Washington: US Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance is learning the hard way that the internet doesn't just love cats but childless cat ladies, resurfacing comments in which he claimed the childless are less fit to govern.
In a 2021 clip, Vance accused Kamala Harris, now a Democratic presidential candidate, among others, of telling Fox News that those who couldn't have children, especially “childless cat ladies,” were “sad” and had no “direct stake.” in the country.
The comments have sparked a storm of hate and accusations that the father of three represents an out-of-touch, sexist Republican mentality that has no place in the modern age.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz told MSNBC, “It would be funny if it wasn't sad,” adding: “My God, they went after the 'cat man,' good luck with that!”
If Harris, who has two stepchildren, defeats former Republican President Donald Trump in November's election, she will become not only the first female president but also the first woman of black and Asian heritage, opening her up to a range of attacks, including demographic ones. Lines.
While many Republicans have flagged her lack of biological children as a problem, the online “KHive” of her fans are defending her – through memes, outrage and support posts, including celebrities, politicians and members of her own family.
An outraged Jennifer Aniston pointed to her infertility, which the actor has spoken about in the past, while comedian and talk show host Whoopi Goldberg asked, “Now, what?” asked
The resurfaced 2021 clip shows then-U.S. Senate candidate Vance from Ohio telling Fox's Tucker Carlson that the United States is “run by a bunch of pathetic childless cat ladies with their lives and the choices they've made.” So they want to make the rest of the country miserable as well.”
“It's just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, the AOC — that the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” Vance said.
“And how does it make any sense that we've handed over our country to people who have no direct stake in it?”
Buttigieg, who is the US transportation secretary and adopted two children that same year, told CNN that the comments were saddened by the adoption dilemma he was facing at the time.
“He couldn't know it, but maybe that's why you shouldn't talk about other people's kids,” Buttigieg said.
Harris has two stepchildren, Cole and Ella, through her husband Doug Emhoff and his first wife.
Their mother, Kerstin Amhoff, told CNN that the attack on Harris was “baseless.”
“For more than ten years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has co-parented with Doug and me,” she said.
“I love our blended family and am grateful to have him in it.”
Ella, 25, who calls Harris “Momala,” wrote on Instagram, “I love my three parents.”
“How can you be 'childless' when you have cutie pie babies like Cole and me.”
Harris' supporters were quick to point out that no US president had ever physically fathered a child, as all were men. A handful did not bear children.
Chief among them was George Washington, America's first president who, like Harris, helped raise her husband's children from a previous marriage.
Meghan McCain, daughter of Republican Senator John McCain, warned that Vance's comments were “activating women from all sides, including my most conservative Trump-supporting friends.”
Politicians' focus on children comes as reproductive health and abortion access — topics championed by Harris — take center stage in this year's election.
'There should be children of political leaders. Surely they should at least be married,” venture capitalist and Trump-backed former congressional candidate Blake Masters wrote on X.
“If you are not running or running your own family, how can you relate to the family's constituency, or govern wisely with respect to future generations?” he said.
In a 2021 speech, Vance suggested that people with children should have more votes.
“When you go to the polls in this country as a parent, you should have more power,” he said in a quote found by the Washington Post, adding, “If you don't have as much investment in the future of this country, maybe you don't get nearly the same vote.”
Vance's campaign dismissed the comments as a “thought experiment.”
