JD Vance joined his wife Usha’s podcast over Father’s Day weekend, but a brief exchange between the pair has sparked a wave of online reaction, with some viewers describing it as ‘painfully awkward’.
The Vice President appeared on Usha Vance’s children’s literacy podcast and video series, Storytime with the Second Lady, to read from Winnie-the-Pooh alongside his wife. The show was launched earlier this year to encourage childhood literacy and feature special guest readers. The couple share three children — Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel — and are expecting a fourth child, a baby boy, later this summer.
In the Father’s Day episode, Vance talked about reading to the children at home before Usha introduced him as both her husband and the Vice President of the United States.
“That’s because I see him read books to our own kids everyday,” she continued.
“Thanks for joining us today honey,” she said.
Vance responded before reaching over to pat her knee, a moment that quickly drew attention online.
“Of course, good to see you,” Vance replied as he then reached out to pat his wife’s knee. However, the moment has now gone viral on social media, with many scratching their heads over the ‘knee pat’.
Users on X, formerly Twitter, were quick to weigh in, and the clip prompted a wide range of responses.
“This painfully awkward JD Vance moment is going viral!”
“Wow, he patted her like you pet a dog,” said a second, while a third echoed: “Do they even know each other?!?!? What’s up with the pat on her leg?!?”
Not everyone agreed with that reading of the interaction, with some arguing the criticism was overblown or lacked context.
“I’m not a fan of him but this whole things is out of context and there’s better stuff out there to tag on them about.”
“It’s called being professional in front of the cameras.”
“Lol, I’m no JD fan, but to be fair, this is probably exactly what I would awkwardly do in this situation,” said a third.
“It’s a kid’s program. What do you want him to do? Start making out with her?” a fourth snapped back.
The podcast appearance is not Vance’s only recent TV moment. He also appeared on The View earlier in the week, where discussion turned to Donald Trump’s policies and other political issues.
Afterward, speaking on Gutfeld!, Vance reflected on sitting alongside Joy Behar and Ana Navarro and later taking questions from Whoopi Goldberg.
“I expected them to be absolutely vicious, and they were only a little bit vicious. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.”
He added that one remark from Behar caught him off guard.
“Joy Behar even said during the break, not joking, she said, ‘You know what? You’re, like, pretty good for a Republican’,” he revealed.
“And I was like, ‘Whoa.’ That is a way better compliment than I expected from Joy Behar.”