WASHINGTON: US Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance is learning how hard the internet hates not just cats but childless cat ladies, as comments resurfaced in which he said it's not worth treating those who don't. have children.
In a 2021 video, Vance singled out current Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, among others, when she told Fox News that those who don't have children, especially those “cat ladies who don't have -child”, was “distressed” and had no “direct ship”. in the country.
The comments caused a firestorm and accusations that the father of three represented an out-of-touch republican attitude that has no place in the modern age.
“It would be funny if it wasn't sad,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz told MSNBC, adding, “Oh my God, they're chasing the 'cat', good luck with that!”
If Harris, who has two children, defeated former Republican President Donald Trump in November's election, she would not only become the first female president, but also the first woman of Black and Asian heritage, who opened it to several attacks on demographics. line.
While many Republicans have pointed to their lack of births as a problem, the “KHive” of their Internet fans has defended them – through memes, outrage and supportive posts, including celebrities, politicians and their family members.
An angry Jennifer Aniston pointed to her own anorexia, which the actress has called out in the past, when comedian and host Whoopi Goldberg asked “Now what?”
A resurfaced 2021 video shows Vance, then a U.S. Senate candidate from Ohio, telling Fox's Tucker Carlson that the United States is being run by “cat ladies there are no children who are miserable because of their own lives and the choices they made. so they want to oppress the rest of the country as well.”
“It's just a basic thing — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people who don't have kids,” Vance said.
“And how is it important to betray our country to people who do not really have a direct role in it?”
Buttigieg, who served as U.S. transportation secretary and adopted two children the same year, told CNN the comments hurt because of the backlash he faced at the time.
“He wouldn't know it, but maybe that's why you shouldn't talk about other people's kids,” Buttigieg said.
Harris has two children, Cole and Ella, from her husband Doug Emhoff and her first husband.
Their mother, Kerstin Emhoff, said in a statement to CNN that the attack on Harris was “baseless.”
“For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala co-parented with Doug and me,” she said.
“I love our blended family and I'm grateful to have him in it.”
Ella, 25, who calls Harris “Momala,” meanwhile wrote on Instagram that “I love all three of my parents.”
“How can you be 'childless' when you have cutie pie kids like me and cole.”
Harris supporters are quick to point out that no US president has ever given birth physically, as they are all men. A handful have never given birth.
Chief among them was George Washington, America's first president who, like Harris, helped raise his wife's children from a previous marriage.
Meghan McCain, the daughter of Republican Sen. John McCain, warned that Vance's comments “are affecting women across the board, including my friends who support conservative Trump- very traditional.”
The focus on the children of politicians comes with access to reproductive health and abortion — a topic Harris has championed — at the center of this year's election.
“Political leaders should have children.” Surely they should at least get married,” Blake Masters, a venture capitalist and former Trump supporter in Congress, wrote in X.
“If you don't run or manage your own household, how can you connect with a community, or manage wisely for future generations?” he said.
In a 2021 speech, Vance advised people with children to 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 from the Washington Post, and he added “if you don't have a lot of investment in the future of this country. , maybe you shouldn't have the same voice.”
Vance's campaign dismissed the comments as a “thought experiment.”
