The Megyn Kelly Show - July 26, 2024


J.D. Vance on Democrats' Anti-Family Policies, Media Attacks, and Whether Biden Can Remain in Office ｜ Ep. 849


Episode Stats

Length

55 minutes

Words per Minute

189.59756

Word Count

10,440

Sentence Count

694

Misogynist Sentences

46

Hate Speech Sentences

21


Summary

Trump s running mate comes under fire for comments he made in 2011 about childless cat ladies. Now, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, is here to respond to the controversy. He says the comments were meant to be taken out of context.


Transcript

00:00:00.540 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at noon east.
00:00:12.180 Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.
00:00:15.360 As the Democratic Party ousts President Joe Biden and elevates Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of its ticket without a single vote having been cast for her in that role,
00:00:24.460 in just a matter of hours, the media suddenly turning all of its focus seemingly to Senator J.D. Vance, Trump's running mate.
00:00:33.540 Donald Trump's number two coming under intense criticism for comments he made three years ago about, quote, childless cat ladies,
00:00:43.980 because this is what Americans who can't pay their mortgages care about.
00:00:47.980 Senator Vance is here to respond to this controversy, but first we want to start by walking you through how it all began.
00:00:53.560 Going back now to July 2021, Mr. Vance had just launched his campaign for senator in the great state of Ohio,
00:01:02.560 and he gave a speech to a conservative organization called the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
00:01:07.680 This was a speech essentially about declining birth rates, and they're bad, by the way, in the United States.
00:01:13.380 They're at a 17-year low, and they continue to go in the wrong direction.
00:01:17.060 And what it means for the future of this country.
00:01:21.300 Mr. Vance talked about how he wanted to see the Republican Party as a pro-family party.
00:01:26.840 He discussed the importance of children and brought up the fact that many top Democratic leaders don't have any kids,
00:01:34.920 questioning what kind of a message the party as a whole is sending to young Americans.
00:01:40.140 Take a listen.
00:01:41.880 I want to take aim at the left, specifically the childless left,
00:01:48.300 because I think the rejection of the American family is perhaps the most pernicious and most evil thing that the left has done in this country.
00:01:56.380 Consider all of the next gen of the Democrat Party.
00:02:00.800 The names are obvious.
00:02:02.040 They're well-known people.
00:02:03.020 Kamala Harris, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who's now the Secretary of Transportation,
00:02:07.360 Cory Booker, AOC, think all these people.
00:02:12.480 They're different.
00:02:13.260 They come from different walks of life, different parts of the country.
00:02:15.420 What is the one thing that unites every single one of them?
00:02:18.360 Not a single one of them has any children.
00:02:20.540 Look, a lot of people are unable to have kids for very complicated and important reasons.
00:02:25.360 There are people, of course, for biological reasons, medical reasons, that can't have children.
00:02:30.220 The target of these remarks is not them.
00:02:32.040 It's important to point that out.
00:02:33.580 It is one thing to recognize that there are people who don't have children.
00:02:39.420 It's one thing to recognize that there are people who don't have children through no fault or choice of their own.
00:02:44.680 But it's something else to build a political movement invested theoretically in the future of this country
00:02:50.580 when not a single one of them actually has any physical commitment to the future of this country.
00:02:55.760 Kids are the ultimate way that we find healthy people, at least I think self-meaning in life.
00:03:00.860 We should treat this as a crisis in this country.
00:03:04.620 And we should send the signal to the culture that we are the pro-family party and we're going to back it up with real policy.
00:03:11.560 Now, because Mr. Vance named names in his speech, it caused some headlines at the time,
00:03:17.100 mainly because Vice President Harris is not a mother of her own biological children, but she's a stepmother.
00:03:24.340 At the same time, Secretary Buttigieg did not have any children, but about a month later, he adopted twin babies.
00:03:32.500 So a few days after those remarks, back in 2021, Mr. Vance went on Tucker Carlson's show on Fox to address some of the blowback.
00:03:40.280 And that's when he made the comments about the childless cat ladies.
00:03:44.200 Watch.
00:03:44.360 We're effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs,
00:03:50.200 by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made.
00:03:55.380 And so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.
00:03:57.660 And it's just a basic fact.
00:03:59.000 You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC.
00:04:02.360 The entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.
00:04:06.640 Well, the Harris team recirculated the comments this week.
