J.D. Vance gives ‘I’m sorry you were offended’ apology after latest grilling on childless cat lady controversy
While JD Vance’s comments about his “childless cat lady” have been largely ignored in the news for years, the vice presidential candidate insists he has no regrets about the joke that prompted a flurry of left-wing criticism.
Vance, on the other hand, says Democrats attacked his character because of a “sarcastic comment” he made, which was intended to make a much larger point about policies that make it harder to want to start a family.
“Yes, I made a sarcastic comment years ago that I think was deliberately misinterpreted by many Democrats,” Vance said during final questioning about his comments.
When asked by NBC Meet the Press host Kristen Welker if he regretted the comments, Vance replied, “I certainly regret that a lot of people took it the wrong way and I certainly regret that the DNC and Kamala Harris lied about it.”
The entire controversy stems from an interview Vance had with then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson in 2021, when he was running for U.S. Senate.
Senator JD Vance has no regrets about his “sarcastic comment” about “childless cat ladies,” saying it was a joke made in the interest of America’s anti-family problem.
Vance said at the time that the US is ruled by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are unhappy with their own lives and the choices they’ve made, and who therefore want to make the rest of the country unhappy as well.”
“It’s just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people who don’t have children,” Vance continued. “And how does it make sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t have a direct stake in it?”
Vice President Harris has no children of her own, but is stepmother to her husband Doug Emhoff’s two children, Ella and Cole. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg now has twins he and his husband Chasten adopted.
The Ohio Republican said while his comment was a joke, the main point was that conditions in the U.S. are making it difficult for people to support their families and are discouraging couples from having children.
“I regret a lot of things, Kristen, but making a joke three years ago is not in the top 10 of the list,” he said in the interview with Welker that aired in full Sunday morning.
Vance has seen his wife Usha work to balance having children with being a successful lawyer and says he wants to make it easier for women to make choices. Pictured: JD and Usha Vance with their three children
“I’m going to say things that people don’t agree with at times,” he acknowledged. “I’m a real person. I’m going to make jokes, I’m going to say things sarcastically.”
“If I’m elected vice president, there will certainly be things I say that people will say, ‘Well, I wish he had said that differently.’ I think the most important thing is to be the person I really am and say that those sarcastic comments were made in service of a real, substantive point,” he continued.
“This country has become too anti-family,” Vance lamented. “It’s too expensive to afford a house, it’s too expensive to afford groceries. Donald Trump and I want to change that.”
The Republican vice presidential candidate urged Americans to look beyond the comments and “focus on policy.”