JD Vance caught trashing childless teachers in newly unearthed audio
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance was caught trashing teachers who don’t have biological children in a recently resurfaced 2021 audio recording.
“I hate to be so personal about this, but they’re people without kids, trying to brainwash the minds of our children,” Vance said at a Christian conservative forum during his winning Ohio U.S. Senate campaign.
He took special aim at teachers union chief Randi Weingarten, a familiar bogeyman for right-wing Republicans.
“She doesn’t have a single child. If she wants to brainwash and destroy the mind of children, she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone,” Vance said of Weingarten, who is a lesbian and describes herself as the step-mother of her partner’s child.
The 30-second clip, which was posted on X by a Chicago progressive talk radio station, is the latest evidence of what Democrats say is Vance’s long-standing obsession with belittling Americans who don’t have biological children.
Vance has derided women without children as “childless cat ladies.” He has suggested parents of small children should get additional votes in elections, a proposal that would effectively reduce the voice of Americans who don’t have children.
He also said those without children should pay higher taxes. However, Vance’s Republican Senate colleagues rejected a Democratic effort last month to pass an expanded child tax credit in a vote he skipped.
Weingarten, who is president of the American Federation of Teachers, hit back at Vance, calling his remarks “gross” and noted that many Catholic school teachers are nuns who are prohibited from having children by church teachings.
“JD Vance’s comments are sad and insulting to millions of modern families, and school teachers including Catholic nuns, none of whom should be targeted for their family decisions,” Weingarten tweeted.
Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019.
Taylor Van Kirk, a spokeswoman for Vance, framed the remarks as part of his critique of liberal education policy and did not explain the relevance of a teacher’s parental status.
“There is no bigger threat to American children than the left wing indoctrination being peddled in our schools,” Van Kirk said in a statement to NBC.
_____
