Republican politician and Donald Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance is a fan of Magic: The Gathering, according to his wife Usha Vance, who recently told Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt about her husband’s “dorky” hobbies in an interview.
This comes via Indy100, which also pointed out that, while Earhardt claims Usha was hesitant to disclose it, the politician’s interest in the TCG was not actually a big secret. Indeed, Vance mentioned it in his 2020 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, where he writes that he couldn’t tell his father about his love of MTG, for fear he would consider it Satanic.
The reaction from the Magic community to the revelation that the vice-presidential candidate shares their interests has been decidedly muted. It doesn’t seem like Vance is about to receive the hero worship that, say, Henry Cavill gets from the Warhammer crowd. But then, he is a lot more controversial (and a lot less charismatic, judging by all the strange jokes about Mountain Dew).
One potential acknowledgement we did spot came from Magic: The Gathering search tool Scryfall, which updated the card selection on its homepage. Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but we notice Throne of Bone and Entirely Normal Armchair amidst the cards on show. We believe this is an homage to Vance’s interest in collecting luxury furniture. That’s what everyone’s been on about on Twitter, right?
With UK Conservative MP James Cleverly flying his Warhammer flag loudly and proudly last month, and now Vance’s nerdom being outed, we have to ask – aren’t there any left wing politicians with geeky hobbies? When is Keir Starmer going to break out his Commander deck, or Bernie Sanders start a DnD podcast? We need some more balanced representation!
For more Magic: The Gathering content, take a look at our guides to the best MTG Arena decks and the MTG release schedule.
Source: Wargamer
