KHive’s kid gloves off in stoush with Republican runner JD Vance

The comments spark storm of scorn and accusations the 39-year-old father of three represents an out-of-touch, sexist mindset.

JD Vance on the stump in Radford, Virginia, this week. Picture: AFP

US Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance is learning the hard way the internet doesn’t just love cats but also childless cat ladies, as comments resurfaced in which he claimed those without offspring were less fit to govern.

In a 2021 clip, Mr Vance singled out Kamala Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee, among others when he told Fox News those who hadn’t procreated, particularly “childless cat ladies”, were “miserable” and had no “direct stake” in the country.

The comments have sparked a storm of scorn and accusations the 39-year-old father of three represents an out-of-touch, sexist Republican mindset that has no place in the modern era.

“It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz told MSNBC, adding: “My God, they went after ‘cat people’, good luck with that!”

If Ms Harris beats Republican former president Donald Trump in the November election, she not only becomes the first female president, but also the first woman of black and Asian heritage, which has opened her up to a number of attacks along demographic lines.

While multiple Republicans have flagged her lack of biological children as an issue, her online “KHive” of fans has been running defence – via memes, indignation and supportive posts, including from celebrities, politicians and members of her own family.

An outraged Jennifer Aniston pointed to her own infertility. Picture: AFP

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 remarked: “Now, what the hell?”

The resurfaced 2021 clip shows Senator Vance, then running for the upper house from Ohio, telling Fox’s Tucker Carlson that America was being run 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”.

“It’s just a basic fact – you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC – the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” he said.

“And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”

Mr Buttigieg, the US Transportation Secretary and who adopted two children that same year, told CNN the comments were hurtful given an adoption setback he was facing at the time.

“He couldn’t have known that, but maybe that’s why you shouldn’t be talking about other people’s children,” he said.

Ms Harris has two stepchildren, Cole and Ella, through husband Doug Emhoff and his first wife. The children’s mother, Kerstin Emhoff, told CNN the attacks on Ms Harris were “baseless”. “For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I,” she said. “I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.”

Whoopi Goldberg remarked: ‘Now, what the hell?’. Picture: Getty Images

Ella, 25, who refers to Ms Harris as “Momala”, wrote on Instagram: “I love my three parents. How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie pie kids like cole and I.”

Harris supporters were quick to point out that no US president has ever physically given birth, since all have been men. A handful have also never produced any offspring. Chief among them was George Washington, America’s first president who, like Ms Harris, helped raise his spouse’s children from a previous marriage.

Meghan McCain, daughter of late Republican senator John McCain, warned that Senator Vance’s comments “are activating women across all sides, including my most conservative Trump-supporting friends”.

The focus on politicians’ children comes as reproductive health and abortion access – topics Ms Harris has championed – take centre stage in the campaign.

“Political leaders should have children. Certainly they should at least be married,” venture capitalist and Trump-endorsed former congressional candidate Blake Masters wrote on X. “If you aren’t running or can’t run a household of your own, how can you relate to a constituency of families, or govern wisely with respect to future generations?”

In a 2021 speech, Senator Vance went so far as to suggest people with children should have more votes. “When you go to the polls in this country as a parent, you should have more power,” he said in quotes unearthed by The Washington Post. “If you don’t have as much of an investment in the future of this country, maybe you shouldn’t get nearly the same voice.”

His campaign has since dismissed the comments as a “thought experiment”.

AFP