In the days since JD Vance was named the Republican vice-presidential nominee, he\u2019s been under fire for previously calling Democrats such as Vice President Harris \u201ca bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable\u201d \u2014 including from some conservatives who argue he risks alienating women who might otherwise vote for Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
Now, Trump himself is weighing in: Vance, he said, \u201cloves family,\u201d and there isn\u2019t \u201canything wrong in saying that.\u201d But Trump also said that, for his part, he thinks not having children is \u201cjust as good\u201d as having a family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know so many people. They never met the right person, male or female \u2026 just never met the right person,\u201d Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham in a Monday night interview. \u201cThey\u2019re unbelievable. They\u2019re every bit as good as anybody else that has the most beautiful family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor [Vance], he likes family,\u201d Trump continued. \u201cI think a lot of people like family. And sometimes it doesn\u2019t work out. And you know why \u2026 you don\u2019t meet the right person or you don\u2019t meet any person, but you\u2019re just as good \u2014 in many cases \u2026 a lot better than a person that\u2019s in a family situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vance\u2019s comments, made to right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson in 2021, have been resurfacing on social media now that Harris is the likely Democratic nominee, forcing the Trump campaign to contain the fallout.<\/p>\n
Ingraham asked Trump about the media coverage and what she referred to as \u201cbackbiting\u201d \u2014 including from some Republicans \u2014 who she said are \u201cstereotyping\u201d Vance as an \u201cout-of-control, knee-jerk, conservative male\u201d and what the former president would say to \u201creassure\u201d viewers that Vance was an \u201cexcellent pick\u201d as a running mate.<\/p>\n
While Trump did not cite the \u201cchildless cat ladies\u201d remark in his answer, he said Vance \u201cmade a statement about families\u201d and added that \u201che grew up in a very interesting family situation, and he feels family is good.\u201d (In his best-selling memoir, \u201cHillbilly Elegy,\u201d Vance wrote about growing up in a difficult family and the stabilizing influence of his grandmother.)<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything wrong in saying that,\u201d said Trump, who has five children from three marriages, later adding that \u201cthe Democrats are good at spinning things differently from where they were.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vance, when given an opportunity to address the controversy, said he didn\u2019t mean to criticize \u201cpeople who, for various reasons, didn\u2019t have kids\u201d and was instead critiquing the \u201canti-child\u201d left. Still, he seemed to reiterate what he called the \u201csubstance\u201d of his remarks: \u201cObviously, it was a sarcastic comment. I\u2019ve got nothing against cats,\u201d Vance said on the Megyn Kelly Show on Sirius XM on Friday. \u201c\u2026 The simple point that I made is that having children \u2014 becoming a father, becoming a mother \u2014 I really do think it changes your perspective in a pretty profound way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vance\u2019s 2021 comments referred to Harris, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and others \u2014 lamenting how \u201cthe entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.\u201d Those without children \u201cdon\u2019t really have a direct stake\u201d in the country\u2019s future, he added.<\/p>\n
Harris, 59, became a stepmom of two when she married Doug Emhoff in 2014 and has been deeply involved in the lives of stepchildren Ella and Cole. Buttigieg and his husband adopted twins.<\/p>\n
Vance spokesman William Martin told The Post this week that it was \u201cno surprise\u201d Democrats were attacking Vance and that the campaign was planning to highlight the Biden administration\u2019s record on inflation and immigration. \u201cThose are the issues voters actually care about,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n
As the comments went viral online, many celebrities and media personalities \u2014 including actress Jennifer Aniston \u2014 reminded Vance that having a child is not an option for everyone because of medical or other reasons. Others seemed to embrace the label \u2014 making memes and merchandise to rally childless cat owners to vote for Harris in November.<\/p>\n
Even Republicans joined in the criticism. Fox News commentator Tomi Lahren called Vance\u2019s comment a \u201cBad move!\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cTrump needs support from women and independents and as a woman, I can tell you that referring to female voters as \u2018cat ladies\u2019 or pointing out their lack of kids isn\u2019t gonna do JACK to win them over,\u201d she said. \u201cOffending your potential voters over something as personal as maternal status is stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meghan McCain, talk show host and daughter of the late Republican senator John McCain of Arizona, posted on X that \u201cin politics if you\u2019re explaining you\u2019re losing\u201d and urged Vance to tighten his talking points.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been trying to warn every conservative man I know \u2014 these JD comments are activating women across all sides, including my most conservative Trump supporting friends,\u201d she wrote on X. \u201cThese comments have caused real pain and are just innately unchristian. This is not who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In the days since JD Vance was named the Republican vice-presidential nominee, he\u2019s been under…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}