'Very scary': Expert explains how GOP’s 'obsession with childlessness' is pillar of fascism

14 August 2024

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), who kicked off his 2024 vice presidential bid by having to defend comments he made denigrating "childless cat ladies," has also written the foreword for a book authored by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts — the chief architect of Project 2025.

Like Vance, Roberts' book — Dawn's Early Light — also attacks women who opt to not have children, and even illustrated his dislike for women not raising kids by slamming the Swampoodle dog park in Washington, D.C. In his view, the park had too much room for dogs and not enough room for kids, and blamed the park's design on an "anti-family culture shaping legislation, regulation and enforcement throughout our sprawling government."

In a Wednesday segment on MSNBC, host Nicolle Wallace — joined by Media Matters for America president Angelo Carusone — asked New York University professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat to connect Roberts' attitude toward bachelors, single women without dependents and dog owners to far-right authoritarian ideology. Ben-Ghiat explained that the GOP's extreme pro-natalist rhetoric is actually a key element of fascism.

"What I take away from the dog park thing, it's very scary because all of this discussion we've had, you know, authoritarianism is about lifting regulations and rules for the very rich, for the elites through privatization [and] deregulation. So more rights, more freedoms for them. And fewer rights and more controls for everybody else," she said. "And so this obsession with childlessness ... the idea that women would have choice, that women have autonomy over their bodies, over their destiny, the timing of their families, who's in their family, who they marry, all of that is part of a war on women."

Ben-Ghiat then described what she viewed as the GOP's compulsion to control women as "very fascist." The historian and author reminded viewers of how women were treated in Italy in the 1920s, during the reign of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

"Some of the language we've heard reminds me of Mussolini, who in the late '20s he said ... the cemeteries are full and the cradles are empty in Italy. And he had a whole program, no contraception, no abortion," she said. "[JD] Vance talks about ... policy to penalize people who won't have kids. and so not only were there extreme controls under fascism on women's autonomy, and taking away reproductive rights, but there was attacks on bachelors imposed in the late 1930s to punish men as well in the interest of growing the family and having more white, Christian babies."

It isn't just Mussolini: In 2022 a Heritage Foundation writer authored an article praising Russian dictator Joseph Stalin for his policies aimed at controlling women and discouraging people from not having kids. Heritage researcher Emma Waters noted that during his regime, Stalin "quickly implemented an easy, inexpensive, no-fault divorce program," which he argued was necessary to stabilize marriage rates and prevent an increase in "fatherless children."

"Let this sink in. Even the monstrous Stalin, who is responsible for millions of deaths and atrocities, saw that a society needs intact families with both mothers and fathers, if it is to flourish," Waters wrote.

Ben-Ghiat cautioned that voters should be wary of the similarities between the rhetoric of the Trump/Vance ticket and the policies of past regimes responsible for killing millions of people.

"Although this is a blueprint for the future, it's a blueprint that echoes the fascist past," she said.

Watch Ben-Ghiat's segment below, or by clicking this link.

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