Donald Trump, when asked to justify his choice of running mate in Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) after a series of his controversial comments about women resurfaced, insisted that the fairer sex “understands” him because he simply “feels family is good.”
Fox News host Laura Ingraham, lamenting that Vance has been “stereotyp[ed]” after he suggested that women who don’t have children aren’t as invested in the country’s future, asked Trump if there was anything he could say to reassure viewers that his selection of Vance was an “excellent choice.”
Trump, despite Vance’s abnormally poor approval rating following the GOP convention, claimed he has “tremendous support.”
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“And he really does well among a certain group of people, people that like families. I mean, you know, he made a statement having to do with families. That doesn’t mean that people that aren’t a member of a big and beautiful family with 400 children around and everything else, it doesn’t mean that a person doesn’t have—he is not against anything,” Trump claimed.
“But he loves family. It’s very important to him. He grew up in a very interesting family situation, and he feels family is good. And I don’t think there is anything wrong in saying that,” Trump went on, before arguing that some are just taking Vance’s message the wrong way.
“Now, they took that as an indication that people who don’t have families… I know so many people [who] never met the right person—male or female—that just never met the right person. They are unbelievable. They are every bit as good as anybody else that has the most beautiful family.”
Vance, in another resurfaced clip from 2021, pushed for more adults to have kids by suggesting that each child should get a vote that their parents could cast.
When asked by Ingraham to specifically address women without kids, Trump insisted that they knew what Vance was talking about.
“I think they understand it. No, I think they understand it. The Democrats are good at spinning things differently from what—all he said was he does like, I mean, for him, he likes family. I think a lot of people like family and sometimes it doesn’t work out,” Trump said. “You don’t meet the right person or don’t meet any person, but you are just as good in many cases a lot better than a person in a family situation.”
That Trump was essentially put on the defensive as a result of Vance’s remarks is sure to add to frustrations within the GOP over the Ohio senator’s new status in the party.
Vance’s back catalog of bloopers has also led to a new Democratic attack.
Vice president Kamala Harris and her surrogates have begun labeling both Trump and Vance as simply “weird” in campaign press releases, social media posts, and in commentary on cable news. It represents a stark departure departure from the previously high-minded messaging that had been put forth by the Biden campaign.
Vance, when asked Monday by a Fox News reporter if being called “weird” bothered him, laughed it off.
“No, not at all. It doesn’t hurt my feelings.”
