Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who was Trump’s running mate, said he believes Democrats are deliberately misrepresenting Trump’s past comments about “childless cat ladies,” which have come under fire for being misogynistic.
“I made a sarcastic comment years ago that I think many Democrats have willfully misunderstood,” Vance said. During Sunday’s appearance Appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I regret that many people have misunderstood, [Democratic National Committee] And Kamala Harris lied about it.”
Vance has been rallying support for his 2021 Senate run. lamented the then-Fox News personality. Tucker Carlson said he believes Democrats are pushing an “anti-family” agenda driven by “childless, catty women who are miserable about their lives and the choices they’ve made,” so “they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
“This is just a basic fact: Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] “The entire future of the Democratic Party depends on people without children,” Vance told Carlson at the time. “And what does it mean to turn this country over to people who have no direct stake in it?”
Vice President Harris has two stepchildren with her husband Doug Emhoff, while Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has two adopted children with his husband Chasten.
Vance’s comments have come up again since he was announced as Trump’s running mate last month, and he has repeatedly tried to explain away his comments as “sarcastic” and a “joke.”
“I’m going to say things from time to time that people won’t agree with. I’m a human being, so I’m going to make jokes, I’m going to be sarcastic. And I think the important thing is to focus on policy,” he said Sunday. “I have a lot of regrets, but making a joke three years ago isn’t on my top 10 regret list.”
The “childless, cat-loving woman” rhetoric has become a slogan among some Democrats, particularly female voters, since President Biden ended his campaign and Harris surged in the polls with him taking the lead.
This issue came up multiple times at the recent Democratic National Convention in Chicago, but one that stood out in particular was a comment made by superstar Oprah Winfrey in the context of people who, despite their differences, help others whose “houses are on fire.”
“If the house happens to belong to a woman with no children who has cats, we’ll try to get rid of those cats as well.” Winfrey said cheers.
Harris’ campaign website Shirts and mugs for sale With slogans such as “Proud Member of the Childfree Cat Girls Club” and “Childfree Cat Girls for Kamala.”
Vance said Sunday that the “joke” was meant to make a “really important point.”
“This country has become so anti-family,” he said. “It’s too expensive to buy a house. It’s too expensive to buy groceries.”
The president did not directly apologize, but said he would let women who were concerned about his comments know he cared about the family choices they face.
“When you talk to young women, whether they have children or don’t want to have children, I think what you hear consistently is that a lot of young women feel like they don’t have a choice,” he said.
