When President Trump took to the podium on inauguration night after a whirlwind of balls and parades, there were two women he wanted to highlight.
The first, as expected, was the First Lady, who stood adoringly next to him in a mesmerizing black and white gown.
But it was his telling compliment about the second that reveals more about America’s future than many would have realized at the time.
Turning to Vice President JD Vance, Trump said comedically of him: ‘The only one smarter [than him] is his wife.
‘I would have chosen her [as my VP] but somehow the line of succession didn’t work that way.’
He was referring to Usha Chilukuri Vance, the modest but formidable force behind him.
Indeed many say Usha, who attended Yale and Cambridge before launching a stellar law career, is the secret reason for her husband’s meteoric rise.
Like her husband’s, Usha’s background is one of humble beginnings and hard work.
Usha Vance is the secret weapon and guiding voice that has helped her husband’s meteoric rise
Her parents immigrated to America from India in the 1970s and both work as professors.
They raised her in San Diego in a Hindu household where studying was top of the agenda.
It paid off – Usha went on to study at Yale Law, where she met JD.
He referred to her in his book Hillbilly Elegy as his ‘Yale spirit guide’ and the ‘supersmart daughter of two immigrants.’
While he was the polished product of years in the Marines, Usha was a beautiful and studious brainiac.
She was the editor of the Yale Law Journal, managing editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Technology, and the proud recipient of the Gales Scholarship, a ferociously competitive program that requires candidates to demonstrate ‘outstanding intellectual ability.’
While she and JD were falling quickly in love, she took a break from Yale for a brief period to study in England at the equally prestigious University of Cambridge.
Today, her old classmates watch slack-jawed as she ascends to American greatness.
Usha Chilukuri’s 11th grade yearbook picture
For back then, Usha was far from a conservative.
‘She generally fitted in with the Gates Cambridge community-scholarly, left-leaning, cosmopolitan, committed to improving the world,’ one fellow Gates scholar recalled to The Telegraph.
‘I certainly don’t remember any indication whatsoever that she harbored any far-right political views or would tolerate somebody who did.
‘Her current position has been surprising to many in the Gates community that I’ve talked to about it.’
Another fellow Cambridge student who overlapped with her said she’d been incredibly proud of Vance, who had recently published his book, Hillbilly Elegy.
‘She was really proud of him and wanted us to know his story. I read Hillbilly Elegy right away on her recommendation and was very impacted by it,’ they said.
After her brief study at Cambridge, Usha returned to the US where she climbed the clerkship ladder, starting with District Judge Amul Thapar in Eastern Kentucky.
She continued on to Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and then Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court.
JD and Usha married soon after they graduated from Yale Law in 2014
Usha has been praised for her modesty and brightness. She eschews the limelight – but is always on hand for her husband
Usha holds the couple’s toddler daughter Mirabel at the inaugural parade inside the Capitol One Arena
She and Vance married in Kentucky in 2014, one year out of Yale Law School, and moved to San Francisco in 2015.
It was then that their political careers took off. Vance began working for conservative venture capitalist Peter Thiel at his Mithril Capital investment firm.
Usha was an associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson, where she was a civil litigator for clients like Disney and colleagues remembered her as moderate.
The firm was called ‘a top contender in the cool, woke category’ by American Lawyer in 2019 and touts its DEI credentials and its welcoming attitude to ‘intersex, transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming people’ on its website.
The liberal notions peppered throughout her past include support for Hillary Clinton and climate change initiatives.
Usha was said to have been appalled by the January 6 Capitol riot and also criticized Trump’s role in the riots.
Friends told The Washington Post that her support for the now President was shocking, as she had watched the insurrection with horror and revulsion.
Yet, they have also said Usha has typically appeared moderate, apolitical and more interested in the technical aspects of her work and study.
Vance made a sharp turn in his beliefs in 2022, when he began to run for senate.
Vance at Mar-a-Lago with the couple’s two children. He is tipped as the favorite for the 2028 Republican nomination
Republican strategist Jai Chabria, who worked on Vance’s campaign, insisted that just as Vance’s stance has changed, so has Usha’s.
‘Usha has had a similar shift in views and fully supports Donald Trump and her husband and will do whatever she can to ensure their victory this November,’ he said.
From wiping the floor with Tim Walz at the Vice Presidential debate to masterfully greasing audiences with his slick appearances, Vance has become a fast-favorite for the 2028 Republican ticket.
His wife’s influence over his chances is evidently not lost on him.
‘If I get a little too cocky or a little too proud, I just remind myself that she’s way more accomplished than I,’ he told Megyn Kelly in a podcast interview in 2020.
‘I’m one of those guys who really benefits from having sort of a powerful female voice over his left shoulder saying, “Don’t do this, do that,”.’
While Usha was heavily involved in Vance’s campaign trail but always stayed ‘out of the spotlight.’
Many of her friends were shocked by Usha actively supporting Trump and her husband as they make inflammatory statements.
Vance was already being set up to run along the campaign trail in Ohio just weeks ahead of the election in November.
Like her husband, Usha – strategists say – took a sharp right turn in her politics as she matured
At the time, Donald Trump Jr said: ‘We are getting four more years of Trump and then eight years of JD Vance!’
Many Republican politicians, strategists and pundits also agree that Vance is a clear likely frontrunner for the next Republican President.
On Monday, President Trump praised the pair by adding: ‘She’s great and he’s great.
‘This is a great, beautiful couple.’
The President’s support, not only for Vance but also his strong admiration for Usha, greatly bolsters Vance’s potential for success come 2028.
And Usha, who is happier ‘out of the spotlight’ and focusing on motherhood, is expected to continue to be Vance’s political guide whispering words of wisdom over his shoulder.
