The idea that only people with biological children have a stake in the future of America and that women without such children or even step-parents are, therefore, worthy of scorn was a fairly fringe belief until relatively recently. Such ideas were once confined to men’s rights forums and other less-than-reputable corners of the Internet.
But that was before this presidential campaign, especially when Donald Trump put J.D. Vance on the ticket, and Vance’s old comments about “childless cat ladies” surfaced. This led Taylor Swift to include “Childless Cat Lady” after her name when she announced her endorsement of the Harris-Walz ticket.
Again, such appeals were in the news this week, when Trump White House Press Secretary-turned-Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders stated, at an appearance with Trump, that “my kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble.”
Sarah Huckabee Sanders hits Vice President Harris for not having biological children:
“My kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble.”
pic.twitter.com/9xD0E9KOwX— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) September 17, 2024
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This really seems to be boneheaded, unsavvy politics, for the campaign to continue putting out messaging like this. After all, there are a lot of people out there who don’t have children. There are many others out there, from all walks of life and demographics and geographical locations who, like Kamala Harris, have step-children, or were raised in part by step-parents. Alienating such people for no reason which comes across like political malpractice.
It appears some Republicans agree, including one who works for the Trump campaign.
In a rare instance of a direct Trump adviser saying something negative about the campaign on television, Bryan Lanza, a Trump campaign senior adviser, ripped Huckabee’s comments on CNN. Lanza called Sanders’ comments “offensive,” and stated that “I’m disappointed in Sarah for saying that,” in defending his own stepmom, and admitting that he might get criticized by the campaign as a result.
Trump 2024 Senior Advisor Bryan Lanza is outraged at Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ ‘offensive’ comments at Trump town hall where she slammed VP Harris for not having any biological kids
‘I’m disappointed in Sarah for saying that. I’m sure I’m going to get criticism from the campaign.’ pic.twitter.com/K8tk8bbtAw
— Katelyn Caralle (@Katelyn_Caralle) September 18, 2024
He’s not the only Republican who feels that way.
Jon McHenry, Republican pollster and strategist, this week called what Sanders said “a gratuitous slap” and “not helpful.”
“The Trump campaign needs to minimize the gender gap,” McHenry, who does not work directly for the campaign, told The Boston Globe. “Those comments, rightly or wrongly, are taken a lot more seriously by women voters than male voters, and the places that Donald Trump needs to not necessarily win but minimize losses, like the suburbs, are places that I think that’s going to have an outsized effect.”
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery.
