Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance is under fire again for disparaging comments about people who don’t have children. Newly resurfaced footage reveals Vance’s remarks during a visit to the Center for Christian Virtue forum in 2021 when he lashed out at Randi Weingarten, leader of the American Federation of Teachers. He accused Weingarten of brainwashing and “destroying the minds of children.” Vance also said she doesn’t “have a single child.”
Weingarten is married to rabbi Sharon Anne Kleinbaum, who has two children. It is not the first time that Vance has described gay couples with children as “childless” and affixed the same label to Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has two adopted children with his husband. Additionally, he described Vice President Kamala Harris in the same terms, even though she has two stepchildren. Mr. Vance is not alone in dismissing the legitimacy of non-biological parents, however.
Last year, Randi Weingarten was questioned by GOP firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene, who asked the educator if she was a mother. Weingarten replied that she is a mother “by marriage,” but Taylor Greene appeared to disagree, continually asserting that Weingarten was “not a mother.”
Since joining Donald Trump on the Republican presidential ticket, Mr. Vance has stirred extensive controversy over his views on parents. His 2021 remarks about “childless cat ladies” prompted a response that included memes from women and feminist groups embracing the label and posting with images of their cats on social media.
An additional scandal followed when footage of Vance agreeing that the “purpose” of postmenopausal women was to care for grandchildren also appeared online.
Some commentators suggest that the remarks have turned the election into a battle of the sexes, with women speaking out against what they see as a misogynistic Republican team. High-profile female leaders are lashing out at Trump and Vance, including Liz Schuller, President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. She responded to the Republican’s latest revelations on parenting and said Mr. Vance had shown his true colors and revealed himself as a “sexist, anti-woman blowhard.”
