JD Vance Admits He Curses at His Young Kids in Public Bathrooms
The vice president gleefully shed light on his tough parenting style in a podcast interview.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
JD Vance has said that his wife Usha is “way more accomplished” than him, and on Tuesday he disclosed another quality where his wife has him beat: patience.
In a podcast interview with conservative commentator Katie Miller, Vance said that when his young kids—aged 8, 5, and 3—act out, his response is swift and vulgar.
“If they have a tantrum in a public place, I immediately grab them, take them to the bathroom and say, ‘You got to cut the s--t out,’” Vance said.
Katie Miller: “So how do you handle a toddler tantrum in a public place?”
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) August 12, 2025
JD Vance: “…[Usha] is super patient. She’ll try to reason with them. If they have a tantrum in a public place, I immediately grab them, take them to the bathroom and say, ‘You got to cut that shit out.’” pic.twitter.com/rpNhhwLZIh
The vice president contrasted his tough approach with his wife’s, who he described as having a more “gentle” approach.
“She is super patient,” Vance said of the second lady. “She’ll try to reason with them.”
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Vance told Miller, who is married to Trump insider Stephen Miller, that strangers have approached the couple in airports to compliment Usha’s parenting style.
He did not mention whether a stranger had ever approached him to praise one of his restroom rants.
The segment on The Katie Miller Podcast isn’t the first time Vance has suggested that his kids get on his nerves.
Last August, Vance told the hosts of the Full Send podcast that his oldest son, Ewan, interrupted him while he was fielding the “most important phone call of [his] life”: when Donald Trump selected him as his running mate.
JD Vance told his son to “shut the hell up” about his Pokémon cards while he was on the phone with Trump.
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) August 2, 2024
Vance: “Son, shut the hell up for 30 seconds about Pikachu.” pic.twitter.com/zTtaw49duc
“So, he’s trying to talk to me about Pikachu, and I’m on the phone with Donald Trump. And I’m like, ‘Son, shut the hell up for 30 seconds about Pikachu. This is the most important phone call of my life. Please, just let me take this phone call.’”
Vance has put his family front and center during his meteoric political rise from first-term senator to being a heartbeat away from the Oval Office.
When he missed his son Vivek’s 4th birthday to cast a vote on Ukraine aid in February 2024, he shouted out his son and read an entire Dr. Seuss book aloud on the Senate floor.
Vice President JD Vance and his sons Ewan (R) and Vivek at the Army's 250th anniversary parade in June.
Doug Mills/Pool/Getty Images
Later that year, resurfaced comments in which Vance referred to people without children as “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives” ignited a firestorm of criticism toward the Ohioan.
“How does it make sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?” he said in that 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson.
A spokesperson for Vance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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