WASHINGTON: Republican US vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance is learning a bad lesson from finding that the internet is not only fond of cats but also of mothers who have no puppies, as comments he made claiming that childless people are unfit to be in government have resurfaced.
In a 2021 clip, Vance brought up Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris as one of his other potential candidates, telling Fox News that people who have never reproduced, particularly “baby-free moms,” are “pathetic” and have no “direct stake” in the country.
The comments sparked outrage and accusations that the father of three represents a sexist and irrational Republican group that should not exist in today's society.
“It would be funny if it weren't so sad,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told MSNBC. “My God, they're going after 'cat lovers.' Good luck!”
If Harris, who has two stepchildren, defeats Republican former President Donald Trump in November's election, she would not only become the first female president, but also the first woman of African and Asian descent, putting her at risk of being targeted on a number of demographic issues.
While many Republicans have called her lack of biological children a problem, her online fan base, the “KHive,” has come to her defense, with memes, outrage and supportive posts, including from celebrities, politicians and members of her own family.
Jennifer Aniston was furious and pointed to her own infertility issues, something the actress has spoken out about in the past, as comedian and talk show host Whoopi Goldberg asked, “So how are you doing now?”
A re-run of the clip in 2021 shows Vance, then a U.S. Senate candidate from Ohio, telling Fox's Tucker Carlson that the U.S. is run by “a bunch of childless housewives who are suffering from their own lives and the decisions they've made, and they want to make the rest of the country suffer too.”
“It’s just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democratic Party is controlled by childless people,” Vance said.
“How could it make sense to give our country to someone who has no real stake in it?”
Buttigieg, who was U.S. Transportation Secretary and adopted two children in the same year, told CNN the comments were hurtful because he was facing adoption hurdles at the time.
“He probably doesn’t know that, but maybe that’s why you shouldn’t talk about other people’s children,” Battichai said.
Harris has two stepchildren, Cole and Ella, through her husband, Doug Emhoff, and his first wife.
The attack on Harris was “senseless,” Kerstin Emhoff, the children's mother, said in a statement to CNN.
“Since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been co-parenting with Doug and me for over 10 years,” she said.
“I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it,”
“I love all three of my parents,” Ella, 25, who calls Harris “Momala,” wrote on Instagram.
“How can you be ‘childless’ when you have such wonderful children like Cole and me?”
Harris' supporters are quick to point out that no US president has ever given birth to a child, and that they have all been men, and that some have never had children.
The most prominent of the group was George Washington, the first American president, who, like Harris, had helped raise children from a previous marriage.
Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Republican senator John McCain, warned that Vance's comments “are provoking women on all sides, including my most conservative friends who support Trump.”
The politician's focus on children comes as reproductive health and abortion access, topics Harris has championed, have emerged as key election issues this year.
“Political leaders should have kids, and they should at least be married,” Blake Masters, a venture capitalist and former Trump-backed congressional candidate, wrote on X.
“If you are not running or cannot run your own household, how can you connect with your family groups or run your country wisely for future generations?” he said.
In a 2021 speech, Vance went so far as to suggest that people with children should be more likely to vote.
“When you vote in this country as a parent, you should have more power,” he said in remarks dug up by the Washington Post, adding, “If you’re not investing that much in the future of this country, maybe you shouldn’t have nearly the same voice.”
Since then, Vance's campaign has dismissed the comments, calling them a “thought experiment.”
