J.D. Vance’s latest advice for everyday Americans was slammed Tuesday as being completely out of touch with the society he lives in.
Donald Trump’s running mate last week responded to questions about child-care costs by urging parents to rely on grandparents to help them out.
“Make it so that, maybe like grandma or grandpa wants to help out a little bit more, or maybe there's an aunt or uncle who wants to help out a little bit more," he said.
It's the latest in a series of statements that have seen Vance criticized as being way out of touch with the world he wants to represent.
“This idea that we might be able to find some free solution we haven't thought of is rather insulting,” said Erin Erenberg, who founded the moms' support group Chamber of Mothers, in an interview with Salon.
Her concern was echoed by Daphne Delvaux, an employment lawyer who specializes on women’s rights in the workplace.
She slammed Vance’s suggestion as "naïve, aloof and divorced from reality at best."
“And classist, ableist and exploitative at worst," she added. "Not all grandparents are ready, able and willing to provide child care; many grandparents still work themselves, especially with the rising cost of living.”
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Gloria Feldt, a grandmother of 16, told Salon looking after her grandchildren would get great — but impossible.
“I’m still working full-time and living in a city far distant from them,” she said. “Even my own mother who was lucky enough to have been present at the birth of all four of her great-grandchildren was still working literally on her deathbed at 74.”
And Tracy Lamourie, a publicist who has a 2-year-old grandchild, agreed.
“Unlike the old days, most grandmas like myself aren't home-baking cookies. We're fully functioning members of society — in my case running a global business serving clients across industries,” she told Salon.
“The slow days of most people having retired grandparents at home with nothing else to do are over for most people as the older generations are still working the same hamster wheels for survival that the young parents are just getting on.”
