{"id":72569,"date":"2025-11-11T08:52:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T13:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/?p=72569"},"modified":"2025-11-10T18:01:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T23:01:53","slug":"why-the-hell-did-jd-vance-and-erika-kirk-hug-like-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/relationships\/why-the-hell-did-jd-vance-and-erika-kirk-hug-like-that\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Hell Did JD Vance and Erika Kirk Hug Like That?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Vice President JD Vance has some explaining to do over a hug that was a little too close with Erika Kirk, the widow of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n<p>The two were at the University of Mississippi Wednesday night for Turning Point USA\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/politics\/2025\/10\/30\/ja-vance-and-erika-kirk-honor-charlie-kirk-at-this-is-the-turning-point-tour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">This Is the Turning Point<\/a>\u201d tour, the organization co-founded by Charlie that Erika took over after his death. Vance not only was the headlining guest but also filled Charlie\u2019s old role of debating college students from a stage.<\/p><div class=\"ad ad-container visible-xs-block\" style=\"height: 330px !important;\">\n    <div class=\"ad-label alt-text alt-pos-above\"><\/div>\n\t<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-mob_prem1_mid-0\" class=\"DFPAdSlot\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad ad-container hidden-xs offset\" style=\"height: 680px !important;width: 300px !important;\">\n    <div class=\"ad-label\"><\/div>\n\t<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-dt_btf_inarticle1-1\" class=\"DFPAdSlot\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>But the internet isn\u2019t as concerned with the tour itself, or the fact that Vance has time to play conservative influencer while serving as vice president. Instead, they\u2019re talking about the embrace between him and Kirk\u2019s widow, with Vance\u2019s hands on her waist and her face appearing to betray some emotion at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>Several commentators seemed to suggest that this doesn\u2019t bode well for Vance\u2019s wife, Usha.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Bb4dPM29QJ0?si=hmDnQ3e1bkc44aK6\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The pictures from Mississippi aren\u2019t helped by Vance\u2019s remarks about his wife at the event, where he said he hopes Usha will leave her Hindu faith and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/newrepublic.com\/post\/202493\/jd-vance-questioned-wife-usha-christian-turning-point-usa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">convert to Christianity<\/a>. All three of their children are being raised as Christians, with the two older ones attending a Christian school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI honestly do wish that because I believe in the Christian gospel, and I hope eventually, my wife comes to see it the same way,\u201d he said. \u201cIf she doesn\u2019t, then God says, everybody has free will, so that doesn\u2019t cause a problem for me. That\u2019s something you work out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Is there something going on between Kirk and Vance? If there isn\u2019t, the vice president\u2019s words and that hug are already spreading rumors otherwise. Usha and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.townandcountrymag.com\/society\/politics\/a63459579\/who-are-usha-vance-parents-krish-lakshmi-chilukuri\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">her parents<\/a>\u00a0have both done a lot for Vance, and what happened Wednesday looks disrespectful, at a minimum.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/post\/202528\/jd-vance-erika-kirk-hug\">The New Republic<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"bnm-poll-modal\" class=\"modal\"><div class=\"modal-content\"><span class=\"modal-close\">&times;<\/span><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The vice president had an uncomfortably close embrace with Charlie Kirk\u2019s widow, for everyone to witness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":72581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","fbia_status":""},"categories":[15661],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v17.9 (Yoast SEO v17.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why the Hell Did JD Vance and Erika Kirk Hug Like That? - FamilyToday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vice president JD Vance had an uncomfortably close embrace with Charlie Kirk\u2019s widow, for everyone to witness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/relationships\/why-the-hell-did-jd-vance-and-erika-kirk-hug-like-that\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why the Hell Did JD Vance and Erika Kirk Hug Like That?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vice president JD Vance had an uncomfortably close embrace with Charlie Kirk\u2019s widow, for everyone to witness.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/relationships\/why-the-hell-did-jd-vance-and-erika-kirk-hug-like-that\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FamilyToday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-11T13:52:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-10T23:01:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.familytoday.com\/2025\/11\/JD-Vance-Erika-Kirk_credit-USA-TODAY-YouTube.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sharon Kirk\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"BN Media, LLC\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/famtoday\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp-media.familytoday.com\/2020\/03\/bnmedia-logo-lg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wp-media.familytoday.com\/2020\/03\/bnmedia-logo-lg.png\",\"width\":1315,\"height\":311,\"caption\":\"BN Media, LLC\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/\",\"name\":\"FamilyToday\",\"description\":\"Here today, better tomorrow.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/relationships\/why-the-hell-did-jd-vance-and-erika-kirk-hug-like-that\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp-media.familytoday.com\/2025\/11\/JD-Vance-Erika-Kirk_credit-USA-TODAY-YouTube.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wp-media.familytoday.com\/2025\/11\/JD-Vance-Erika-Kirk_credit-USA-TODAY-YouTube.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"USA TODAY \/ YouTube\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/relationships\/why-the-hell-did-jd-vance-and-erika-kirk-hug-like-that\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.familytoday.com\/relationships\/why-the-hell-did-jd-vance-and-erika-kirk-hug-like-that\/\",\"name\":\"Why the Hell Did JD Vance and Erika Kirk Hug Like That? 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