During a recent interview at his residence, Vice President JD Vance did not hold back when discussing "anyone who attacks my wife" and people who promote "all forms of ethnic hatred."

In a sit-down with UnHerd, Vance issued a blunt message to racist provocateur Nick Fuentes and to Democrats and media figures who have taken cheap shots at second lady Usha Vance.

"Anyone who attacks my wife, whether their name is Jen Psaki or Nick Fuentes, can eat s***," he said. "That's my official policy as vice president of the United States."

Fuentes, a white supremacist and Holocaust denier, has targeted Usha Vance with slurs and smeared Vance as a "race traitor" for marrying her.

Vance also drew a firm line on bigotry, saying, "Antisemitism and all forms of ethnic hatred have no place in the conservative movement," adding that attacking anyone because of race or religion is "disgusting."

Vance argued that Fuentes' influence is routinely exaggerated by political actors who would rather police speech on the right than confront a real debate inside the GOP — particularly over U.S. policy in the Middle East and America's relationship with Israel.

The vice president said the rhetoric of figures such as Fuentes becomes a convenient distraction. Such talk labels critics as extremists, then shut down the argument.

Vance did offer a vigorous defense of ally Tucker Carlson, another lightning rod.

He told UnHerd on Friday that Carlson remains "a friend," and he rejected what he described as "gatekeeping" efforts to declare Carlson's views unwelcome in conservatism simply because they challenge bipartisan foreign policy orthodoxies.

While acknowledging disagreements, Vance said he won't "throw friends under the bus" to satisfy establishment enforcers.

Vance's broader argument is that America's political class spent years ignoring cultural and economic strains created by mass immigration and then acts shocked when social cohesion frays.

He condemned racial politics outright but suggested the country should keep perspective about who actually holds power.

While Fuentes is a podcaster with a loud online following, Vance said, government-backed policies that explicitly discriminate, including race-based preferences in elite institutions, have been promoted by influential figures on the left.

If racism is wrong, he argued, voters should focus on what is being implemented through law and bureaucracy, not solely on who is shouting online.

Vance also addressed a growing "heritage American" debate on the right, rejecting any notion of unequal legal treatment based on ancestry.

Citizenship, he said, must mean equal treatment under the law. He also acknowledged that assimilation and cultural continuity matter and that overwhelming levels of immigration can strain a shared national identity.