OPINION | J.D. Vance's Record — And Cat Lady Fixation — Suggests Nothing Has Changed at the GOP

by Megan Burbank

I didn't read Hillbilly Elegy, but when its author, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, was announced as Donald Trump's running mate, I wasn't at all surprised. Vance's performance of working-class solidarity paired with retrograde views on gender were well received at the Republican National Convention. And before Joe Biden dropped out of the race, it seemed less important that the GOP's VP pick appeal to anyone but the Trump base gathered — and blowing up Grindr — in Milwaukee.

But as Vice President Kamala Harris takes over for Biden in this year's presidential election, Vance may prove to be a liability for the Republicans — and a hint as to their true intentions when it comes to abortion, which is likely to be the election's central issue if the Democrats are smart about it.

Here's what Vance has said about abortion and other key issues — and what it may mean after this deeply unexpected electoral vibe shift. We exist, after all, in the context of all in which we live and all that came before us. Let's take a look.

On Divorce

After Vance was announced as Trump's running mate, social media posts circulated saying that he believes women should stay married, even if they're being abused. This isn't exactly the stance Vance has taken, as Snopes reported in a hasty debunking. But his statements on divorce and marriage are troubling enough on their own.

In a 2021 talk at a high school in California, Vance attributed cultural norms around divorce to the sexual revolution, saying it had changed attitudes toward marriage in a bad way, and the divorces that followed "really didn't work out for the kids of those marriages." His stance on divorce is that it hurts children and isn't an acceptable way to resolve marital issues, despite the fact that, legally, that's exactly what it is.

At that talk, Vance didn't appear to cite any evidence for his claim that divorce harms children, aside from an anecdote about his grandparents: "My grandparents had an incredibly chaotic marriage in a lot of ways, but they never got divorced, right?" he said. "They were together to the end, 'til death do us part."

But let's take a look at the marriage Vance holds up as an example of how "marriage was sacred." In Vance's infamous memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, he describes his grandmother threatening to kill his grandfather for drinking, dousing his grandfather in lighter fluid, and lighting a match. (I haven't read the book, but this content isn't difficult to find with a cursory Google search. If Books Could Kill's explainer is also a good summary for those who want to know what happens in Hillbilly Elegy but would prefer the CliffsNotes version.)

Vance's feelings about this are certainly valid. Families are weird! Vance is allowed to tell whatever story he wants or needs to about his own experiences. We all do that.

But when a marital dispute involves death threats and setting people on fire, staying together isn't a heartwarming outcome. It's horrifying. It's even more horrifying that someone could come away from this experience with the idea that divorce is not a reasonable option for anyone else. Using a public platform to normalize violence instead is cruel and irresponsible. I can think of few better arguments for divorce than the events Vance himself described.

On a National Abortion Ban

While the GOP's 2024 platform makes no mention of a national abortion ban, Vance has been an outspoken advocate for one. In 2022, CNN reported that Vance said on a podcast, "I certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally." He also has said he would support efforts to keep people who live in states with active abortion bans from traveling for abortion care, citing an incredibly offensive imaginary scenario in which George Soros "sends a 747 to Columbus" to transport Women of Color to California for abortions.

This is an insane (and, honestly, disgusting) thing to say, but it's on brand for Vance. If he's proven anything since he was announced as Trump's running mate, it's that he doesn't really understand how to make any real critiques of the Democrats' most winning issue, and also that he's not a very good extemporaneous speaker. His 747 statement is also a clear argument for a national abortion ban.

This could be a problem for the Republicans, who, after the reversal of Roe v. Wade, are currently trying to downplay their hardline stance on abortion, which polling predicted — and voting confirms — is an unpopular fringe opinion. The 2024 GOP platform makes few mentions of abortion, and none of a national ban, a development that upset some hard-line abortion rights opponents, according to U.S. News and World Report, and is likely due to the fact that, as Vance has put it himself, "We have to accept that people do not want blanket abortion bans."

Vance's record suggests he does.

On Childless Adults

In one of his more unhinged moments, Vance told Fox's Tucker Carlson that the United States is run by unhappy animal lovers. "We are effectively run in this country … by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made, and so they wanna make the rest of the country miserable, too," he said. "It's just a basic fact. You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children."

Here are some other basic facts: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is not a cat lady at all, but a well-documented dog person, as evidenced by her French bulldog, Deco. Anyone who follows politics and has an Instagram account could tell you that. Kamala Harris is not childless; in fact, she has two stepchildren who call her "Momala." And I don't know what his views on cats are, but Pete Buttigieg is a man. Besides, people without children often make up the village that helps raise the kids who already exist.

Vance's childless cat lady argument is obviously goofy — it also ignores the existence of Taylor Swift, who has done a lot to elevate the brand in recent years — but it's really not about cat ladies at all. It's about an imaginary threat, much like George Soros' 747, to Vance's stance on divorce and abortion. The future he wants to see is one in which women are married and have children, regardless of how unhappy those marriages are, where abortion is inaccessible, and where single women don't exist. Anyone who isn't a biological parent and betrays any signs of enjoying their life punctures this "when men were men" fantasy by their very existence.

The Republicans may have kept the national abortion ban out of the platform this time around for looks, but selecting Vance as a vice presidential candidate says much more about where the party's priorities are: the 1950s, apparently.

In a country that's already lost abortion rights, continuing that backward trajectory will be a hard sell. We exist in the context of all that came before us, but only one party is currently talking about how we might move into the future.

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📸 Featured Image: U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) at CPAC on March 2, 2023. (Photo: Ron Sachs — Consolidated News Photos/Shutterstock.com)