On Thursday morning, Second Lady Usha Vance, an Ivy League bookworm with a penchant for Greek epics and literary fiction, took center stage on Fox & Friends to promote a summer reading challenge. But it wasn’t just about books. It was about filling a First Lady void at the White House.
Melania Trump has maintained her now-routine disappearing act. It was Usha, who fronted the latest White House initiative. The program? A reading challenge designed to get American kids off their screens and into stories, one that offers a chance to win a trip to the White House if they manage to read 12 books over the summer.
Second Lady Usha Vance introduces her ‘Summer Reading Challenge,’ a nationwide initiative to encourage kids to read as a fun and productive way to spend their summer. pic.twitter.com/z8fp3YzCiZ
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) June 5, 2025
The cause is noble. After all, around 40 percent of Americans reportedly can’t read at a basic level. But the rollout? Let’s just say it had its own storyline.
During the interview, Usha was poised but visibly nervous. She stumbled through some of the softest of softball questions tossed by Fox anchor Ainsley Earhardt. She smiled tightly, fumbled with her words, and at one point, dropped this memorable line: the initiative is a way to stop kids from “scrolling Instagram or Googling things you probably shouldn’t be Googling.”
It was an honest, if slightly awkward, moment, one that didn’t go unnoticed by viewers. But for all the stammering, Usha’s message carried weight, and she’s following in the footsteps of First Ladies past. Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, and Barbara Bush all spearheaded major literacy campaigns during their time in the East Wing.
Obama famously read Green Eggs and Ham to a sea of children in the Library of Congress in 2011. Laura Bush launched Ready to Read, Ready to Learn. Barbara Bush’s family literacy foundation continues to this day.
And Usha? She’s got the credentials, and the reading receipts to prove it. Her Goodreads account, under her maiden name “Chilukuri,” features a mix of high-brow and eyebrow-raising picks: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, White Teeth by Zadie Smith, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind, and What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver.
Her seven-year-old son Ewan, too, appears to have inherited the literary gene. As of last October, Usha proudly shared that he was “obsessed” with mythology and reading The Odyssey and The Iliad, you know, just some light bedtime material.
But perhaps the most eyebrow-lifting book in Usha’s stack? Al Gore’s Earth in the Balance. During a March appearance, she accidentally revealed she was either reading, or had already read, the former VP’s eco-warning from 1992. It was, in short, not the most MAGA-friendly pick. Especially when paired with the couple’s Greenland getaway—yep, the same island Donald Trump once wanted to “buy” for its untapped resources.
I’m thrilled to celebrate @SLOTUS Usha Vance for championing childhood literacy with her 2025 Summer Reading Challenge! 📚
Her passion for inspiring kids to dive into books is a game-changer, especially with over 40% of U.S. students struggling to read at a basic level.
This… pic.twitter.com/n7nf3v0UrA
— Tiffany Justice (@4TiffanyJustice) June 5, 2025
Meanwhile, Melania Trump, once the face of the nebulous Be Best campaign, has only briefly emerged from the shadows this year. She made a short appearance at the White House Easter Egg Roll, reading to children, and was later spotted at a couple of White House events. That’s about it.
Since Donald Trump returned to the presidency in January, Melania has reportedly spent fewer than 14 days at the White House. That’s a level of absence not seen since Bess Truman in the 1940s, according to historian Katherine Jellison.
Her rare appearances seem to contradict her own words. Back in January, during a Fox News interview, Melania was asked where she’d spend most of her time. With a confident smile, she replied: “I will be in the White House.”
Has anyone asked @PressSec where Melania is living? Are Trump and Melania formally (or just informally) separated? Is Melania (or anyone in the Trump or Knavs families) interested in public service? pic.twitter.com/zdPgj8llnn
— Mary (@Zalm1_1) June 4, 2025
Biographer Michael Wolff, however, painted a much different picture on The Daily Beast podcast, saying Melania and Trump are “separated” in everything but name and now lead “completely separate lives.” Joanna Coles, The Beast’s CCO, wasn’t exactly diplomatic either, quipping: “Melania is missing.”
With the First Lady MIA, it seems Usha Vance has stepped up, not just with a book club, but with a statement: if no one’s going to read to the kids, she will. Even if she has to do it with a nervous smile and a Yale degree in one hand and The Odyssey in the other.
