Lindsey Graham Gives Stunning Defense of J.D. Vance’s ‘Cat Ladies’ Remark: 'Should Never Say...'

On Sunday, Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina, addressed the controversy over Senator J.D. Vance's resurfaced 'childless cat ladies' comment. Vance, who is the running mate of Donald Trump in the 2024 elections, recently came under fire for a 2021 interview in which he called several prominent women in politics 'childless cat ladies'. In light of these remarks, CBS' Face the Nation questioned Graham on whether the former president regretted his decision to pick Vance.

As reported by Raw Story, host Robert Costa asked, "Is it a mistake for Senator Vance to keep talking about Americans who don't have children when it comes to a national campaign?" Graham responded, "Right, yeah. I don't have children. But I'm going to vote for J.D. and Trump because I think we'll be safer, more prosperous, and more secure. I want to end the Biden-Harris debacle. You know you should never say anything to hurt anybody's feelings, but when you look at all these interviews by J.D., he was talking about how the Democratic party has abandoned the traditional family."

The senator also argued that it would be futile to attempt to demonize Vance and put him in the background. Graham stressed, "So this idea of trying to marginalize J.D. and make him some kind of bad person is not going to work. He's not a bad person, he's a good person. He has served his country honorably and is going to help President Trump win."

As reported by TIME, in the said interview with Tucker Carlson, Vance had claimed that the government was comprised of 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." He cited Democratic figures Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, as examples of such individuals.

In an interview last Friday, Vance attempted to clear the air but only ended up doubling down. He claimed he was not condemning those who do not have children. As reported by Politico, on Megyn Kelly’s SiriusXM podcast, he clarified, "Obviously it was a sarcastic comment...People are focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance of what I actually said…and the substance of what I said, Megyn, I’m sorry, it is true."

Additionally, he tried to portray himself as a parent-protector by recasting his earlier remarks as an indictment of Democrats' policies that, in his view, were harmful to families. He told Kelly, "I know the media wants to attack me and wants me to back down on this, Megyn, but the simple point that I made is that having children, becoming a father, becoming a mother, I really do think it changes your perspective in a pretty profound way."