Republican vice prez candidate JD Vance nurses a secret passion for Magic: The Gathering, says his wife

I'd wager there are very few politicians that any company wants associated with their brand, and there's more than one reason for that. The obvious one, of course, is that politicians are inherently controversial, and an endorsement by someone on the right (or left) risks alienating your potential customers on the left (or right). Best to restrict your corporate politics to lavish, unpublicised donations and remain blandly apolitical in your public-facing stuff.

There's another reason, though, which is that politicians are nearly universally kind of awkward and off-putting, and they go about associating themselves with your brand then chances are the general public will start thinking your thing is awkward and off-putting too. Quelle horreur.

With all that in mind, I have to imagine Wizards of the Coast is less than chuffed by the revelation that Donald Trump's running mate, Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance—a real combo deal of avowedly right-wing politics and a stiff stage presence—is apparently an avid fan of Magic: the Gathering. That's according to his wife Usha Vance, anyway (via Indy100). Do you reckon he favours the Hatsune Miku set?

Usha Vance was asked about her husband's nerdier hobbies by Fox and Friends host Ainsley Earhardt. According to Earhardt, the question prompted some hesitation before she answered «He's going to kill me for this, it's Magic: the Gathering, which was a card game… It's similar to Pokémon, that's so popular now. And his boys are into Pokémon.»

Can America afford a Second Lady who doesn't appreciate the myriad glaring and important differences between Pokémon and Magic? I leave that to voters to decide. But the potential vice prez's wife wasn't just making things up. Indy100 astutely notes that JD Vance's memoir Hillbilly Elegy also described his secret love for the game. «I could never tell my dad that I played a nerdy collectible card game called Magic,» wrote Vance, «because I feared he'd think the cards were