Barack Obama Calls Out JD Vance Over 'Hypocrisy' Related to His Marriage as Trump Admin Continues to Push to End Birthright Citizenship
Barack Obama had some harsh criticisms for JD Vance's stance on citizenship.
July 17 2026, Published 2:20 p.m. ET
Barack Obama has called out JD Vance, and his stance on birthright citizenship, RadarOnline.com can report, especially considering the vice president's wife received her own U.S. citizenship at birth after her parents immigrated from India.
The former president blasted what he referred to as the Veep's "hypocrisy" as he continues to campaign to end the policy.
Barack Obama Takes Aim at JD Vance
Obama pointed out the 'hypocrisy' of Vance's objections considering the heritage of his wife.
Vance recently raised ire when he spoke about immigration, especially who gets to be considered "American" following the Trump administration’s push to end birthright citizenship.
Obama held little back, targeting Vance and the greater Republican Party.
"At least one of our major parties has been captured by politics that is not that subtle about suggesting that 'we the people' means a certain kind of people," Obama, 64, said on a podcast with author Malcolm Gladwell.
The former leader then seemed to reference Vance's comments last year that "America is not just an idea. We’re a particular place, with a particular people, and a particular set of beliefs and way of life," disagreeing with that assessment.
"When you have the vice president—the current vice president—making a speech that is basically a blood-and-soil version of 'We the people,' that it matters who your parents were, how long they’ve been here, despite him being married to… a daughter of an immigrant himself, that echoes, then, ideas about who can be a citizen, who belongs, who gets to make decisions," Obama blasted.
Vance's 'Hypocritical' Argument
The former president blasted the anti-citizenship argument.
Host Gladwell chimed in arguing that Vance's marriage to wife Usha is actually a prime example of how the country has moved "from malice to hypocrisy," noting that for decades, a vice president could not have made a "nativist argument" while married to the daughter of Indian immigrants.
Obama seemed to key-in on the "hypocrisy" reference, replying, "Listen, hypocrisy is progress. Because it means that… you feel guilty enough to either lie to yourself or others. And that is better than not even thinking about the idea that maybe you’re doing something wrong."
Usha's Upbringing vs. Vance's Faith
Vance has objected to his wife's religion in the past.
Vance's apparent distancing of his wife's foreign heritage raised red flags last year, when he told a crowd during a Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi that he hoped his wife would convert to Christianity one day.
JD and Usha held both Christian and Hindu ceremonies when they exchanged wedding vows in June 2014, something which apparently still bothers the politician.
"As I've told her and I've said publicly, and I'll say now in front of 10,000 of my closest friends: Do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by church? Yeah, I honestly do," he said during the rally. "Because I believe in the Christian gospel and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way."
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Vance Hopes to Convert Usha to Christianity
He admitted he has hopes she will convert to Christianity.
JD converted to Catholicism in 2019. He previously said that when he first met his wife, he considered himself an atheist.
However, the Vance's' children are being raised according to Christian traditions and attend Christian school. JD said that Usha also attends church with him most Sundays, but she maintains her own Hindu faith.
For now, however, Vance seems to be loyal to his statements about birthright citizenship, and his opinion that Christian values are an important foundation of the country.
"Anyone who tells you that my opinion is personal may be trying to sell you an agenda," he said. "But I'm at least honest about the fact that I consider the Christian foundation of this country a good thing."
