In an absolutely classic move for guys who don’t like themselves but need to project a certain way in the world, years ago J.D. Vance went on Tucker Carlson and basically said Kamala Harris was a “joke” because she’s never given birth. When Vance became the VP nominee and Harris pivoted to the Presidential nominee (seems so), those clips resurfaced, and now guys like Mayor Pete are getting asked about it:
Before we get too deep into this, my wife and I experience infertility, and it colors a lot of your life. You kinda think you have a plan for life that involves “a family” and “raising kids,” which seems relatively normative in the eyes of many, and then it just never appears. It’s very hard.
Let me put aside my own struggles for a second and just break this down a little bit, though.
The main thing that is happening here is that J.D. Vance is a very typical late-30s, early-40s male where he realizes “Oh shit, this is it?” And yes, he might position himself for President in 2028, and that’s cool, but millions of guys act like Vance (including kissing the ass of power) and often, the main thing a guy can hang his hat on is producing kids. So, when someone isn’t in that club, the guy scoffs at or disparages them. It’s pretty common.
Vance also needs to give red meat to the Trump base, and the Trump base has a lot of aggrieved men who think society is over because purple-haired millennial women aren’t acting as baby factories. Ironically, many of those same men have daughters who miscarry, daughters who are infertile, or daughters who only have one kid. News flash: anyone who has less than three kids is actually not contributing to the Elon/conservative “society is atrophying” discussion. Two kids is a net-zero. Why can no one do math?
This is perhaps the longest-tenured way to attack a woman. What’s always been funny about that to me is that so many women I know hate being moms, and have to shoulder basically an entire family because their husband is a moron (I bet Vance does very little at home), but because they joined the club, they need to tell other women that motherhood is the “greatest love you’ll ever know.” But do they themselves always believe that? Or would they rather be smoking cigarettes in Paris and having flings? It’s a worthwhile question.
Kamala actually is a mom in the stepmom sense, although no, she never pushed anything out of her.
Is there research somewhere that says parents make better politicians? And honestly, should parents even be going into politics, given how much time it takes away from home with travel and all?
Attacking childless women probably alienates you three million votes or so, re: infertility, miscarriages, women who wanted more kids but couldn’t get there, etc.
Wouldn’t a better approach be to talk about why people who want four kids are only having one? Maybe address the safety net issue? Maybe talk about tax credit for childcare centers, or something along those lines
Obviously what Vance is doing is giving red meat to the base. They want to think of Kamala as a joke, and if the most relevant thing you did in your life as a guy is to get some sperm home to an egg twice and that’s kinda what you hang your ultimate hats on, calling her out as childless is a great way to throw that red meat to your aggrieved base who already views her as a joke + DEI hire. I get it.
It just seems like a bad strategy. Infertility has scaled in modernity (some say it’s 1 in 4 to 1 in 6 couples now), for various reasons: later marriages, poor health, food packaging, whatnot. I live with a childless woman who gets triggered by it. I know the entire fucking drill. It just doesn’t seem like a smart way to endear yourself to people.
Same vein: remember when Trump tried to bash IVF, and had to reverse course in less than 24 hours? Same exact thing. Don’t alienate would-be moms, or moms-who-want-more-kids-but-it’s-harder-now. Those are voting blocks, J.D. I’m glad your sperm found gold twice, but shitting on women everywhere who haven’t hit Usha’s spot makes you look like a moron.
Your take?