Senator JD Vance has been under scrutiny since being announced as Donald Trump’s running mate. Recently, he faced backlash for past controversial remarks, with the latest involving his 2021 “childless cat ladies” comment. This has been overshadowed by another resurfaced statement where he addressed “childless people.”
A video from a 2020 conservative podcast, “JD Vance talks Hillbilly Elegy and America’s Future with Chris Buskirk,” resurfaced online, sparking more controversy. In this podcast, Vance stated, “People who are most deranged and most psychotic are people who don’t have kids at home.” He further elaborated, “There are just these basic cadences of life that I think are really powerful and really valuable when you have kids in your life. And the fact that so many people, especially in America’s leadership class, just don’t have that in their lives.” He concluded, “I worry that it makes people more sociopathic and ultimately our whole country a little bit less, less mentally stable.”
Vance’s comments have repeatedly offended people, especially his remarks on the country’s low birth rates. The public was particularly upset over his 2021 “cat ladies” comment, where he tweeted, “Our country’s low birth rates have made many elites sociopaths.” In a 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson, Vance criticized Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg, saying the country is run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want the rest of the country miserable, too.”
In defending his past statements, Vance pointed out, “The entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.” He reiterated this on The Megyn Kelly Show, declaring the Democratic Party as “antifamily.” He clarified that his remarks were not a criticism of childless individuals but a critique of the Democratic Party for being antifamily and antichildren.
Vance’s spokesperson, Taylor Van Kirk, also defended him, stating, “Once again, the leftwing media have twisted Senator Vance’s words and spun up a false narrative about his position on the issues. As he has clearly stated, he was talking about politicians on the left who support policies that are explicitly anti-child and anti-family.” She emphasized that Vance will continue advocating for policies protecting parental rights and encouraging people to have more children, despite media portrayal.