As both dad and VP, Vance introduces his family to the world stage

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AGRA, India – Vice President JD Vance held his daughter on his lap as the 3-year-old rubbed her eyes and squirmed, declaring that she could not smile. His 7-year-old son, seated next to Vance on a bench, announced that he, too, couldn’t smile or open his eyes because of the sun. Their 5-year-old brother slumped to the ground.

“I know, buddy. It’s hard,” Vance told his eldest. “Just do it for a few seconds. One, two, three …”

After the family left, Vance posted on social media a photo from the outing of three agitated children posing with their parents in front of the Taj Mahal. “This was actually the *best* photo we got,” he wrote, punctuating the sentence with a laughing emoji.

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The struggle to coax children to smile for a decent family photo is as relatable as 21st-century parenting challenges get. Figuring out how to clear one of the world’s most iconic monuments of all other visitors so your family of five can tour it, however, is not.

Vance’s seven-day trip to Italy and India served as a grand introduction on the global stage for the newest American second family: Far more youthful than the Cheneys or Bidens and still a full generation younger than the Pence or Harris families.

Though Vance’s young family had also accompanied him to speak at conferences in Paris and Munich in February, his wife and children this time featured more prominently in the trip – offering visuals reminiscent of the Kennedys and Obamas as the kids and their smartly dressed mother appeared at Vance’s side.

The possible heir apparent to the MAGA movement, despite the obvious privileges afforded to someone in the role of vice president, has sought to present himself as an everyman. On his recent trip, Vance carried his kids around and tried to keep them quiet during church. He served beer from a kegerator and joked about chugging it. While walking around a botanical garden with his family, photos captured Vance holding discarded ice cream cones wadded up in napkins and pushing his two sons in a wagon while a toddler carrier was strapped on his back.

Second lady Usha Vance, who recently said her “highest priority right now is to be actually a normal person,” was ever-present. She greeted officials with Vance and likewise tried to corral their children – but she avoided making public remarks. Vance commented on how the India visit was particularly special, given it is the birthplace of her parents.

Parenting duties came in addition to high-stakes meetings with two U.S. allies who have each invited President Donald Trump to visit this year. This week, they sat with Vance to talk trade and international security.

“I have been missing you,” a smirking Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said as she greeted Vance in Rome last week, kissing him on the cheeks in front of a military band and honor guard, just a day after she met with Trump and Vance in Washington.

Red carpets were rolled out for the vice president, and elaborate welcome ceremonies were held at every stop. Vance saw his face plastered on large signs across India’s Golden Triangle as he gave a speech about forging a closer partnership rooted in each country’s own national pride. The local government in Jaipur brought decorated elephants to greet the family. Vance secured meetings not only with top Vatican officials, but with Pope Francis himself, visiting him less than 24 hours before his death.

Calling it an “amazing and special trip,” Vance said he believed he had “done a lot of good for the American people” while he was gone. “We’ve done the people’s business, but it’s been incredibly personally enriching and rewarding,” he said to reporters following his tour of the Taj Mahal.

Moments after his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended Monday night – when Modi gave his children peacock feathers and hosted the family for dinner – Vance’s office announced that the United States and India had formally finalized the terms of reference for a trade deal. Two days later, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the two countries were “very close” to an agreement.

As the Ohio native and “Hillbilly Elegy” author positions himself to be crowned Trump’s successor in the Republican Party, Vance has often embraced Trumpian flame-throwing rhetoric while projecting himself as more Middletown, Ohio, than Mar-a-Lago. After growing up surrounded by poverty and addiction, Vance went on to become a Yale Law-educated venture capitalist. But at times he still has appeared to publicly work through a sense of surprise at finding himself in experiences reserved for the elite few.

“It’s pretty crazy, actually,” Vance said of realizing he was one of the last people to meet with the pope.

“I don’t know that I’ve felt more grateful than in the last week,” the vice president added. He explained that he got to attend a Good Friday service at St. Peter’s Basilica, a private Easter Sunday Mass steps away from Saint Paul’s tomb and then travel to India for a VIP display of culture.

“We obviously just visited Taj Mahal with my family, one of those beautiful, historic sites in the world,” Vance told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force Two after the quiet, private tour of the 400-year-old site. It’s a place typically swarming with visitors from around the world. “It was really special to get to see it,” he said, “especially with the kids, especially as completely deserted as it was.”

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