00:04:09.680 Leading Democrats and the media, the same media currently rewriting history to tell us Kamala
00:04:14.920 Harris was never the border czar, to immediately pile on, on cue.
00:04:19.560 On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton shared it on X and sarcastically wrote,
00:04:23.060 What a normal, relatable guy who certainly doesn't hate women having freedoms.
00:04:26.860 Literally, your husband has been accused of repeated sexual assaults.
00:04:30.300 So take a seat, madam.
00:04:32.320 On Wednesday, actress Jennifer Aniston weighed in, writing,
00:04:35.660 I truly can't believe this is coming from a potential VP of the United States and urged
00:04:41.680 Senator Vance to think about his own daughter, hoping that she might never need IVF, which
00:04:47.120 she accused Mr. Vance of being against, which, as we pointed out yesterday, is not true.
00:04:52.320 And it did not end there.
00:04:53.580 Watch.
00:04:54.680 How dare you?
00:04:56.300 You never had a baby.
00:04:58.240 Your wife had a baby.
00:05:00.000 You know who else didn't have kids?
00:05:02.400 George Washington, the father of our nation.
00:05:05.440 Like, Kamala, he raised Martha's children.
00:05:10.240 Because they invalidate even the idea of women who use IVF to get pregnant, or women who don't
00:05:17.240 have children, or women who are stepmoms.
00:05:18.980 Like, none of those are valid women to them.
00:05:20.860 Those women don't matter.
00:05:22.420 They're trying to reinforce this message that the only valid version of America is the America
00:05:27.440 where white women didn't leave the home.
00:05:30.540 My kids are older.
00:05:32.200 Does that make me childless?
00:05:33.900 I want to qualify.
00:05:35.440 He is falling into the line of Donald Trump, offending women, offending minorities.
00:05:42.020 So if you have stepkids, J.D. Vance is saying that you should not have as many rights as
00:05:46.660 everybody else.
00:05:47.400 Like, this is a person, him and the former president, they want to control women.
00:05:52.660 Again, Jesus did not have children, right?
00:05:57.760 Joining me now, GOP vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance.
00:06:04.160 J.D., Senator, welcome back to the show.
00:06:05.960 It's great to see you.
00:06:06.960 Good to see you, Megan.
00:06:07.540 Thank you.
00:06:08.060 So Jesus didn't have kids.
00:06:09.820 Therefore, you are wrong.
00:06:11.520 What are you trying to say?
00:06:15.420 I guess they're comparing Kamala Harris to Jesus.
00:06:17.640 I don't know.
00:06:17.980 That doesn't make a ton of sense to me, Megan.
00:06:19.600 But look, I know the media wants to attack me and wants me to back down on this, Megan.
00:06:23.100 But the simple point that I made is that having children, becoming a father, becoming a mother,
00:06:28.100 I really do think it changes your perspective in a pretty profound way.
00:06:31.240 This is something, of course, we've recognized for hundreds of years in this country that human
00:06:35.400 civilization has always recognized.
00:06:37.780 But there's a deeper point here, Megan.
00:06:40.040 It's not a criticism of people who don't have children.
00:06:43.320 I explicitly said in my remarks, despite the fact the media has lied about this, that this
00:06:47.560 is not about criticizing people who, for various reasons, didn't have kids.
00:06:51.200 This is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-child.
00:06:56.460 We have to ask ourselves, Megan, why do we have masking of toddlers years after the
00:07:01.220 pandemic ended?
00:07:02.320 Why do we have the Harris campaign coming out this very morning, Megan, and saying that
00:07:06.440 we should not have the child tax credit, which lowers tax rates for parents of young children?
00:07:11.160 It's because they have become anti-family and anti-kid.
00:07:14.860 And I'm proud to stand up for parents.
00:07:16.600 And I hope that parents out there recognize that I'm a guy who wants to fight for you.
00:07:20.700 I want to fight for your interests.
00:07:22.300 I want to fight for your stake in the country.
00:07:24.240 And that is what this is fundamentally about.
00:07:26.180 The Democrats in the past five, 10 years, Megan, they have become anti-family.
00:07:31.240 It's built into their policy.
00:07:32.720 It's built into the way they talk about parents and children.
00:07:35.200 And it's time that we call that out.
00:07:36.860 I don't think we should back down from it, Megan.
00:07:38.560 I think we should be honest about the problem.
00:07:40.920 Here's what's crazy.
00:07:42.540 It's not just Senator J.D. Vance, Republican and running mate to Donald Trump saying that.
00:07:47.600 Just recently, there was a long piece, June 10th, 2024, in the New York Times and another one in the New Yorker highlighting a book that's called What Are Children For?
00:08:00.260 on Ambivalence and Choice, in which the authors, leftists, liberals, got deep into this very problem and chastised their own side for the reluctance to have children and the messaging to young women about priorities.
00:08:17.340 It's not just a Republican thing.
