Of Trump’s fifteen cabinet-level officials, five are white women, one is a Black man, one is a Cuban American male, and the rest are white men.
While that hardly reflects America’s diversity in race or gender, one might argue that if these were truly the most qualified people for each role, at least one side could maintain its “colorblind meritocracy” claim. But we know that’s not the case, right Pete and Robert?
So why, then, are there such high-profile Indian American MAGA Republicans?
J.D. Vance’s wife, Usha Bala Chilukuri, is the daughter of Indian immigrants from the Telugu-speaking region of Andhra Pradesh. She grew up Hindu and continues to practice the faith. Their wedding was an interfaith celebration that incorporated Hindu traditions over several days.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate and now a gubernatorial contender in Ohio, was raised Hindu and was born to Indian immigrant parents from Kerala in South India.
Kash Patel, whose full name is Kashyap Pramod Patel, is the director of the FBI. His family traces its roots to the village of Bhadran in the Anand district of Gujarat. He recently celebrated Diwali at the White House, though he has generally kept his religious life private.
You’d think all this might be cause for celebration. MAGA Republicans embracing diversity and immigrant families.
Not so fast.
Vivek, despite his own controversial comments about Black Americans and others, has repeatedly been the target of racist attacks.
He and his wife were hit with a wave of xenophobic comments from MAGA supporters after an anniversary post, with users telling them to “go back to India” and mocking their Indian American heritage.
When Vivek posted a Halloween photo with his sons this year, replies from MAGA supporters again told him to “go back” and called for deportation.
One so-called comedian said she “would not rest until Ramaswamy is deported to India,” calling India a “sh**hole,” despite Ramaswamy being U.S.-born, as if that should matter anyway.
Another round of backlash came after Vivek shared a father-son photo on August 27, 2025, which drew a flood of “go back home” comments and hostile references to his Indian heritage.
A parody post by the satire site The Babylon Bee depicted Vivek in a 7-Eleven uniform, a gag widely condemned as racist for perpetuating stereotypes of Indian Americans working in convenience stores.
Even the far-right wing Vivek felt compelled to publicly condemn the “race-obsessed” attacks on Indian-origin public figures, calling it “shameful” to watch some on the right target them.
Kash Patel, another loyal Trump ally, has endured similar bigotry.
He was called a “detestable sand n***ger” and told to go back to his country.
In October 2025, after he posted a Diwali greeting on X (formerly Twitter), right wing pastor Joel Webbon responded, “Go back home and worship your sand demons. Get out of my country.”
Later that month, another wave of MAGA-aligned commenters denounced Diwali as a “hellish celebration” and mocked “false gods,” attacking Patel’s Hindu faith and equating his Indian heritage with being un-American.
J.D. Vance’s wife has faced perhaps the ugliest attacks, despite having no role in policymaking.
A study by All In Together found that between January 1 and August 11, 2024, roughly 1,800 unique posts and 16,000 replies or shares across X, Instagram, and TikTok contained racist and gendered attacks against Usha Vance, reaching an estimated 216 million accounts.
They even included references to white supremacist and MAGA supporter Nick Fuentes mocking Vance for “having an Indian wife.” Many posts were traced to accounts active in conservative circles.
An ABC7 report from July 2024 also documented the racist online backlash following her husband’s nomination, much of it from right wing networks portraying her as an outsider and foreigner despite her long life in the U.S.
J.D. Vance himself appeared to cater to the far-right crowd when he publicly suggested he wished his wife would abandon Hinduism and convert to Christianity. He later backtracked, but only after being called out.
So, let’s not mince words.
The message to Jewish, Black, Latino, Indian, and other supporters of MAGA, and really to anyone unwilling to tolerate hate, should be clear.
You might occasionally agree with a policy achievement or an important ceasefire, but understand that when you give your stamp of approval to this brand of politics, you’re mortgaging your dignity and humanity. And in the process, you’re devaluing your fellow human beings.
The cost is too high.