WASHINGTON: US Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance is learning the hard way how the internet doesn't just love cats but childless cat ladies as comments resurfaced claiming those without offspring are less fit to govern.
In a 2021 clip, Vance singled out Kamala Harris, now a Democratic presidential candidate, among others, telling Fox News that those who did not procreate, especially “childless cat ladies,” were “unfortunate” and had no “direct stake.” in the country.
The comments sparked a firestorm of scorn and accusations that the father-of-three represented an untouchable, sexist Republican mindset that has no place in the modern age.
“It would be funny if it wasn't so sad,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz told MSNBC, adding, “My God, they went after the 'cat people,' good luck!”
If Harris, who has two stepchildren, defeats former Republican President Donald Trump in November's election, she will become not only the first female president but also the first black and Asian woman, opening her up to a series of attacks along demographic lines.
While several Republicans have called her lack of biological children a problem, her online “KHive” of fans has come to the defense — through memes, outrage and supportive posts, including celebrities, politicians and members of her own family.
An outraged Jennifer Aniston pointed to her own infertility, which the actor has been vocal about in the past, while comedian and talk show host Whoopi Goldberg asked: “Now what the hell?”
A restored clip from 2021 shows Vance, then a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Ohio, telling Fox's Tucker Carlson that the United States is run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are unhappy about their own lives and the decisions they've made, and so they want to trouble and the rest of the country.”
“It's just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, the AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is being driven by people without children,” Vance said.
“And what's the point of handing our country over to people who don't really have a direct stake in it?”
Buttigieg, who is the US transportation secretary and adopted two children in the same year, told CNN the comments were hurtful given the adoption setback he was facing at the time.
“He couldn't know, but maybe that's why you shouldn't talk about other people's kids,” Buttigieg said.
Harris has two stepchildren, Cole and Ella, through her husband Doug Emhoff and his first wife.
Their mother, Kerstin Emhoff, said in a statement to CNN that the attacks on Harris were “baseless.”
“For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has co-parented Doug and I,” she said.
“I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.
Meanwhile, Ella, 25, who refers to Harris as “Momala”, wrote on Instagram that she “loves my three parents”.
“How can you be 'childless' when you have cutie pie babies like Cole and I.”
Harris supporters were quick to point out that no US president had ever physically given birth because they were all men. A handful also never produced any offspring.
Chief among them was George Washington, America's first president, who, like Harris, helped raise her husband's children from a previous marriage.
Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Republican senator John McCain, warned that Vance's comments would “activate women on all sides, including my most conservative Trump-supporting friends.”
The focus on politicians' children comes at a time when reproductive health and access to abortion — issues Harris has championed — are taking center stage in this year's election.
“Political leaders should have children. Surely they should at least be married,” venture capitalist and Trump-backed former congressional candidate Blake Masters wrote on X.
“If you do not rule or know how to rule your own household, how can you relate to a certain circle of families or rule wisely with regard to future generations?” he said.
In a 2021 speech, Vance went so far as to suggest that people with children should have more votes.
“When you go to the polls as a parent in this country, you should have more power,” he said in quotes obtained by the Washington Post, adding, “unless you're so invested in the future of this country. “Maybe you shouldn't have almost the same voice.
Vance's campaign has since dismissed the comments as a “thought experiment.”