00:08:19.700 The honest liberals will admit themselves that somehow the Democrats are running away from family as one of their previous old core values.
00:08:31.760 I'll just give you a couple of excerpts from the New York Times piece by these two authors, Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman.
00:08:38.040 Again, this is a month ago.
00:08:40.100 They write, for progressives, waiting to have children has become a kind of ethical imperative.
00:08:45.080 They go on to say, the success narratives of modern liberal life leave little room for having a family.
00:08:55.000 They say this is not just a recipe for unhappiness.
00:08:58.300 It also reflects a deep confusion.
00:09:01.460 And they go on to write as follows.
00:09:02.920 The question of children ultimately transcends politics.
00:09:07.720 In deciding whether to have them, we confront a philosophical challenge.
00:09:11.580 Is life, however imperfect and however challenging, however fraught with political disagreement and disaster, worth living?
00:09:21.300 So this is not, and I could go on.
00:09:22.700 I mean, the New Yorker piece had this similar point.
00:09:25.240 We've seen it from AOC.
00:09:26.620 We've seen it from the hardcore environmentalists on the left in particular, urging people not to have children because they don't see a future for the country or the world.
00:09:40.880 Yeah, Megan, and I think it's profoundly weird and dangerous rhetoric because, you know, I think most parents would say professional achievements, whether you're a mom or dad, all that stuff eventually fades away.
00:09:51.040 The thing that you're most proud of is having kids, what your kids do, the relationship that you have with your family.
00:09:57.940 That is what I think brings the most meaning to life is family, not all these weird little accomplishments and degrees and everything else, right?
00:10:07.440 It's family that really brings the most meaning to our lives.
00:10:10.880 And, Megan, this comment that I made was actually motivated in part by a conversation I had with my wife where, you know, she at the time had two babies.
00:10:18.380 We hadn't yet had a third.
00:10:20.500 And she was talking about how she felt this incredible professional pressure to not have kids because it set back her professional advancement.
00:10:28.160 And what a weird society that we've set up where moms who want to work, the thought that a lot of them are having is, I can't have more babies because it's going to be bad for my career.
00:10:37.880 How about we make the workplace more accommodating to working moms and working dads so that we can promote a real culture of life?
00:10:45.100 You started your monologue, Megan, talking about how we have the lowest birth rate.
00:10:50.160 And basically in our history in this country, what our young moms and dads are telling us is they don't feel comfortable in this society bringing new life into the world.
00:10:58.700 That is a catastrophic problem.
00:11:00.920 And it's interesting when I raise this issue about we don't have enough babies, a lot of liberals and a lot of people on the left will say, well, we can just replace American children with immigrants.
00:11:10.860 Well, look, there's nothing against immigrants.
00:11:12.660 Obviously, I'm married to the daughter of immigrants, but if your society is not having enough children to replace itself, that is a profoundly dangerous and destabilizing thing.
00:11:21.820 You look across history, that's a real problem.
00:11:24.500 So I just think that we have to say, Megan, having kids is good.
00:11:29.060 Being a parent changes your perspective on the world.
00:11:31.580 That is not a bad thing to stand up for parents.
00:11:35.120 In fact, it's the best thing.
00:11:36.880 If our politics isn't standing up for parents, then what the hell are we doing, Megan?
00:11:40.040 All right.
00:11:41.180 I'm giving you The New Yorker again.
00:11:42.800 This is the first was from The New York Times.
00:11:44.800 Here's The New Yorker, How Liberals Talk About Children by Jay Caspian Kang.
00:11:48.220 This is from June.
00:11:49.420 This is a month ago.
00:11:51.060 And it ends with the following.
00:11:52.700 He talks about how this person, Jay, talks about how the messaging from leftists around children is all about their economic value, how much they're going to cost, what kind of a burden they're going to be,
00:12:04.580 as opposed to the goodness they bring into the world and our lives.
00:12:09.140 And the piece ends as follows.
00:12:11.440 We should talk about them as a universal and immutable good.
00:12:16.220 So that's exactly what you did in those remarks, J.D., and I understood it completely.
00:12:20.940 And I think even the left, if they're honest, understands that piece of it.
00:12:25.300 Here's where I think it gets controversial and where, you know, your attacks are coming in from.
00:12:29.940 It was this piece where you then talked about the relative value of voting, of a person's voting rights, a parent versus somebody who isn't.
00:12:41.260 Here's that piece of the original remarks and so forth.
00:12:45.140 The Democrats are talking about giving the vote to 16-year-olds, but let's do this instead.
