JD Vance says people took his childless cat lady comment ‘the wrong way’

Republican vice presidential contender JD Vance was again within the sizzling seat Sunday over feedback he made whereas operating for the US Senate in 2021 about Individuals — notably girls — with out kids.

The Ohio senator spoke to NBC’s Kristen Welker only a few days after his operating mate spoke to her colleagues on the community throughout a visit to the southern border. In his interview, he was requested as soon as once more whether or not he “regrets” making a dig at “childless cat women” — one thing he mentioned he didn’t remorse doing. As an alternative, he mentioned he regretted that Democrats have been supposedly “mendacity” concerning the context of his remarks.

He additionally fired again at the concept some girls voters might take his phrases as a “intestine punch” and would marvel if he’d actually characterize each women and men.

“Look, I remorse definitely that lots of people took it the incorrect approach, and I definitely remorse that the DNC and Kamala Harris lied about it,” Vance mentioned.

When Welker pressed him once more, he answered: “I’ve numerous regrets, Kristen, however making a joke three years in the past just isn’t on the prime ten of the checklist.”

Welker’s line of questioning didn’t get into the meat of Vance’s feedback in any respect; specifically, the assertion {that a} lady’s function in society is primarily as a childbearer. Vance made a number of feedback to this regard, each in a speech to a conservative group in 2021 in addition to throughout an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox Information across the similar time.

There was additionally the undertones of the “childless cat woman” remark itself: the twin assertion that Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg shouldn’t have kids (each do, by way of “nontraditional” means), and that these Individuals who shouldn’t have kids “don’t actually have a direct stake in” the nation’s future, per Vance’s phrases.

These twin arguments wouldn’t be misplaced in a right-wing Christian nationalist radio broadcast however put Vance on the intense fringe of the American up to date political spectrum. They’ve been seized by Democrats in current weeks as Harris’s occasion pummels their opponents as out of contact extremists with “bizarre” views about girls.

Vance has sought to stroll again his remarks on a number of events, with Sunday being his newest try — he referred to them as “sarcastic” remarks to Welker. However Buttigieg specifically has gone for the jugular, accusing Vance of not recognizing adoptees, step-parents and an entire vary of different household constructions which don’t cleanly match the nuclear mannequin.

In the identical interview with Welker on Sunday, Vance took one other step in that effort and pledged {that a} second Trump administration wouldn’t permit a nationwide abortion ban to be instituted.

The Republican vice presidential contender has seen his favorable scores plummet amid the barrage and the Trump marketing campaign as an entire has largely misplaced its momentum within the race since his nomination and the announcement which shortly adopted: Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race. The previous president now trails Harris, his new opponent, in a mean of nationwide polling whereas swing states seem to largely be trending within the vice chairman’s favor.

This weekend, the Harris marketing campaign additionally introduced that it had pulled in additional that $80m in donations through the four-day Democraic Nationwide Conference final week, bringing their one-month fundraising complete ranging from the launch of her marketing campaign previous the $500m mark.