Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki sparked backlash this week after mocking Vice President JD Vance and making comments about his wife, Usha.
Psaki, who now hosts her own program on MSNBC, made the remarks during an appearance on the “I’ve Had It” podcast on Tuesday while discussing Vance’s political ambitions, The Daily Mail reported.
“I think the little Manchurian candidate JD Vance wants to be president more than anything else,” Psaki told hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan.
She accused the vice president of being “willing to do anything to get there.”
“He’s scarier in certain ways,” Psaki said. “He’s a chameleon who makes himself into whatever he thinks the audience wants to hear from him.”
The former press secretary said she does not believe Vance can “take the whole [MAGA] movement with him,” calling him a politician with “no rizz,” a slang term for charisma.
“He just is a little odd,” she added. “Trump’s odd in a different way.”
Psaki then turned her focus to Vance’s marriage, taking aim at his wife Usha, with whom he shares three children.
“I always wonder what’s going on in the mind of his wife,” Psaki said. “Like, ‘Are you OK? Blink four times. Come over here, we’ll save you.’”
Vance responded on Thursday to Psaki’s insults by laughing them off and offering praise to his wife.
“I think it’s disgraceful, but of course the second lady can speak for herself. I am very lucky to have a wonderful wife, and I know — at least I hope — that my wife feels the same about me. I’m honored to have Usha by my side,” the vice president said.
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Her comments were immediately met with sharp criticism on social media.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung blasted Psaki, suggesting she was “transferring her own personal issues onto others.”
He referred to her as “Jen Psucki” and called her a “dumba** who has no comprehension of the truth and has to overcompensate for her lack of talent by saying untrue things.”
“Circle back on that, moron,” Cheung added.
The Libs of TikTok account wrote that MSNBC “should be ashamed to pay her salary.”
Political commentator Link Lauren said Psaki and former Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre “are in competition this week to see who can be the worst press secretary.”
“Both are on press tours,” he said. “Both are utter calamities.”
Appearing on CBS Mornings Monday, Jean-Pierre said she “never saw someone who wasn’t there.”
“I saw someone who understood policy, pushed us on policy and also understood history,” she told the hosts.
She repeated those comments on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, prompting Colbert to end the segment abruptly.
“At 81 years old, that’s not entirely unexpected,” Colbert said. “You can imagine why people got so worried.”
Jean-Pierre pushed back, insisting Biden “had the mental acuity” to govern.
“The man that I saw nearly every day was someone who was engaging, understood policy, and was always putting the American people first,” she said.
Colbert replied that it takes more than that to be president.
“In a moment of great pressure on stage, we saw someone shock us and worry us,” he said. “Nothing could assuage that worry.”