00:12:49.680 Let's give votes to all children in this country, but let's give control over those votes to the parents of those children.
00:12:59.940 When you go to the polls in this country as a parent, you should have more power,
00:13:10.820 you should have more of an ability to speak your voice in our democratic republic than people who don't have kids.
00:13:15.800 Let's face the consequences and the reality.
00:13:18.660 And all the usual suspects will criticize me about this in the coming days.
00:13:22.500 Well, doesn't this mean that non-parents don't have as much of a voice as parents?
00:13:28.560 Doesn't this mean that parents get a bigger say in how our democracy functions?
00:13:34.040 Yes, absolutely.
00:13:37.980 So do you stand by that?
00:13:40.740 Well, Megan, look, I'm obviously doing a thought experiment there where Democrats have talked about giving children the right to vote.
00:13:46.020 And I'm saying, well, if we're going to give children the right to vote, shouldn't we give parents the say over how that vote?
00:13:50.660 You know, in so many other areas of life, we say that parents determine what's best for their children.
00:13:55.520 If we're going to give kids the right to vote, it might as well be true in that scenario, too.
00:13:59.120 So I think, again, the point that I'm trying to make here, Megan, is that having kids is a profoundly life-altering thing.
00:14:06.680 It's a fundamentally good thing.
00:14:08.220 And the Democratic Party has become very anti-child in their messaging and in their public policy.
00:14:14.540 That is what I want to change.
00:14:16.080 And that is what I think the Republican Party stands for.
00:14:18.320 We're the party of parents.
00:14:19.500 We're the party of kids.
00:14:20.920 And we want to fight for parents and children to have good lives.
00:14:23.480 I have to say, Megan, just one of the things that's been profoundly dishonest about the media, and of course, they're dishonest.
00:14:29.300 They always do this.
00:14:30.500 But they've taken this incredibly out of context.
00:14:33.380 They say that I'm opposed to IVF or that I'm criticizing people who have fertility problems.
00:14:38.300 Megan, I said explicitly in my remarks that I wasn't talking about people who couldn't have children.
00:14:44.240 I was talking about people who have turned anti-child into the ethic of their entire party.
00:14:49.740 That's a fundamentally different thing, and it's obvious that the Democrats don't want to own up to the fact that their party has become very anti-family.
00:14:56.900 You have Hollywood celebrities saying, oh, well, J.D. Vance, what if your daughter suffered fertility problems?
00:15:02.400 Well, first of all, that's disgusting because my daughter is two years old.
00:15:06.260 And second of all, if she had fertility problems, as I said in that speech, I would try everything I could to try to help her because I believe families and babies are a good thing.
00:15:16.440 That's the whole point is if you believe families and babies are a good thing, you should be trying to promote life.
00:15:22.140 You should try to promote the fact that we want to have a good family policy in this country.
00:15:27.660 That is what's so profoundly wrong about where the Democrats have gone.
00:15:31.160 And I think we have to fight back against this, Megan.
00:15:33.120 I think a lot of people, you know, the media has been attacking me and this is how it goes.
00:15:37.520 We cannot give up an inch on this.
00:15:40.140 We're the pro-family party.
00:15:41.700 I think I want to keep us that way.
00:15:42.960 Just to, you know, I would like to talk about the IVF because I, as far as I understand it, you oppose the Democrats bill on IVF, like allowing it in all states, but also providing funding through everybody's insurance for it, which is more controversial.
00:15:58.220 But you supported Ted Cruz's and Katie Britt's bill to protect IVF, if my memory is correct.
00:16:04.840 But I guess I'll just ask you now, where do you stand on IVF?
00:16:07.860 Well, first of all, Megan, I know beautiful children.
00:16:10.820 I mean, kids that play at my house with my kids that have been brought into the world through IVF.
00:16:15.200 Of course, we want to make it easier for moms and dads to choose life if, of course, they're in a terrible situation where they have fertility problems.
00:16:22.900 I think the problem with the Democrats' approach on this is they're trying to take away religious liberty.
00:16:27.400 And you just go back to Kamala Harris, Megan.
00:16:29.040 This is a person, of course, who has tried to say that members of the Knights of Columbus should not serve in public office.
00:16:35.180 This is a person who's tried to say that Catholic hospitals and Christian hair hospitals should have to do IVF in the way the Democrats want them to do it.
00:16:44.040 I'm talking about religious liberty here.
00:16:46.000 I think we have to protect the rights of Christian hospitals to operate the way that they want to operate.
00:16:51.500 But, of course, that's totally consistent with promoting fertility treatments for parents who need it.
00:16:56.300 And I believe in this stuff, again, because I believe babies are a profound moral good.
