JD Vance says America is ‘anti-child’ because people get annoyed with kids on planes

J. D. Vance recently claimed that America is “pathologically anti-child” and “anti-family.” Meanwhile, his evidence for this claim was that people sometimes get annoyed with children misbehaving in public places, such as airplanes and trains.

Since his selection as Donald Trump’s running mate, Vance’s stance on children and families has earned significant scrutiny. Not only is he “pro-life,” but he also pushes the idea that everyone has to have children. He has repeatedly expressed disdain for people who don’t have children, including calling Kamala Harris a “childless cat lady” and suggesting that people who have children should be given more voting power than those who do not. Vance has even gone as far as to call people who choose not to have children for certain reasons “deranged” and “psychotic.” While it’s true that birth rates are declining, many see it as a positive sign. It’s one outcome of woman having the freedom to express control over their fertility and future.

Unfortunately, Republicans like Vance are desperate to shame women, and sometimes men, for choosing not to have children. They’ve encouraged hatred of these individuals by making them out to be bitter, “deranged,” and selfish people. Recently, Vance was trying to stir hysteria over how America has become “anti-child” and “anti-family.” However, the supposed evidence he provided for this claim was quite bizarre.

J. D. Vance has the most ridiculous proof of America’s “anti-child” attitude

During an interview with The New York Times, Vance was confronted about his attacks on women who don’t have children. He tried to argue that his claims had been misinterpreted and that he was merely trying to point out what he believes is America’s problem. Vance stated, “What I was definitely trying to illustrate ultimately in a very inarticulate way is that I do think that our country has become almost pathologically anti-child.” To illustrate his point, he launched into an anecdote. He recalled riding on a train when he was in law school and seeing a woman get on the train. According to him, she was a “young Black female,” likely “21 or 22,” and he could tell “she didn’t have a whole lot of money.” However, she did have several kids.

She stuck out to him because he noticed how patient she was even though her kids were “complete disasters.” Unfortunately, other people weren’t so patient, and they were staring at her and sighing because of the children’s misbehaving. Apparently, this is where Vance had his epiphany that America has a “dark” and “pathological frustration with children.” He said, “It just sort of hit me like, OK, this is really, really bad. I do think that there’s this pathological frustration with children that just is a new thing in American society. I think it’s very dark.”

Later, he mentioned again how America is “very anti-family” and “very anti-child” and how this is evident when one goes on an airplane. He explained, “And you see it, I think, if you take your kid on an airplane. You see it if you take your kid to a restaurant, and people huff and puff at you.” Essentially, his entire argument was America is undeniably frighteningly anti-child and anti-family because some people get annoyed when children misbehave in public. He also used his “anti-child” argument to try to defend all the despicable things he has said about people who choose not to have children.

It’s interesting that the man running for Vice President of the United States couldn’t come up with a better argument about America’s supposed anti-child sentiments. He didn’t point to declining birth rates or bring up any genuinely concerning statements or attitudes toward children. Instead, he wants everyone to believe America is problematically anti-child because people, understandably, get annoyed when children misbehave in public. To be fair, some people do overreact to children who get fussy in public. However, that doesn’t automatically mean they are inherently anti-child. Parents themselves aren’t immune to getting annoyed with other children. Sighing or staring isn’t really anything to be concerned about. It’s simply a sign that people are human, and it’s sometimes hard to have perfect patience and empathy.

Vance’s ridiculous argument demonstrates that his anti-child claims are just a fearmongering myth. He’s desperate to paint childless people as evil and hateful of children and families while also failing to realize the most anti-child people are usually the people who have children. It’s the people like the Franke family, Turpin family, or Duggar family who have tons of children and then choose to abuse them, fail to protect them from abuse, exploit them, shelter them, and deny them opportunities to grow and thrive. Those are the real dark “anti-child” people we should be afraid of, not people who choose not to have children or dare to get annoyed by a misbehaving child on a plane.