Usha Vance didn’t miss a beat in responding to a strange story in the New York Times focusing on maternity fashions in the Trump White House.
The New York Times had a bizarre piece this week, “The Politics and Power of the Pregnancy Image,” on pregnancies in the Trump administration. Usha Vance is expecting her fourth; Katie Miller, wife of Trump adviser Stephen Miller, just had her fourth; and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt just had her second. The Times, focusing on how these three women present themselves, including the maternity clothes they have chosen to wear, notes “how much is said by an expectant silhouette, without anyone saying a word.”
This was one of the creepier paragraphs in the story:
If the bare-chested, muscled mixed martial arts fighters of the U.F.C. match that President Trump hosted on Flag Day were the poster guys for MAGA’s image of masculinity, then the pregnant women of Trump world are one half of their feminine counterparts. Along with the sheath-clad, lip-filled, pageant-haired Mar-a-Lago set, they offer an image of idealized womanhood that gives literal shape to the pronatalist movement.
And:
“It almost feels like a memo went out,” said Jill Filipovic, the host of the “Week in Women” podcast. “They have quite intentionally opted to present themselves as, ‘I am really pregnant, and this is what women were chosen to do,’ and they are happy to say that both with their looks and their mouths.”
Such observations seem to follow from The Handmaid’s Tale–inspired protesters who continue to stalk Supreme Court justices and the like. Six years ago, our friend and contributor Alexandra DeSanctis Marr had the best response:
my favorite part of the Handmaid’s Tale is when the main character packs her seven kids and husband in a minivan to drive them to her Supreme Court nomination ceremony
— Alexandra DeSanctis Marr (@xan_desanctis) September 26, 2020
The Times seems quite shocked that Usha Vance is not wearing a high-necked tent dress to hide what in another day would have been called her “condition”:
Last Sunday, in between trips to Europe to negotiate an Iran peace deal, Vice President JD Vance and his very pregnant wife, Usha, posted a Father’s Day Instagram Reel talking about how much they love reading to their kids and about the imminent arrival of their fourth child.
“Luckily, there’s going to be a new baby for you to read to,” the second lady says to her husband, “so you’re going to have many more years ahead of you.” She is wearing a stretchy coral dress that hugs her stomach, making what she is talking about very clear.
The second lady didn’t miss a beat in responding to this bit of reportage:
Now that we know the political significance of my $8.75 coral maternity dress from Old Navy, can’t wait to hear what the New York Times has to say about my elastic-waistband pants and compression socks! In the meantime, enjoy my pregnancy fashion (or lack thereof) and a good…
— Second Lady Usha Vance (@SLOTUS) June 24, 2026
She followed that up by posting her Old Navy receipt. I hope the store has offered her a maternity line by now.
And here’s the receipt! pic.twitter.com/tgICmpbapQ
— Second Lady Usha Vance (@SLOTUS) June 24, 2026
Elsewhere on social media, people have been giving Anne Hathaway, The Devil Wears Prada star, a hard time for her pregnancy at age 43. Other famous women who are pregnant after 40 are coming in for the same harsh treatment. Why all this sudden negative attention to the subject of pregnant women? Why all the judgment? It would make a lot more sense if we could all just celebrate life, together.