JD Vance defends 'childless cat women' comment after backlash

Donald Trump's vice-president, JD Vance, has defended repeated comments in which he called Democratic politicians “a bunch of childless cat women who are having a hard time”.

His words, said in 2021, have been heavily criticized this week, with Jennifer Aniston among those who have attacked the 39-year-old Republican.

“Obviously it was a sarcastic remark. People are more focused on the sarcasm than the substance of what I said,” Mr Vance told news host Megyn Kelly on Friday.

“The gist of what I said, Megyn — I'm sorry, it's true,” he added.

Mr. Vance, who has three children, said he does not criticize people without children in an interview with former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson during his Senate run.

“This is about criticizing the Democratic Party for not supporting the family and children,” he told the Megyn Kelly Show.

“The simple point I made is that having children, being a father, being a mother, I think it changes your perspective in a profound way,” he said.

“I'm making the argument that our entire society has become skeptical and hostile to the idea of ​​having children,” Mr Vance said.

In the first interview, you asked why leading politicians don't have children. One of those who made a name was Kamala Harris, who was nominated for the Democratic Alliance in the November election, and who is the mother of her husband Doug Emhoff's two children.

“The entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people who don't have children,” he said at the time. “How does it make sense to give our country to people who have no direct stake in it?”

The Ohio senator said the country is run by “a bunch of childless cat women who are unhappy with their lives and the choices they've made so they want to make the whole country miserable”.

On Friday, Mr Vance said: “I wish his adopted children and Kamala Harris and her entire family the best. The point is not that he is small. The point is that his group followed a set of policies that are very anti-child.”

Mr. Vance made similar remarks against Democrats in a 2021 speech at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, where he said his criticism was not directed at those who cannot have children for natural or medical reasons.

Jennifer Aniston, who has spoken publicly about her struggles while trying to have children through in-vitro fertilization, was among politicians and lawmakers who criticized her comments.

“I really can't believe this is coming from the vice president of the United States,” he said on Thursday.

Mr Buttigieg, who was one of the Democratic politicians named by Mr Vance in the first interview, also made these comments earlier this week, talking about having twins with his husband, Chasten.

“The saddest thing is that you said it after Chasten and I had faced some painful issues in our adoption journey,” Mr. Buttigieg told CNN's The Source.

Mr Vance blocked legislation earlier this year in the Senate that would have guaranteed access to IVF across the country.

Instead he signed a letter with 48 other Republicans saying they supported IVF, but the Democratic Alliance bill was too broad and “false fear”.