Conservative calls out militant 'natalism' of MAGA Christian nationalists

09 August 2024

Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign has been in damage-control mode thanks to widely criticized comments that his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), made back in 2021 and 2022.

In a series of interviews that received some criticism on liberal and progressive websites back then but are drawing a lot more criticism now, Vance furiously railed against "childless cat ladies" and "childless Democrats" and specifically attacked Vice President Kamala Harris, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) for not having biological children. However, Harris has two stepchildren via her husband Doug Emhoff, while Buttigieg and his husband have two adopted children.

Vance even went so far as to describe childless Americans as "sociopathic" and called for them to be "punished" through higher taxes. The comments have sparked widespread outrage, with Vance being attacked as ignorant for failing to respect the work that goes into being a stepparent or adopting kids.

In an August 8 column for the New York Times, Never Trump conservative David French outlines the problems that as a Christian, he has with militant "natalism as a movement."

French writes that while he is an "enthusiastic natalist" himself in that he's all for people having kids if they want them, he remains "skeptical of natalism as a movement."

"At the political level," French argues, "it strikes me as mostly futile. It has more promise as a cultural cause, but even then, it is often scolding and even malicious. When JD Vance rants, for example, about 'childless cat ladies,' he's not engaged in a coherent cultural argument. He's mocking those who live differently."

French continues, "When a prominent right-wing activist like Charlie Kirk says that 'the childless are the ones that are destroying the country' and adds that 'if you're bad, you probably don't have children,' he's doing much the same thing."

The Never Trump conservative is critical of the "sense of moral superiority" that can "develop around large families" in "fundamentalist Christianity."

"Movements like Quiverfull would teach that large families were a sign of religious obedience, and even less extreme believers would often view the single life as somehow suspect — in spite of clear biblical endorsements of singleness," French observes. "And then there's the darkness of natalism as a response to immigration, especially as a response to immigrants of color. The racist 'Great Replacement Theory' depends in part on the notion that immigrants are essentially replacing a population that can no longer renew itself."

French adds, "The response is to both shut the doors to newcomers and revitalize the native birthrate."

David French's full New York Times column is available at this link (subscription required).

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