00:17:01.220 I think it transforms society.
00:17:02.760 I've seen friends of mine become totally different people when they became fathers.
00:17:07.540 I know my wife would say the same thing about her friends who became mothers.
00:17:10.800 This is a good thing.
00:17:12.020 And I hate that our politics has become so profoundly anti-child.
00:17:15.700 I want to change that, Megan.
00:17:16.960 I'm going to keep on fighting on this.
00:17:18.560 And honestly, so profoundly pro-victim.
00:17:21.620 I've never seen, I have seen.
00:17:22.960 But it's yet another instance in which you see all these left-wing politicians, people rush to play the victim in response to these comments, right?
00:17:33.820 Like Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords, who were not included in the scope of your remarks.
00:17:39.300 You did not name them.
00:17:40.200 But they've rushed, of course, because he's being considered reportedly for her VP, for her running mate.
00:17:45.520 And so they ran out to offer the following comment.
00:17:48.740 And, you know, Jennifer Aniston was another, like, taking issue, as I mentioned in the intro, as if your comments were about her personally.
00:17:55.080 But I'll say something to Jennifer Aniston.
00:17:56.880 You know what?
00:17:57.640 I don't know what your child's situation is, but you should read this piece in the New York Times.
00:18:02.740 You should read this piece that says as follows.
00:18:05.440 Liberal conventional wisdom encourages people to spend their 20s on journeys of personal and professional self-discovery and self-fulfillment.
00:18:12.280 Children are treated as a bonus round, something to get to only after completing a long list of achievements, getting a degree, forging a satisfying and well-established career, buying a house, cultivating the ideal romantic partnership, and making the point that this is an empty life.
00:18:27.340 If that without the ultimate goal of children, you are not, they write as follows, having children remains the most basic and accessible way for most of us to affirm the value of our lives and that of others.
00:18:38.300 And if you realize that too late, you might be feeling bitter.
00:18:42.000 You might find yourself in a situation where you have no choice but IVF, because your most fruitful childbearing years have passed you.
00:18:48.340 It's a choice every woman has to make.
00:18:50.480 It's not anybody else's fault if you choose to pursue a career and find yourself in that situation.
00:18:55.320 As frankly, I did, but I got lucky and IVF worked for me.
00:18:59.660 Okay, so in any event, I want to go back because Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly are taking aim at you, saying as follows.
00:19:06.920 Gabby Giffords, of course, was shot in a terrible mass shooting incident in which she was the target several years ago, and she's married to Mark Kelly, former astronaut, now senator.
00:19:16.720 She writes, Vice President Kamala Harris is a proud mom of two remarkable stepchildren, and so am I.
00:19:24.580 Captain Mark Kelly and I were trying to have a baby through IVF before I was shot, and that dream was stolen from us.
00:19:30.100 To suggest we are somehow lesser is disgraceful.
00:19:34.500 How do you respond to that?
00:19:37.460 Well, of course, first of all, Kamala Harris, you know, I don't know her family situation.
00:19:42.840 I've read in the media that she's got two stepkids.
00:19:45.980 I wish her stepchildren and Kamala Harris and her whole family the very best.
00:19:49.940 The point is not that she's lesser.
00:19:52.680 The point is that her party has pursued a set of policies that are profoundly anti-child.
00:19:57.560 These people want to conflate the personal situation here with the fact that I'm making an argument that our entire society has become skeptical and even hateful towards the idea of having kids.
00:20:08.540 I mean, you have young women and young men who say, we don't want to have children because of climate change.
00:20:13.600 We don't want to have children, of course, because housing prices are too expensive, and that's a concern I take seriously and I think is a very real problem.
00:20:20.080 But people have to remember that when you look back on your life, you talk to people, the thing that they remember most is not their career or their education, it's their family.
00:20:29.800 And I just want us to be a country that's pro-family.
00:20:33.000 Of course, what happened to Gabby Giffords was terrible.
00:20:35.220 I wish her the best.
00:20:36.480 Of course, Kamala Harris has a great family.
00:20:38.960 I wish them all the best.
00:20:40.420 But why are they pursuing a set of policies that make having families harder?
00:20:45.160 Why are they wanting to mask toddlers years into the pandemic?
00:20:48.360 Why are they saying that we should get rid of the child tax credit, which lowers taxes for working families with children?
00:20:55.400 They are creating an anti-family and anti-child society.
00:20:59.740 And I think it's important for Republicans to fight back against this, Megan, and not take the bait here.
