An ugly quote from J.D. Vance just surfaced in which he described Kamala Harris and other Democratic leaders as “childless cat ladies” and spun out a whole theory based on this absurdity. Then Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg sharply dressed down Vance for poking his nose into other people’s family decisions. With this response, Buttigieg showed that Vance has invited a much larger national conversation—one that won’t help Vance and Donald Trump. We talked to Melissa Gira Grant, a staff writer at The New Republic who closely tracks Vance’s ideas, for help in illuminating what this saga tells us about the new right’s tortured views on gender, natalism, and nationalism. Listen to this episode here.
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Pete Buttigieg Destroys J.D. Vance’s Ugly “Childless Cat Lady” Smear
After Buttigieg scores a direct hit on Vance for smearing Dems in vile terms, a writer who closely tracks Vance digs into what this saga reveals about his deeply weird natalist worldview.
![Pete Buttigieg speaks in front of an American flag](http://images.newrepublic.com/bc148d539927a368c3c1187efdb81cff9863d680.jpeg?auto=format&fit=crop&crop=faces&q=65&w=1000&h=undefined&ar=3%3A2&ixlib=react-9.0.2&w=1000)
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Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg in Long Beach, California, on July 18