Pete Buttigieg slams JD Vance for calling him “childless” when he was trying to adopt

Out Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg responded to Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance’s (R-OH) claim that “childless” people shouldn’t be in leadership positions, comments that have been getting attention since he called Vice President Kamala Harris a “miserable” cat lady.

Buttigieg was on CNN when he was asked about Vance’s comments from 2021, where he told Tucker Carlson that the country is run by “Democrats… corporate oligarchs… a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.”

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Buttigieg pointed out that Vance was vehemently opposed to Trump just a few years ago.

Vance specifically named Harris, Buttigieg, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) while making similar comments on Fox & Friends at around the same time, even though Harris is a stepmother of two. Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, have twins whose adoption they announced shortly after Vance made his comments.

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“The really sad thing is he said that after Chasten and I had been through a fairly heartbreaking setback in our adoption journey,” Buttigieg said. “He couldn’t have known that, but maybe that’s why you shouldn’t be talking about other people’s children.”

Buttigieg brought the conversation back to Harris’s presidential run and said that people who are concerned about their children’s future care about climate change, an issue where there’s a stark difference between the presidential candidates.

He said what’s important is “the wellbeing of our families, especially if you have kids and you’re worried 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.”

Buttigieg: I mean the really sad thing is he said that after Chasten and I had been through fairly heartbreaking setback in our adoption journey. He couldn't have known that, but maybe that's why you shouldn't be talking about other people’s children pic.twitter.com/lFHV44ONPp

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 24, 2024

Elsewhere in the interview, Buttigieg was asked about who Harris will pick as her running mate and if she could pick someone who will make Donald Trump “regret” picking Vance.

“What I will say is the choice of J.D. Vance is a regrettable choice,” Buttigieg responded. “Because he’s somebody who was at his most convincing and effective when he talked about how unfit for office Donald Trump is, and he’s not explained any reason, other than, of course, his obvious interest in power, why he would have changed his mind on that.”

Buttigieg then brought up Vance calling Trump “cultural heroin,” among other things, which he said was particularly cutting because Vance has built a brand around Appalachian culture, which is “being hurt so profoundly by the opioid crisis.”

Vance “compared Donald Trump to opioids,” Buttigieg stressed. “That is literally the darkest, most negative thing someone connected to Appalachia could possibly say about a politician. And that was in public! In private, he was comparing him to Hitler, reportedly.”

Buttigieg: Vance is a regrettable choice because he is somebody who was at his most convincing and effective when he talked about how unfit for office Trump is. And he is not explained any reason other than of course, his obvious interest in power, why he changed his mind pic.twitter.com/lATZRqVj1G

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 24, 2024

Chasten Buttigieg called out Vance back in 2021, several years after the Buttigieges got married and a bit into their attempt to adopt children.

“It’s a really weird cycle of anger and frustration and hope,” Chasten said at the time. “You think it’s finally happening and you get so excited, and then it’s gone.”

“Bringing a child into this world can be a long, difficult and often heartbreaking process for any family,” Chasten wrote on Twitter. “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.”

“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.”

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

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