'Super creepy': Critics slam Vance and Masters for 'repugnant' belief politicians need kids

25 July 2024

Resurfaced video from 2021 shows Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) sharing his belief that children should be given the “right” to vote – but those rights should go to their parents, so parents have more votes than non-parents. In remarks more widely distributed, Vance also said that the country is run by the Democratic Party, which he called “a bunch of childless cat ladies.”

Republican congressional candidate Blake Masters weighed in, sharing his belief that having children should be a pre-requisite for being elected as a political leader.

The pushback from critics has been palpable.

“Let’s give votes to all children in this country. But let’s give control over those votes to the parents of those children. When you go to the polls in this country, as a parent, you should have more power. You should have more of an ability to speak your voice in our democratic republic than people who don’t have kids,” Vance declared in 2021 (video below) while delivering a speech to the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a right-wing college organization which is now on the Project 2025 Advisory Board. “Let’s face the consequences and the reality 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.”

“Doesn’t this mean that non-parents don’t have as much of a voice as parents? Doesn’t this mean that parents get a bigger say in how our democracy functions?” Vance asked. “Yes. Absolutely.”

Vance’s remarks on parents getting more votes was overshadowed by his now-infamous comment that Democrats are “a bunch of childless cat ladies.”

“We’re effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via, via our corporate oligarchs by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made,” Vance told Tucker Carlson, the now-former Fox News host.

“And so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too. And it’s just a basic fact… Kamala Harris. Pete Buttigieg. AOC. The entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. 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?”

Vance is already seeing great pushback for his remarks.

“JD Vance is apparently unaware that George Washington had no children,” wrote Billy Binion, a reporter for the libertarian magazine Reason. “Was the founder of this country just a ~childless cat lady~ with no stake in America? This stuff is embarrassing and incoherent, and people in the Republican Party should be willing to say so.”

“Astonishing parallels below between slave owners who counted 3/5 of their slaves in the census to inflate their political power and @JDVance promoting extra voting power for parents. As the father of 8, I find his views repugnant,” wrote professor of law and journalism David Cay Johnston.

Despite the pushback, Vance’s remarks and beliefs were propped up Wednesday night by Republican candidate Blake Masters, who wrote: “Political leaders should have children. Certainly they should at least be married. 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? Skin in the game matters.”

Now Masters is getting pushback as well.

“According to @bgmasters, echoing the sentiment of @JDVance and the Trump campaign, if you’ve miscarried, you have no skin in the game. If you’re Lindsey Graham or Tim Scott, you’re not eligible to govern. If you’re a widow or widower, you can’t run a household,” wrote Travis Akers, a retired Naval Intelligence Officer, veterans’ advocate, and activist.

Political commentator and former Obama spokesperson Tommy Vietor responded with a personal story:

“My wife and I had multiple, soul-crushing miscarriages, and one still born daughter before we were able to have children. Millions of parents are desperate to have kids but simply can’t. Treating people without children like they are lesser human beings is unbelievably cruel.”

Marcy Wheeler, a noted civil rights and national security journalist also shared her personal story, writing: “A year after marrying my beloved spouse of 20+ years, I started 6 years of cancer treatment, which largely closed window we would have had children. Sh*thole men who can’t understand those kinds of questions simply can’t relate to choices families face everyday.”

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) responded by saying, “This is all so super creepy and disturbing.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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