J.D. Vance defends Harris’ childless cat lady comments | Real Time Headlines

Senator JD Vancethe former president’s running mate Donald Trumpon Friday defended his remarks accusing key Democrats, including the vice president Kamala Harris — to become miserable “childless cat ladies” who want to “make the rest of this country miserable too. Anti-family and anti-child.”

Vance has been criticized for days after “cat lady” comments resurfaced online following the Ohio incident republican nomination as the party’s vice presidential candidate.

But his decision Friday to step up his comments, rather than apologize or say his views have changed, means the Trump campaign can expect the criticism to continue.

“Obviously, that was a sarcastic comment,” Vance said Friday. “I have nothing against cats.” The Megyn Kelly Show on SiriusXM.

“I know the media wants to attack me and want me to back down, Meghan, but the simple point I’m making is that having a baby – becoming a father, becoming a mother – I really think it changes you in a profound way. View.

“Meghan, the Democrats over the last five, 10 years, they’ve become anti-family, it’s baked into their policies and it’s baked into the way they talk about parents and kids, and it’s time for us to speak up,” Vance said. “Who has three children.

“I don’t think we should back down from this… I think we should be honest about this.” Vance’s comments on Kelly’s show were his first response to new controversies stemming from comments he made in 2021, when he was Running for Ohio Senate seat.

“This is not a criticism of people who don’t have children. I made that clear in my speech,” Vance said. “This is not a criticism of people who, for whatever reason, don’t have children. This is a criticism of the Democratic Party as being anti-family and anti-child.”

“I want to target the left, especially those on the left who don’t have children, because I think the rejection of the American family is probably the most harmful and evil thing that the left has done in this country,” Vance said during an appearance. graduate School.

Vance said at the time that while Harris, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were from different parts of the country and had different backgrounds, background, but “one thing united them all: none of them had children.”

Vance said he wasn’t targeting people who “can’t have children for very complex and important reasons,” adding that “building a political movement that would theoretically invest in the future of this country is another thing, and there was none.” A person who has any real commitment to the future of this country.

Harris, the de facto Democratic nominee, is the stepmother of husband Douglas Emhoff’s two children, who call her “Momara.” Vance’s comments came as Buttigieg and his partner were adopting twin babies.

A month after making his comments in 2021, Vance appeared on Tucker Carlson’s now-defunct show on Fox News (Kelly’s former employer) and elaborated on it.

“We are really running this country through the Democratic Party, through our corporate oligarchs, through a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable about their lives and the choices they’ve made, so they want to get the rest done. “This country is miserable, too,” Vance said.

“It’s a basic fact that if you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democratic Party is controlled by people who don’t have children,” he said.

Much of the criticism of the comments over the past week has come from Democrats and their allies, who have lambasted Vance for suggesting that politicians’ decisions about whether to have children depend on their political ideology.

But Vance’s comments were also used by some of Harris’ supporters to embrace the idea of ​​becoming “cat ladies” who could help elect the first female U.S. president after the president Joe Biden withdraw from the election and Support Harris become Democratic presidential candidate.

Harris’ campaign on Friday captured a theme that emerged online from supporters, who began calling Vance “weird.”

“J.D. Vance is a weirdo (who wants to ban abortion nationwide),” the Harris campaign wrote in an email. “J.D. Vance is weird. Voters know it — Vance is the most popular politician in decades. Unpopular pick for vice president.”

Emhoff’s ex-wife, Kirsten Emhoff, said Vance’s comments were “baseless” and cited Harris’ role in their children’s lives.

Kerstin Emhoff said in a statement to NBC News on Thursday: “Kamala has been Doug and I’s best friend for over a decade, ever since Cole and Ella were teenagers. co-parent. “She was loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am so excited to have her join us. “

Ella Emhoff, 25, posted a screenshot to her Instagram Story backing up her mother’s claims, adding her own words: “When you have cute guys like Cole and I How can you be ‘childless’ when you have children?

“I love all three of my parents,” Ella wrote.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board, which has always supported Republicans, wrote on Wednesday that “accusing Ms. Harris of being childless is another false statement from Republicans in their fight against Harris’ bid for the White House.”

“The decision to have a child is deeply personal and often a matter of opportunity and choice, and this attack highlights a culturally critical side of the Republican Party that alienates many voters,” the Wall Street Journal board of directors wrote in an editorial.

“She has two stepchildren. It’s possible to emphasize the virtues of family and children without sounding like a moral scold.”