(NewsNation) —JD Vance, who is running alongside Donald Trump on the Republican ticket, is facing criticism yet again over resurfaced comments where he slammed teachers who don’t have children.
The comments came from an October 2021 interview and took specific aim at Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest labor unions for educators.
What did Vance say about childless teachers?
While speaking at a forum for the Center for Christian Virtue leadership moderated by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt and the group’s president, Aaron Baer, Vance said he was “disturbed” by Weingarten because she doesn’t have children.
“You know, so many of the leaders of the left, and I hate to be so personal about this, but they’re people without kids, trying to brainwash the minds of our children. And that really disorients me and it really disturbs me,” Vance said in a 30-second clip resurfaced by left-leaning news site Heartland Signal.
“Randi Weingarten, who’s the head of the most powerful teachers union in the country, doesn’t have a single child. If she wants to brainwash and destroy the minds of children, she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone.”
JD Vance vs. Tim Walz: Vice presidential candidates’ political views
Vance’s office did not immediately return a request for comment by NewsNation.
A spokesperson for the vice presidential nominee told USA Today that he “is committed to ending the leftist indoctrination in our schools and will continue to loudly call this crap out to defend our kids,” in a statement.
What have teachers said about Vance’s comments?
Weingarten took to X to address the attack.
“Gross! 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 has said she was a “mother by marriage” referring to her stepchildren whom she shares with her wife after being called out by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., as “not a mother” during a hearing earlier this year.
Where did the ‘childless cat lady’ phrase come from?
Vance’s past comments have drawn ire among other educators.
Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the nation, said in a statement that neither former president Donald Trump nor JD Vance “have any respect for the educators who dedicate their lives to serving students.”
“Instead, they choose to attack and demean us while pushing an extreme, unprecedented Project 2025 agenda on America that will fundamentally jeopardize our children’s futures and give Trump unprecedented power over our daily lives.”
What else has Vance said about childless people?
Vance already faced widespread backlash over another 2021 resurfaced comment saying the U.S was being run by Democrats, corporate oligarchs and “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
The senator drew mass criticism over his words, but stood behind it, calling it a “sarcastic comment.”
Trump defended his running mate last month saying he believes Vance’s comments meant that he’s “strongly family-oriented.”
Trump defends Vance’s ‘childless cat lady’ comment
“My interpretation is that he is strongly family-oriented but that doesn’t mean if you don’t have a family, there’s something wrong,” Trump said in an attempt to walk back Vance’s earlier comments while speaking with journalists at the National Association of Black Journalists conference.
“What he’s saying is that he thinks the family experiences a very important thing. It’s a very good thing” he said, adding it’s not a bad thing if an individual doesn’t “meet somebody that would be wonderful to meet.”
