Jen Psaki’s recent remarks about Usha Vance weren’t just a cheap shot — they were part of a disturbing and recurring pattern in modern left-wing media: demeaning conservative women for the choices they make, and then pretending it’s empowerment.
On the “I’ve Had It” podcast, Psaki dove deep into the gutter. She mocked Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President JD Vance, suggesting she’s a timid, helpless woman trapped in the orbit of an “overly ambitious” husband. Psaki even joked about “rescuing” her in secret, lest JD detect the escape — a bizarre, condescending fantasy straight out of a bad political rom-com, but with a heavy dose of smug elitism.
The condescension was glaring. Usha Vance isn’t a political prop. She’s a Yale Law graduate, a mother of three, and someone who’s built her own career in the legal world. But Psaki — a paid partisan who spent years spinning for the most insular White House press operation in decades — dismissed her as a wilting flower in need of liberal salvation.
It was classic: if a woman chooses a life or belief system outside the progressive mold, she must be broken, brainwashed, or battered. Never mind her résumé. Never mind her independence. She didn’t vote the right way, so she can’t possibly be free.
This isn’t new. During Donald Trump’s presidency, Melania Trump endured years of snide headlines, mockery, and derision. The same people who claim to protect women’s agency spent four years painting her as a silent prisoner in designer heels.
And yet, the silence is deafening when it comes to women like Hillary Clinton, who stood by a husband publicly disgraced by sexual misconduct in the Oval Office. No rescue fantasies there — just cheers for her “strength.”
The double standard is galling, and frankly, exhausting. Women on the right are consistently treated as less-than by a media culture that sees itself as enlightened. They’re not allowed to be strong in quiet ways.
They’re not allowed to support their husbands or hold conservative values without being cast as accessories to tyranny. If you don’t toe the progressive line, your femininity, intellect, and independence are erased.
Jen Psaki calls herself a progressive. But what’s progressive about mocking a woman’s marriage, questioning her agency, and using her as a political punchline? If this is modern feminism, it’s selective, cynical, and hollow. And it’s being used not to lift women up — but to tear certain women down.
