Former Yale Law classmates of JD and Usha Vance revealed the reason why President Donald Trump's vice president will not condemn far-right influencer and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, according to a new Vanity Fair report on Wednesday.
The couple's former peers have formed a private chat on Signal, where they discuss their shock at the couple's MAGA political rise, Vanity Fair reported. And as Fuentes, a right-wing figure, has attacked Usha Vance over her race, JD Vance has proven just as reluctant to call out his movement's fringes, even in defense of his own family.
In December 2025, during Turning Point USA's annual convention, JD Vance voiced his opposition to "purity tests" as a heated debate was underway over whether Fuentes should be platformed by the right given his antisemitic views.
"I didn’t bring a list of conservatives to denounce or to deplatform," Vance said. He suggested that the right-wing movement "should welcome anyone who loves America," saying, "white or black, rich or poor, young or old, rural or urban, controversial or a little bit boring, or somewhere in between."
The Vances' classmates described why the statement was so telling.
"Usha must have been okay with it," the former classmate told Vanity Fair. "JD is an old-fashioned man who wants to protect his family, and unless she went along with it, he never would have not defended her. He is quick to anger and he’s very loyal. The choice not to criticize Nick Fuentes and people like him in the Republican Party—that is a choice."
"As JD has ascended, Usha has made real sacrifices: giving up a legal career, absorbing racist attacks, and dealing with threats to her family’s safety, including a planned attack against Trump and his top officials during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25," Vanity Fair reported. "Whether her personal beliefs fully align with her husband’s, or with those of the party he now represents, may matter less than it once would have."