Wife of VP pick J.D. Vance targeted by misinformation

"'India India' chants as JD Vance brings soon to be second lady Usha Chilukuri into the RNC convention," says a July 15, 2024 X post sharing the video.

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Screenshot of an X post taken July 16, 2024

Following the assassination attempt on Trump at a July 13 rally in the state of Pennsylvania, the presidential candidate solidified the Republican ticket by naming Vance, 39, as his pick for vice president in the 2024 election.

Vance was a "Never Trumper" when the businessman won the White House in 2016, labeling him "a moral disaster" and comparing him to Adolf Hitler. But Vance later embraced Trump and won the Republican primary for an open Senate seat in Ohio after accepting the ex-president's endorsement, turning the once harsh critic into an uncompromising supporter.

While Vance's hardline immigration platform reinforces Trump's appeal to his base, his entrance to the race has still stirred the far-right. Many have pointed to his wife's race, while others expressed anger following a Sikh prayer performed at the convention.

"There is an obvious Indian coup taking place in the US right before our eyes," says a July 15 X post from far-right commentator Stew Peters, who has previously spread numerous conspiracy theories on a wide range of topics.

But the clip of Vance and his wife at the RNC has been altered -- the original shows the couple entering the convention to the song "America First" by Merle Haggard (archived here and here).

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Chilukuri Vance was born in California and grew up in a San Diego suburb before meeting her husband at Yale Law School. She worked as a trial lawyer for the Munger, Tolles & Olson law firm, leaving her position shortly after Trump chose J.D. Vance as his running mate.

AFP has debunked other misinformation about the RNC here and here.