Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki sparked widespread backlash on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, after making controversial comments about Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, during an appearance on the liberal podcast “I’ve Had It.” The MSNBC host questioned the state of the Vances’ marriage and suggested that Mrs. Vance might need to be “saved” from her husband, drawing sharp criticism from conservative media figures and the White House.
During her conversation with podcast hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan, Psaki characterized the 41-year-old vice president as a “little Manchurian candidate” who “wants to be president more than anything else.” She went on to claim that Vance’s youth and political ambitions made him more dangerous than President Donald Trump, describing him as a chameleon willing to reshape himself to appeal to any audience.
“I always wonder what’s going on in the mind of his wife,” Psaki stated. “Like, are you OK? Please blink four times. We’ll come over here. We’ll save you.”
The podcast episode’s description doubled down on the remark, with its caption reading “Usha Vance, please blink twice if you need help.” The episode was titled “Devil Wears MAGA.”
Usha Vance, a Yale-educated attorney of Indian descent, has given no public indication of marital difficulties. The couple has three children together, and she has been actively supporting her husband’s political career, including accompanying him on an official trip to Israel to work on securing a Gaza peace deal, at the time of Psaki’s comments.
The remarks triggered immediate condemnation across conservative media and social platforms. White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung responded forcefully on X, suggesting Psaki was “transferring her own personal issues onto others” and calling her a “dumba** who has no comprehension of the truth and has to overcompensate for her lack of talent by saying untrue things.”
Fox News contributor Joe Concha described Psaki as “not a good person” and accused her of engaging in “outright slander.” During an appearance on the network’s morning programming on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, Concha lamented what he characterized as a toxic political environment dominated by personal attacks rather than substantive policy debates.
The conservative social media account Libs of TikTok wrote that MSNBC “should be ashamed to pay her salary,” while other critics labeled the comments “vile” and “disgusting.” Several commentators noted that the remarks appeared to trivialize actual domestic violence situations and contradicted feminist principles that emphasize respecting women’s choices.
Townhall.com writer Amy Curtis characterized the statement as an insult to women in genuinely troubled marriages, noting that Usha Vance is happily married and has made vows that hold meaning. Other critics pointed out the irony of self-proclaimed feminists questioning a successful woman’s marriage choices simply because of political disagreements.
During the podcast conversation, Psaki also claimed that despite Vance’s ambitions, he lacked the charisma necessary to carry forward the MAGA movement after Trump, using the slang term “rizz” to describe what she viewed as his deficit in natural appeal. She characterized him as “a little odd” in a different way than the 79-year-old president.
The controversy represents the latest in a series of clashes between Psaki and Vance. In August 2025, the two engaged in a public dispute following a shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis. After a prayer vigil for the victims, Psaki posted on social media that “prayer is not freaking enough” to end school shootings. Vance responded by defending the power of prayer and questioning why Psaki felt the need to attack people for praying when children had been killed.
On Wednesday’s broadcast of “Fox & Friends,” host Lawrence Jones called for an apology from Psaki, describing her comments as “disturbing.” Co-host Brian Kilmeade, who recently issued his own apology for controversial remarks about homeless individuals, suggested viewers should not expect any such contrition from the MSNBC host.
Right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt, also a Fox News contributor, suggested during an appearance on America’s Newsroom that Psaki felt comfortable making such remarks because she was in what she perceived as a “safe space” on a podcast appealing to the far-left edge of the Democratic Party. He argued the comments demonstrated that the left had run out of substantive policy arguments and could only resort to personal insults.
