Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), former President Trump’s running mate, is standing by his recently viral three-year-old remarks about “childless cat ladies” governing the country.
In an interview on SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show” that aired Friday, Vance clarified, “Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment. I’ve got nothing against cats,” he quipped.
Vance also accused media of “focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance of what I actually said.”
Vance’s original comments were made on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show in 2021, where he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris, now on top of the Democratic presidential ticket, as one of the “childless cat ladies” who are “trying to make the rest of the country miserable too.”
.@JDVance: I know the media wants to attack me and wants me to back down on this, Megyn, but the simple point that I made is that having children, becoming a father, becoming a mother, I really do think it changes your perspective in a pretty profound way.
It's not a criticism… pic.twitter.com/x1ZaLvxiAp
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) July 26, 2024
Highlighting figures like Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Vance argued that the future of the Democratic Party is “controlled by people without children.”
Vance told Kelly, “It’s not a criticism of people who don’t have children. I explicitly said in my remarks … this is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-child.”
Vance also suggested that the media is keen on attacking him and pressuring him to retract his statements, but noted that “what this is fundamentally about [is] the Democrats in the past five to 10 years, Megyn, they have become anti-family.”
The 2021 remarks resurfaced this week, drawing a wave of criticism from politicians and celebrities alike.
Hillary Clinton commented on the viral clip of Vance, sharing it in a Tuesday tweet and mockingly captioning it, “what a normal, relatable guy who certainly doesn’t hate women having freedoms.”
“Friends” star Jennifer Aniston, chimed in on Instagram Stories, saying, “I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States.”
What a normal, relatable guy who certainly doesn't hate women having freedoms. https://t.co/aa9UJaM8CU
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 23, 2024
“All I can say is … Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too,” Aniston continued.
In the aftermath, Harris’s presidential campaign targeted Vance for his support of expanding the child tax credit, which he wants to become permanent.
Ammar Moussa, Harris’s rapid response director, wrote on X, “JD Vance’s attacks on childless Americans are vile. He called for higher taxes on those without children.”
Harris’s campaign headquarters’ X account shared an old clip of Vance discussing his support for an expanded child tax credit to reduce the tax burden on American families, including those with many children.
JD Vance says adults without children should have their taxes raised because we should "punish the things that we think are bad" pic.twitter.com/25PPL9EwRU
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) July 26, 2024
Vance had said in an interview with Charlie Kirk in 2021, “If you are making $100,000, $400,000 a year and you’ve got three kids, you should pay a different, lower tax rate than if you are making the same amount of money and you don’t have any kids. It’s that simple.”
Harris’s campaign account criticized Vance’s stance, claiming, “JD Vance says adults without children should have their taxes raised because we should ‘punish the things that we think are bad,’” despite the child tax credit having no effect on the taxes of childless Americans.
In his defense, Vance noted that expanding the child tax credit generally enjoys bipartisan support, and pointed out that Senate Democrats, including Harris, have backed the child tax credit in the past.
“Most Americans in both political parties support the child tax credit and lowering the tax burden for parents,” Vance wrote on X.
Most Americans in both political parties support the child tax credit and lowering the tax burden for parents. It's disturbing that the Kamala campaign is running on such an extreme anti-family agenda that they're taking radical positions like this. https://t.co/3NUCEgYF5h
— JD Vance (@JDVance) July 26, 2024
“It’s disturbing that the Kamala campaign is running on such an extreme anti-family agenda that they’re taking radical positions like this.”