00:21:04.580 We wish the best for these people's families, but they should not use their families as a pretext to pursue all these ridiculous anti-family policies for the rest of Americans.
00:21:13.300 Well, I was going to say, in defense of Kamala Harris and other childless leftists, plenty of leftists with children tried to mask our children interminably and did not care about their own kids suffering or ours.
00:21:26.980 Last comment on this, then we'll move on.
00:21:29.120 The childless cat lady.
00:21:30.780 Would you like to comment on that?
00:21:32.180 That reportedly has many conservative women outraged, though when I clicked on the Newsweek article suggesting as much, I saw three quoted.
00:21:44.660 Look, Megan, I've heard from a lot of conservative women and frankly, a lot of liberal women who said, I'm actually glad that you pointed out that there's become something profoundly anti-family in our public policy and in our public conversation.
00:21:56.260 Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment.
00:21:58.840 I've got nothing against cats.
00:21:59.940 I've got nothing against dogs.
00:22:00.940 I've got one dog at home, and I love him, Megan.
00:22:02.700 But look, this is not – people are focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance of what I actually said.
00:22:10.600 And the substance of what I said, Megan, I'm sorry, it's true.
00:22:14.120 It is true that we become anti-family.
00:22:16.480 It is true that the left has become anti-child.
00:22:19.060 It is simply true that it's become way too hard to raise a family.
00:22:22.680 You know, Megan, you know I myself had a lot of step-parents when I was growing up.
00:22:28.460 I certainly was enriched by some of those step-parents and frankly not enriched by others.
00:22:32.860 My own wife is a working mother.
00:22:34.840 You hear leftists say, J.D. wants to keep women in the home.
00:22:38.240 My own wife, I've supported her career for my entire life.
00:22:41.620 I'm proud of it.
00:22:42.560 But because I'm proud of it and because I supported my wife, Megan, I've seen the fact that it's hard to be a working mom,
00:22:49.380 that the corporate world is fundamentally hostile to working mothers and working fathers because we have made stupid and bad choices as a country.
00:22:59.540 I want us to make different choices.
00:23:00.940 And I think it's shameful for the Democrats to hide behind their personal circumstances when they have supported policies that have made it harder on working moms and dads.
00:23:10.020 And they're still this very day doing the exact same thing.
00:23:12.560 You mentioned Usha.
00:23:15.800 Joy Reid, in that montage of media reaction I played, suggested that what your comments get to is that the only valid version of America is a white woman who stays at home.
00:23:29.260 So that's your position, according to her.
00:23:31.460 You only value white, stay-at-home moms.
00:23:35.920 It's just so disgusting, Megan.
00:23:37.540 And look, I love my wife so much.
00:23:39.580 I love her because she's who she is.
00:23:41.360 Obviously, she's not a white person, and we've been attacked by some white supremacists over that.
00:23:46.340 But I love Usha.
00:23:48.000 She's such a good mom.
00:23:49.340 She's such a brilliant lawyer, and I'm so proud of her.
00:23:52.420 But, yes, her experience has given me some perspective in the way in which it's really hard for working families in this country.
00:23:59.120 And a big part, you know this, Megan, going back years, well before I was in politics,
00:24:03.080 I've always wanted to be the kind of person who supports parents and fulfilling their dreams and having as many kids as they want to.
00:24:10.500 It's profoundly important for our society.
00:24:13.340 We have no future without kids.
00:24:15.380 People forget that.
00:24:16.680 If you don't have children, you do not have a future.
00:24:19.140 You cannot import the next generation.
00:24:21.400 You've got to actually have stable, healthy, happy families.
00:24:25.620 President Trump and I, our entire agenda is about promoting it, promoting schools that are good for kids,
00:24:31.520 bringing down housing costs so that if young families want to start a family, they can afford to.
00:24:35.800 These are the things that are important in our public policy and in our discourse.
00:24:40.140 I'm going to keep on fighting for them, Megan.
00:24:41.980 I'm actually glad the left has attacked me over this because I think it started an important conversation about how our society became so profoundly anti-family.
00:24:50.980 I get it.
00:24:52.480 So you're saying, just for the record, you value stepmothers.
00:24:56.600 You value people who have nephews and nieces.
00:24:59.720 You're basically just trying to make the point that children are valuable and that we need more of them,
00:25:04.680 not people like this who are making it very clear that they don't want kids
00:25:09.920 or that they actually have to factor in environmental causes to their desire to have children.
00:25:14.220 And I'll give you AOC in 2019, number five.
00:25:17.720 It's a scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult.
00:25:24.360 And it does lead, I think, young people to have a legitimate question.
