Manchin dismisses Vance's childless Americans comments: 'Very weird'

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-Va.) on Tuesday blasted his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), calling past comments the senator made about “childfree women who like cats” “very strange.” The senator has faced backlash for comments he has made about people without children.

Asked about Vance’s controversial comments on Tuesday, he said, “That’s a really strange position. I’ve never heard that before. It was very strange. I couldn’t believe it.”

Manchin is the latest lawmaker to question Gov. Vance’s 2021 comments criticizing people who don’t have children.

In his remarks, Vance told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the country was “run by childless, catty-cat women who are miserable about their lives and the choices they’ve made, and they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

Vance last week defended his “childless cat-loving women” comment, calling it a “sarcastic remark,” and used the topic to attack Democrats as “anti-family.”

“I know the media is going to attack me and want me to back down on this, Meghan, but I said, having a child, being a father, being a mother, it really does change the way you think in a pretty fundamental way,” Vance said on SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show” last week.

The comments resurfaced as Ohio Republicans came under increased scrutiny of Vance after former President Trump announced he would be his running mate.

Taylor Van Kirk, a spokesman for Senator Vance, pushed back against the criticism, saying the left-leaning media was misinterpreting Vance’s comments and misrepresenting where he stands on the issues.

“As he made it very clear, he was talking about left-wing politicians who support policies that are clearly anti-child, anti-family. The media can obsess over that all they want, but he will never back down when it comes to advocating for policies that protect parental rights and encourage people to have more children,” Van Kirk told The Hill.

He also spoke on Tuesday. Conservative Podcasts 2020 The president suggested that “childless” leaders of countries are “more sociopathic” than those with children.

“I think there’s a fundamental rhythm to life that’s really powerful and really valuable when you have children,” Vance said on the podcast, “and a lot of people, particularly in American leadership, don’t experience that in their lives.”

“You know, I worry that it’s going to make people more sociopathic and ultimately make our country a little less mentally stable overall,” he said. “And of course, we talked about using Twitter, but the last thing I want to say is that when you use Twitter, the craziest, most psychopathic people are almost always people who don’t have kids at home.”

Democrats, including Vice President Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, It features various statements by Vance. They take a stance against candidate Trump Vance and call him a “wacko.”

Vance told Fox News on Sunday that he doesn’t feel hurt by the label.

When asked by Fox News reporter Laura Ingraham about Vance’s “childless” comments, Trump said Monday that his running mate is “a family guy.” Trump told Ingraham that Vance has “tremendous support,” especially among “family guys.”