Vice President J.D. Vance was hit with immediate mockery on Friday after he defended Marko Elez, the recently fired Department of Government Efficiency staffer who was exposed for making racist comments earlier this week.
Writing on X, Vance argued that "I obviously disagree with some of Elez’s posts, but I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life."
Vance added that "we shouldn’t reward journalists who try to destroy people... so I say bring him back. If he’s a bad dude or a terrible member of the team, fire him for that."
Among Elez's "foolish" past social media posts were declarations to "normalize Indian hate," which in theory should be of particular interest to Vance given that his wife, Usha Vance, is the daughter of Indian immigrants.
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Given this, many of Vance's followers on social media wondered what Usha thought of him defending someone who says that he hates her and her family.
"The VP of the United States says it’s worse to be a journalist shining a light on racist behavior than it is to say racist things," wrote journalist Ryan Satin. "Insane. This man has an Indian wife and children, and doesn’t even have the balls to stand up against racism towards them. What a bad husband and dad."
"Elez wanted to normalize Indian hate, you’re standing up for him, and your wife is Indian," commented another of Vance's followers. "Usha deserves way better bro."
"Defending the kid who called for normalizing 'Indian hate' how does this dude go home and look his wife and kids in the face," wondered Kevin Saucedo-Broach.
Other followers took issue with Vance describing the 25-year-old Enez as a "kid," particularly when the Trump administration gave him access to some of the most sensitive data collected by the United States federal government.
"So he's a racist kid with no impulse control, but he should have access to the system that doles out trillions of dollars of the federal budget and see all of our personal information," wrote journalist Emily Singer.
The Bulwark's Sam Stein, meanwhile, expressed bewilderment that Vance was acting more like a spectator on social media rather than someone who had influence within the administration.
"I'm having trouble following this," he wrote on Friday. "If they all want the guy who made racist tweets to have remained on staff then who decided to let him go in the first place? No one forced them to fire the guy."