00:25:30.240 You know, should, is it okay to still have children?
00:25:35.220 According to Morning Consult, one third of young people agree with that sentiment.
00:25:40.260 One third.
00:25:41.200 And those obviously are Democrats.
00:25:42.720 Democrats, it's not going to be conservatives thinking that considering not having kids
00:25:46.220 because of these catastrophic environmental forecasts, which, you know, don't come true.
00:25:51.320 So they've given up their, the joy of having a child over these catastrophic forecasts they're
00:25:56.360 getting from Greta Turnberg.
00:25:57.740 I do want to say this, um, the same people lecturing you right now on this issue, this comment,
00:26:04.700 this throwaway comment or whatever the position are the same people pushing through the revised
00:26:10.120 Title IX that's going to force my daughter and eventually yours if we don't change things
00:26:14.600 to shower with biological boys when they're in the fourth grade, when they're in the eighth
00:26:19.400 grade, when they're in the 10th grade, compete against biological boys who could hurt them
00:26:23.280 in sports like volleyball, soccer, field hockey, all of which we've seen, um, and who are just
00:26:29.100 fine mutilating people like Chloe Cole, who at 15 had her mistaken, had her depression mistaken
00:26:35.840 for gender confusion. And they chopped off her breasts after one meeting with that. They're
00:26:40.520 fine with that Senator fine. They're totally fine with that. Megan. If you want to talk about
00:26:45.880 childless women, let's talk about the victims of migrant crime under Kamala Harris's administration,
00:26:51.460 people who have been deprived of their children because we've led in violent criminals into this
00:26:56.720 country who have killed American citizens. Let's absolutely talk about the fact that they have
00:27:00.980 become pro mutilation of children. The Democrats have completely lost the plot here. And again,
00:27:07.840 of course, we love stepmoms. We love aunts and uncles. You know, Megan, I was raised by
00:27:12.000 a whole collection of step parents, aunts and uncles and grandparents. We love all of these people,
00:27:17.680 but we want to make life easier for them because of that. And we have to, we have to accept Megan,
00:27:23.440 that our country has become anti-family. You see it in our birth rate. You see it in how many
00:27:29.420 young people, to your point, say that they don't want to have children. This is a crazy change that's
00:27:34.420 happened just in the past 20 or 30 years. I'm not going to stand by while it happens. I think it's
00:27:39.080 important for us to call it out. We're going to keep on doing that, even if the left attacks us,
00:27:43.100 especially if the left attacks us, because sometimes it's the truest and most important
00:27:47.940 points that cause them to attack you the most. I went out there to Ohio. I met you and Usha. I met
00:27:54.300 aunt. We, I met your extended family. Absolutely wonderful, beautiful people. And yes, you have
00:28:00.060 amongst the closest family bonds of anybody I've ever known, um, which is why it was weird for me
00:28:05.500 having read your book back in 16, done an in-depth profile of you in 17 to hear, um, governor Beshear
00:28:13.240 of Kentucky, where you were born and spent your early years attack you as like a fake hillbilly as,
00:28:22.720 as sort of appropriating their culture. I've got to play a little bit of this because I'd love to
00:28:27.940 get your reaction. Here he is. J.D. Vance is a phony. He he's fake. I mean, he first says that
00:28:36.100 Donald Trump is like Hitler and now he's acting like he's Lincoln. I mean, the problem with J.D.
00:28:42.560 Vance is he has no conviction, but I guess his running mate has 34. He claims to be from Eastern
00:28:49.060 Kentucky, tries to write a book about it to profit off our people. And then he calls us
00:28:53.880 lazy. And this makes me angry, but it especially makes me angry about our people in Eastern Kentucky.
00:29:00.120 Listen, these are the hardworking coal miners that powered the industrial revolution,
00:29:05.280 that helped build the strongest middle-class the world has ever seen, helped us win two world wars,
00:29:11.220 and he called them lazy, acting like he understands our culture. And he's one of us. He's not.
00:29:19.640 Yet another VP hopeful on the Harris ticket. Your thoughts?
00:29:24.120 Well, first of all, in Eastern Kentucky, people call Steve or Andy Beshear, I should say,
00:29:28.940 Lexington liberals, because the guy has no connection to Eastern Kentucky. This is a guy,
00:29:33.620 Megan, who got his first law firm job from his daddy's law firm, who inherited the governorship
00:29:38.320 from his daddy, who's never had to work for anything his entire life. And what he said about
00:29:42.940 me is despicable. You know, I have deep connections to Eastern Kentucky. I spent a lot of my early life
00:29:47.380 there. I still have a lot of family that's there. But most importantly, he is supporting Kamala Harris,
00:29:52.920 who wants to put all of those coal miners out of work. She supports banning fracking. She supports
