Buttigieg Smacks Down Vance for “Childless Left” Comment
Pete Buttigieg responded to a 3-year-old clip of the Republican vice presidential nominee disparaging people without children.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg smacked down Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance with a simple message: Stop talking about other people’s families.
Appearing on CNN’s “The Source” with Kaitlan Collins, Buttigieg responded to past comments in which the Republican asserted that prominent Democrats — including Buttigieg, Vice President Kamala Harris, and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — shouldn’t be allowed to set policy if they don’t have children of their own.
“We’re effectively run in this country…by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too,” Vance told Fox News host Tucker Carlson in a 2021 interview, clips of which have been circulating since the Ohio senator was tapped as Donald Trump’s running mate.
“The entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. How does that make any sense when we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t have a direct stake in it?” Vance said.
Vance made similar comments at a conservative conference decrying Buttigieg as part of the “childless Left,” even asserting that single people, or people without natural-born children should have less of a say in voting.
Noting that Buttigieg and his husband Chasten have two children whom they adopted in 2021, and that Harris has two stepchildren, Collins asked Buttigieg how he would respond to Vance’s statements.
“The really sad thing is [that] he said that after Chasten and I had been through a fairly heartbreaking setback in our adoption journey,” Buttigieg told Collins. “He couldn’t have known that, but maybe that’s why you shouldn’t be talking about other people’s children.
“And it’s not about his kids, or my kids, or the vice president’s family. It’s about your family, people’s families whose well-being will depend on whether we go into a future led by somebody like Kamala Harris who is focused on expanding the prosperity, the freedom, the well-being of our families,” Buttigieg added.
“And by the way, especially if you have kids and you’re concerned about climate, choosing between a party that has a plan on climate that creates jobs, and a party that still calls it a hoax, even as we went through the hottest day in world history,” he said. “Or do you want your children to grow up in a country defined by a return to the chaos and recrimination and cruelty that was the hallmark of the Trump era?”
Chasten Buttigieg previously hit back at Vance’s comments three years ago.
“Bringing a child into this world can be a long, difficult and often heartbreaking process for any family,” he wrote on social media. “Shame on [Vance] for this tactless take. As a father, he should know better. As a wannabe Senator, it’s clear that empathy isn’t his strong suit.”
Chasten also replied to his own comment, taking a dig at Vance’s disparaging of single individuals or people without children.
“And, of course, it goes without saying. If you don’t want to have kids — don’t,” he wrote. “That’s your business and it doesn’t make you any less American.”
And, of course, it goes without saying. If you don't want to have kids – don't. That's your business and it doesn't make you any less American.
— Chasten Glezman Buttigieg (@Chasten) July 26, 2021
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.