watch while doing other things — Vance briefly interviews a celebrity guest, who then reads a children’s book aloud. In the premiere, Vance reads Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit and talks about her family’s love of books. In subsequent episodes, former NASCAR driver (and MAGA enthusiast) Danica Patrick reads Cars, the book version of the popular Pixar movie, while author and paralympian Brent Poppen shares his book Playground Lessons, about a boy in a wheelchair. The set is decorated with Lego sculptures by the Vances’ children, a fake bookshelf backdrop, and a small, random assortment of actual books (including the decidedly Canadian Anne of Green Gables, Mickey: Get Ready For Fun! and A White House Alphabet).

The three episodes released so far have garnered an average of about 6,000 views each, and seem unlikely to ignite a newfound passion for reading among the nation’s school children. At first glimpse, Vance may be more charismatic than her husband, but so is your average corpse; on-camera, she is wooden and tightly wound, clearly better suited to the world of corporate law than to her newfound role as a would-be children’s TV host. Ms. Rachel, she most definitely is not.

One of the weirdest parts of the show is that, so far, it features no actual children, which will likely make it a tough sell with the young audience Vance is trying to reach. I showed the first episode to my seven-year-old, the ultimate critic, who quickly asked, “Do I have to watch this whole thing?” (I would share the public’s comments from YouTube, but unfortunately they are turned off.)

Think of Storytime with the Second Lady as Reading Rainbow, minus the 1980s PBS production values, the star power of LeVar Burton, the cheerful presence of actual children, or the range of captivating books selected by experienced educators.

But the real failure of Storytime is political, not aesthetic. Vance told NBC that she was inspired to create the podcast because, as the mother of three children (with a fourth on the way), she was troubled by declining literacy rates in young people: “This is really a long-term trend, not just a pandemic-related thing, and it’s worrisome.” She also cited her longstanding interest in education, which dates back to college, and the influence of her parents, who are college professors.

One problem with that aspiration: the administration her husband enthusiastically helps lead has actively sought to undermine the issues Vance purports to care about. The Trump White House has tried to defund and dismantle the Institute for Media and Library Services, which provides federal funding to museums and libraries across the country (including many in rural areas). It has defunded PBS, imperiling a wide array of free educational programming for kids. It has used executive orders and federal legislation to pressure schools into banning supposedly “objectionable” books. And it has taken steps to abolish the Department of Education.

Thankfully, not all these efforts are succeeding. Just this week, the American Library Association was able to stop the White House from decimating the IMLS. But the administration’s efforts so far indicate “not only an indifference to libraries, reading and information, but I would say, an antagonistic view toward [public] storytimes, people finding jobs, and learning new languages,” among other library offerings, said Sam Helmick, president of the ALA, in a phone interview Thursday.

“We should be reminding the public that readers are leaders…. If we want to be a robust and competitive but also secure nation, deep literacy skills are essential,” Helmick continued. “I’m not seeing any moves [by Trump] to increase access to after school programs or early literacy development, or even to regulate the price of e-books, which would help the American public access information more equitably.”

Rank hypocrisy is nothing new for members of the Trump-Vance administration and their spouses (see: Byron Noem), but there is something particularly galling about the apparent ease with which Vance has embraced the MAGA agenda. The daughter of academics and immigrants from India who have championed diversity on campuses, she resigned from her job at one of California’s most prestigious law firms to campaign for her husband, who has gleefully vilified immigrants, academics, career-oriented women, and members of the legal establishment — everything she represents. Just this week, Usha traveled with J.D. to Hungary, where he urged voters to save Western Civilization by voting for fellow immigrant-hater Viktor Orbán and used a tortured and alarmingly specific analogy about his wife jumping out of a plane to make a point about the war in Iran. (I think? No one is quite sure what he was trying to say, including — one might assume — the vice president himself.)

Vance’s interview with NBC News is mostly a tedious snoozefest, loaded with softball questions about family life and anecdotes about shopping at Costco that are supposed to make the Second Lady seem relatable to the average soccer mom. At no point does correspondent Kate Snow bring up the administration’s multi-pronged attacks on libraries, literacy, and early childhood education. (Or, for that matter, its attacks on countless other programs that benefit children and mothers.)

But it’s worth watching, if only for one moment, when Vance’s carefully controlled veneer cracks for a fleeting instant.

At one point later in the conversation (about 2:45 in this version), Snow awkwardly broaches the subject of the Second Lady’s apparent political conversion: “In 2014, you were a registered Democrat. You’re now clearly a Republican. You voted for your husband for Senate. That’s public knowledge. I wonder if you feel fully comfortable in the universe that you’re in now?”

Like a briefly malfunctioning robot, Vance blinks repeatedly, tilts her head to the side, and asks in a near-whisper. “What do you mean? I’m curious.” Of course, she knows exactly what Snow is asking — and why.

Her response is both polished and studiously vague. “I was myself in 2014. I can be myself today, and I feel very comfortable in that world,” she says, noting that her sometimes idiosyncratic views are tolerated inside Trumpworld because “everyone knows that I really care greatly about J.D.’s success.”

As much as she’s trying to avoid saying anything at all, Vance is actually telling on herself here, indicating that she cares more about her husband’s rise to power — and, by extension, her own — than about being consistent in her personal values or politics. With her gray-streaked hair and lack of visible cosmetic enhancements, Vance might not look like your average MAGA acolyte. But politically speaking, she is all in.

Childhood literacy would be an ideal cause for Vance to champion, if only she were also willing to confront her husband’s destructive policies. Instead, she’s done the last thing the world needs and launched yet another podcast.

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Meredith Blake is the culture columnist for The Contrarian