A heated online feud between far-right activist Nick Fuentes and US Vice President JD Vance has ignited a wave of reactions across social media, blending politics, identity and uncomfortable humour and the Internet does not know what to make of it.The controversy stems from Vance’s unusually blunt response to racist and personal attacks on his wife, Usha Vance, who is of Indian American heritage. In an interview published recently, Vance snapped that “anyone who attacks my wife… can eat shit”, a rebuke that drew both applause and shock online as a rare moment of vice-presidential candour.
How it started: Fury over racist attacks
The feud escalated after Fuentes, a self-described white nationalist and controversial political commentator, made derogatory remarks about Usha Vance’s ethnicity and background, even calling Vance a “race traitor” for marrying outside his race. Vance’s forceful response, delivered despite his typically restrained public persona, was widely shared and exploded across platforms. Shortly afterwards, Fuentes responded to the “eat shit” line with biting sarcasm and racial provocation, quipping that he found it “flattering” that the vice president was effectively inviting him to a “traditional Indian dinner” with the Vance family, a mocking retort that many online observers called racially insensitive.
Social media reactions: Outrage, humour and backlash
Across X, Reddit and other platforms, reactions split along multiple lines. Some showed support for Vance’s defence and praised Vance for standing up to racist commentary, interpreting his blunt message as a rare example of political figures rejecting bigotry outright. Some commenters took the “traditional Indian dinner” line literally, joking that Fuentes had turned a political moment into holiday absurdity. This fuelled memes, satire threads and posts ridiculing the entire exchange. Critics called Fuentes’s response offensive, with many pointing out that sarcastic jabs at Indian culture crossed a line into ethnic insensitivity. Others reminded commentators that such rhetoric can widen political fractures and embolden extremists.
Political commentary on Ramaswamy
Fuentes also attacked Republican figure Vivek Ramaswamy, downplaying his accomplishments and criticising him for “downplaying White identity” and failing to live up to what Fuentes deems authentic cultural heritage. According to posts circulating online, Fuentes claimed European inventors were superior while dismissing Ramaswamy as having “invented nothing” and being “a scammer.” This comment sparked a separate strand of debate, with some social media threads discussing whether this sort of identity-grounded attack is gaining traction in fringe conservatism — and whether it reflects broader divisions in the Republican movement ahead of future elections.
Broader political backlash and calls for responsibility
The episode has not gone unnoticed by mainstream leaders. Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna publicly condemned Fuentes’s rhetoric as harmful and dangerous, particularly for minority communities and underscored that such language has no place in public politics. Meanwhile, political analysts and commentators on Reddit noted the infighting among conservative supporters, with many suggesting that Fuentes’s provocative style is isolating even within right-wing circles and diluting focus from substantive policy debates. The online storm reflects a larger pattern: social media is turning even strange political spats into viral spectacles. A vice-presidential rebuke intended to defend family dignity ended up as fodder for jokes, serious criticism and commentary about racial identity, blurring the lines between political accountability and online performance. Even among Republican figures like Vivek Ramaswamy, responses have emphasized unity over race-based divisions, distancing more traditional conservative messaging from Fuentes’s fringe provocations.