As Indian-American Kamala Harris has gained attention with Joe Biden’s exit from the White House race, she has faced trolling and racial abuse. The US Vice President has been subjected to severe criticism, including remarks about her not having children.
After Biden endorsed Harris, an old video of JD Vance—Donald Trump’s running mate for the 2024 presidential election—went viral on social media. In the 2021 clip, the Ohio Senator referred to Harris as one of the “childless cat ladies” and suggested she is “miserable” because she lacks a direct stake in the US due to not being a mother.
During a speech at an Intercollegiate Studies Institute conference, Vance specifically criticized Harris by questioning, “Why is this just a normal fact of … life, for the leaders of our country to be people who don’t have a personal and direct stake in it via their own offspring?”
Later, in an appearance with Tucker Carlson on Fox News, the Ohio Republican escalated his criticism of Democrats who do not have children.
“We’re effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, 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 to make the rest of the country miserable too,” he stated.
Referring to Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg and AOC, he went on to say, “it’s just a basic fact” that the “entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children”. “And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people that don’t have a direct stake in it,” he added.
Harris encounters similar harsh attacks as she announces her presidential candidacy
On X, user Will Chamberlain claimed in a post that Harris is ineligible to run for president due to her being childless.
In his now-viral post with 12.2 million views, he argued that Harris will never be able to relate to the concerns of parents and families. He specifically noted that being a stepparent to older teenagers does not qualify.
“Really simple, underdiscussed reason why Kamala Harris shouldn’t be President. No children,” he wrote.
An X user reacted to his post, writing, “Just like George Washington, James Polk, Warren Harding, James Buchanan, and Andrew Jackson.” To this, Chamberlain wrote: “So you’re saying it’s been 100 years since we had a childless President. This is supposed to be persuasive?”
“Pretty ugly Will, you should delete this,” another asked.
While a third user wrote, “Wow, that’s all you got. Trump doesn’t have a dog, what’s your point?”, one more blasted Chamberlain by writing, “Seriously, Will. Take this down.”
Really simple, underdiscussed reason why Kamala Harris shouldn’t be President
No children
— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) July 21, 2024
Kamala Harris and her stepchildren
In 2013, Kamala Harris married Douglas Emhoff, who has two children from his previous marriage to Kerstin Emhoff: Cole and Ella.
Ella Emhoff, 25, is a fashion designer and model, while Cole Emhoff, 30, works in the entertainment industry like his mother. In 2019, Harris described her stepchildren as intelligent, talented, humorous, and welcoming.
