Usha Vance suffers near-miss fall down aircraft stairs while carrying newborn
Uniformed service members have been slammed after failing to help Usha Vance as she tripped down the stairs of the vice president's helicopter holding her nine-week-old baby.
The Second Lady joined her husband, Vice President JD Vance, on the campaign trail ahead of November’s midterm elections before the family boarded a flight to Alaska.
Vance’s trip to Alaska marks his latest campaign stop ahead of the November 3 election, with his young family joining him, including their nine-week-old son, Alec Neel Vance.
But footage of Usha tripping down the helicopter stairs has since circulated on social media, after users noted that the uniformed service members around the aircraft did not step in to help her.
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"Okay I get your military and stoic stance but a little effort fellas?" one wrote on X.
As another questioned: "Why didn't the soldiers help her?"
A third added: "You see a mother with a baby tripping you react. Damn some things come first. Why they just standing there saluting?"
"JD wasn't there but it was disgusting that none of the other four reached to help her," another wrote.
The mom-of-four quickly recovered from the stumble, managing to keep her bag in clutch and protect her newborn.
But many also questioned why her husband wasn't there to help as she made her way down from the aircraft.
"You'd think a sitting VP trailing right behind her would grab the heavy bag so she isn't soloing steps with a baby," one wrote.
However, Vance stepped off the helicopter just seconds later holding the couple's four-year-old daughter, Mirabel.
Explaining why his family was joining him on the work trip, Vance said to reporters: "This is Usha's 50th state, which is why we are bringing a nine-week-old baby on a 7.5-hour flight to Alaska - so if I give a speech tonight and I look haggard and stressed out, that's exactly why."
Usha and JD have four children, Ewan, 9, Vivek, 6, Mirabel, 4, and baby Alec, who is the first baby born to a sitting vice president in more than 150 years.
Speaking about having a newborn in such unique circumstances, Usha said in a Daily Caller interview: "He has a Secret Service detail. None of our newborns had that before.
"It's sort of an absurdity because he's always attached to me. He's never anywhere far from me."
"But people have been really wonderful about it," she added.
Mia Williams