Confronted once again about his now infamous “childless cat lady” comments, Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance insisted to Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker that he not only has no “regrets” but also that his “sarcastic joke” just proves how “normal” he really is.
“Look, I regret certainly that a lot of people took it the wrong way, and I certainly regret the DNC and Kamala Harris lied about it,” Vance began, defensively. But when Welker asked if he regrets what he said, Vance said no.
Noting that he is “going to say things from time to time that people disagree with,” Vance said, “I’m a real person. I’m going to make jokes, I’m going to say things sarcastically. And I think that what’s important is that we focus on the policy.”
ADVERTISEMENT
In an attempt to spin his “joke” as part of a larger policy objective, he continued, “I think it’s most important to actually be the person I actually am, and to say those sarcastic comments were made in the service of a real substantive point. This country has become too anti-family. It’s too expensive to afford a house. It’s too expensive to afford groceries. Donald Trump and I want to change that. And unless we get better leadership, we’re not going to.”
Pressed once more by Welker to respond to women who say they were “offended” or “hurt” by his comments, Vance replied, “I think that it’s much more important for me to just be a normal human being who sometimes says things people disagree with.”
“I have a lot of regrets, Kristen, but making a joke three years ago is not at the top 10 of the list,” he concluded.
Previously, Vance made headlines when, in an early clip from Sunday’s interview, he told Welker that Donald Trump has been “very clear he would not support” a national abortion ban.
“So he would veto a federal abortion ban?” Welker asked.
“I think he would,” Vance replied, starting to hedge. “He said that explicitly that he would.”
In response to that, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who appeared on Meet the Press after Vance, said, “American women are not stupid, and we are not going to trust the futures of our daughters and granddaughters to two men who have openly bragged about blocking access to abortion for women all across this country.”
