When in doubt, just keep talking. That seemed to be Donald Trump’s strategy when he made the awkward slip-up, appearing to forget the name of the second lady of the United States, Usha Vance. In a clip posted to X, formerly Twitter, a reporter asked Trump about Usha and the National Security Advisor’s upcoming trip to Greenland. Trump’s response felt like a classic example of breaking into a jog after tripping, hoping no one noticed. Trump said of Usha, “I have great respect for, uh, the wife of our first, uh, of our great vice president.” The deliberate pauses as Trump said “uh” clearly seemed like placeholders for him trying to remember JD Vance’s wife’s name. But hey, at least he’s trying. His own wife, Melania Trump, doesn’t seem to talk to Usha at all.
Trump: The wife of our great vice president… she loves the concept of Greenland so she’s going there. Marco is going there. Some others are going there. We’ve been invited and they really like the idea pic.twitter.com/zAloyFcbCI
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 24, 2025
Per usual, Trump tried to repair the awkward mistake by then heaping on the compliments, saying, “I think she’s doing a… She’s a brilliant woman. She’s a very nice woman,” then adding the confusing claim that “she loves the concept of Greenland.” Though, in Trump’s defense, he seemed entirely unsure who would be joining Usha on the trip, saying, “She’s going there, and I think Marco’s going there, and some others are going there…” Honestly, with how vague the Greenland trip sounded, maybe the slip-up was less a result of Trump not knowing Usha’s name and more a result of him having no idea who’s going at all.
Usha Vance has not always been a Trump supporter
While Donald Trump may have been nothing but complimentary to Usha Vance while seeming to forget her name, he does have some reason to have beef with her -– namely that she was a big Hillary Clinton supporter in 2016. According to the Daily Beast, JD Vance told a friend that Usha planned to vote for Clinton, while the New York Times reported in 2024 that voting for the left appeared to run in her family, with her parents remaining true blue Democrats at the time. Consider it another of a few obvious differences that JD and Usha have compared to Donald and Melania.
However, Usha has come around to join her husband’s political party, and with her being sent around the world on official business for Trump, we wonder if she feels like she made the right choice. Much like us, users on X were quick to pick up on Trump appearing to forget her name. Another user poked fun at Trump’s impersonal description of Usha, offering an “Anchorman” quote to compare her to the mindless person Trump seemed to invoke, posting, “‘She loves the concept of Greenland.’ Really? Does she love lamp?”
Another user brought up the difficult task that Usha has ahead of her, all on behalf of a man who might not know her name, writing, “They were not invited and Greenland is furious about these people crashing in without an invitation. Lying about this brazenly is sinister.” Hopefully, Usha doesn’t have political party buyer’s remorse, but if worst comes to worst, maybe she can bust out one of her inappropriate outfits so Greenlanders can divert their anger towards something else.
