In 2021, JD Vance tried to make money off the "childless cat lady" comment that's now haunting him by calling childless leaders "sociopaths."
Jeff Swensen
Before JD Vance's comment about "childless cat ladies" came back to haunt him, he attempted to profit off the remark in 2021. After making the now-viral comments on an episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight, Vance blasted out fundraising emails based on the interview, a review by CNN found.
In August, 2021, one month after announcing his Senate campaign, Vance capitalized on his interview on Tucker Carlson's then-popular show in a campaign email.
"Did you see me on FOX Primetime recently? I need to speak DIRECTLY to patriots like you about the serious issue of radical childless leaders in this country," it read. "We've allowed ourselves to be dominated by childless sociopaths - they're invested in NOTHING because they're not invested in the country's children."
Vance hit on a similar note in another fundraising email, which said that "our country is basically run by childless Democrats who are miserable in their own lives and want to make the rest of the country miserable too."
The senator's past statements on childless leaders and pro-natalist stances have caused a significant headache for the Trump campaign. In response, Vance tried to assure the American people that he has "nothing against cats" in an interview last week. Still, the vice presidential nominee is suffering from dismal likability ratings and Republicans are unhappy with him.
Trump, for his part, recently defended Vance's comments on childlessness. Speaking to Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Monday, he said that Vance "loves family" and not having kids is "just as good" as having them.
"As he has clearly stated, he was talking about politicians on the left who support policies that are explicitly anti-child and anti-family," Taylor Van Kirk, a Vance spokesperson, said in a statement to both CNN and Business Insider. "The media can obsess over it all they want, but he's not going to back down when it comes to advocating for policies that protect parental rights and encourage people to have more kids."
Vance's pro-natalist stances extend beyond fundraising emails and prime-time interviews — the CNN analysis found that he called those in the "leadership class" without kids "more sociopathic and ultimately our whole country a little bit less, less mentally stable" in a November 2020 podcast episode.
