Second Lady Usha Vance, who is expecting her and Vice President JD Vance’s fourth child in July, mocked the New York Times this week for an article that tried to put a political spin on her maternity fashion choices.
Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman’s article titled “The Politics and Power of the Pregnancy Image” highlighted a Father’s Day Instagram reel from the second lady wherein she and her husband talked about reading to their children, Fox News reported.
Friedman focused on the second lady’s attire and the fact other prominent women in or connected to the White House recently had babies, writing:
“Luckily, there’s going to be a new baby for you to read to,” the second lady says to her husband, “so you’re going to have many more years ahead of you.” She is wearing a stretchy coral dress that hugs her stomach, making what she is talking about very clear.
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As a promo for the first public pregnancy of a vice-presidential family since Ellen Colfax, the wife of Schuyler Colfax, in 1870, it doesn’t get any clearer than that. And it follows the equally public pregnancies of the Trump world figures Karoline Leavitt and Katie Miller. Leavitt, the White House press secretary, gave birth to her second child on May 1 (and has just returned from maternity leave). Katie Miller, the wife of Stephen Miller, a White House deputy chief of staff, who [sic] had their fourth child on June 3.
That three such prominent women in the MAGA movement were pregnant at pretty much the same time was, indubitably, a coincidence. But for an administration that has such an intuitive and strategic understanding of the power of aesthetics that an unspoken dress code in which men outfit themselves in the image of the president has developed, it has also become a telling one.
The article goes on to say that the three women’s pregnancies showcase “the White House’s family and fertility platform.”
In response to the article, the Second Lady on Wednesday shared a YouTube video of the talk with her husband when she was wearing the coral dress and poked fun at the Times article.
“Now that we know the political significance of my $8.75 coral maternity dress from Old Navy, can’t wait to hear what the New York Times has to say about my elastic-waistband pants and compression socks!” she wrote. “In the meantime, enjoy my pregnancy fashion (or lack thereof) and a good story with your kids on Storytime with the Second Lady.”
In a follow-up post, the vice president’s wife shared the receipt for the dress, and it appeared she even used a coupon to drop the already discounted price:
Regarding its stance on pregnancy, the pro-abortion Times in 2019 referred to an unborn baby’s detectable heartbeat as “embryonic pulsing” in a move Breitbart News characterized as the Times appearing to dehumanize unborn babies.
In May 2025, the outlet said hundreds of celebrities signed a full-page Times ad supporting Planned Parenthood as Republicans were targeting the abortion giant’s federal funding.
In November, Breitbart News’s John Binder highlighted First Lady Melania Trump’s and Second Lady Usha Vance’s outfits when they took a trip to visit schoolchildren, teachers, American military families, and Armed Forces service members at Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina.
“Usha Vance, a newcomer to public life, chose an affordable ensemble — a burgundy tie-front turtleneck dress from Ralph Lauren and matching burgundy suede Betsy pumps from Aerosoles. The dress retails for just $145 and the heels retail for only $96,” he reported.
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