Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), the nominee for vice president under President Trump, responded to his detractors’ criticism of his “childless cat lady” remarks by asserting that they have aggressively misrepresented his views.
Nevertheless, during the most recent episode of Sunday Night in America With Trey Gowdy on Fox News Channel, Vance maintained that his critics had “misrepresented” his statements and reiterated his assertions.
“All right, Senator, I want to ask you about the other part of that, that again is making news, but I’m not asking you because it’s making news. I’m asking you more because people are calling me who very much would like to support you and President Trump.” Gowdy said.
“Dr. Condi Rice does not have children, neither does my friend, your colleague, Tim Scott. George Washington did not have biological children and neither did James Madison. So I think you will agree with me that direct offspring are not necessary to be fully invested in the future of this country.” he continued.
“Of course not, Trey. I do think that being a parent actually has a profound effect on somebody’s perspective and we should honor and respect that. But there are a whole host of people who don’t have children for a whole host of reasons. And they certainly are great people who can participate fully in the life of this country. And that’s not what I said, Trey.” Vance said in response.
“If you look at what the left has done, they have radically taken this out of context and, in fact, aggressively lied about what I’ve said. What I do think is true, Trey, and this goes to the heart of what I was talking about three years ago in those comments, but it’s going to be something I continue to talk about, is that the left has increasingly become explicitly anti-child and anti-family.” he continued.
“They’ve encouraged young families not to have children at all because of concerns over climate change. They’ve suggested that people who do have children are somehow being selfish when I think being a parent is actually the most selfless thing that you can do, and again, really does transform your perspective. So this is not a criticism. It was never a criticism, Trey, of everybody without children. That is a lie of the left. It is a criticism of the increasingly anti-parent and anti-child attitude of the left.” Vance added.
“There’s one more thing I’m going to say on this, Trey. I think a lot of parents and a lot of non-parents look at our public policy over the last four years and ask, how did we get to this place? How did we get to a place where Kamala Harris is calling for an end to the child tax credit? How do we get to a place where we were masking toddlers years into the pandemic? I think it’s because we radically underrepresent the perspective of parents in our public discourse. I’m going to keep on calling that out because I think it’s important for parents to have a voice. And I’m proud to be on the ticket with President Trump, I think a real defender of parents and families.” he concluded.
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