00:29:58.160 destroying the livelihood that has served as the foundation for a lot of those families. So he wants
00:30:03.060 to come after me and my personal story. The guy was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. And we all
00:30:08.080 know that if his preferred candidate Kamala Harris wins, those people will be in deep poverty. And
00:30:14.120 our country is going to have skyrocketing energy prices. That is not standing up for people. That's
00:30:19.780 lying to people and using these weird personal attacks to conceal the fact that Kamala Harris
00:30:24.480 has the most anti-energy policies we've ever seen in a candidate. And it's going to be people in
00:30:29.780 Eastern Kentucky and Pennsylvania and Michigan who are going to hurt the most if Kamala Harris gets in
00:30:34.860 there and bans natural gas and bans coal, which is exactly what she said she wants to do.
00:30:40.520 The same media that is obsessing every day over your comments in a throwaway interview with Tucker
00:30:46.660 three years ago. And that one phrase is not covering any of that with respect to Kamala Harris.
00:30:52.940 They are not getting into the fact that she wants to take away private health insurance,
00:30:56.680 the fact that she wants to ban fracking, the fact that she wants to get rid of the filibuster so she
00:31:00.440 can push through the green new deal. We could go on. Um, Ben Carson was on with Tucker and said
00:31:06.420 today the media is trying to make her into MLK in address. What's your reaction to the coronation
00:31:13.980 of Kamala Harris as the nominee and the complete whitewashing of her policy history?
00:31:22.900 Yeah, well, I was talking with president Trump about this last night, Megan, we had dinner and,
00:31:27.300 you know, for three weeks, the media was honest about Joe Biden and they were honest in the service
00:31:32.480 of cynical politics. They lied for years about Joe Biden's mental acuity and they decided to be
00:31:38.440 honest because they knew that they could force him out of the race. And now that they forced him out of
00:31:42.120 the race, they've gone back to dishonesty. They completely ignore that Kamala Harris is the most
00:31:47.820 liberal Senator in the country. She was the most liberal Senator when she served. She's the border
00:31:53.420 czar at a time of historic open borders. She's encouraged illegal immigration, even though it's
00:31:58.780 brought in a ton of fentanyl that's killed a lot of innocent people. She wants to ban fracking,
00:32:03.600 which would destroy manufacturing and energy in this country. She has on every single issue stood
00:32:10.140 for the far left of the democratic party instead of working people in this country. This is not a hard
00:32:15.860 case to make. And as much as the media is going to lie about Kamala Harris, I wouldn't even say
00:32:20.240 she's like a mixture. According to the press, she's like a mixture of MLK and Abraham Lincoln,
00:32:26.260 right? She can do no wrong. The problem is her record is her record, Megan, and she can't run
00:32:31.820 away from it. We cannot let people who are going to destroy the American manufacturing and energy
00:32:37.040 economy take over the reins of power. We've seen it for three and a half years. It's been bad.
00:32:42.140 It's going to be a lot worse when you get somebody who's even more liberal than Biden in there.
00:32:45.440 And yet the polls are tightening. You've seen that. There was just one out hit late last night,
00:32:51.260 New York Times, Siena, Trump, 48, Harris, 47. That last poll in early July had Trump plus six
00:32:57.320 over Joe Biden. And then we had Emerson polling on yesterday and they were talking about how it's
00:33:02.740 getting tighter in the swing states too, including Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, now that she's on
00:33:07.800 the ticket. So to Republicans feeling, you know, who were feeling euphoric at the RNC, that this is
00:33:14.880 going to be a slam dunk, slam dunk. What's your message? Well, look, we have to work, Megan. We
00:33:22.140 have to run through the finish line. This election is not going to be easy. Obviously, Kamala Harris is
00:33:26.660 going through a bit of a honeymoon phase. We all expect the polls to tighten a little bit, but I think
00:33:31.180 the structure of this race is fundamentally very simple. Do you want higher inflation? Do you want
00:33:36.740 lower prices on groceries and housing? If you want higher inflation, vote for Kamala Harris. If
00:33:43.040 you want lower prices, vote for Donald Trump. Do you want a wide open border? Then vote for Kamala
00:33:47.500 Harris. If you want to close down that border and get the drug dealers and the fentanyl out of our
00:33:51.460 communities, vote for President Trump. The contrast is very simple. Kamala Harris has supported all of
00:33:57.340 the most unpopular policies. So yeah, she's going to get a little bit of a honeymoon, Megan, but the truth
00:34:01.920 is the truth. She's extremely liberal. Her policies have been bad for this country. They'd be
00:34:06.640 even worse if we gave her another four years. We can't do that, and I think Americans are smart
00:34:10.760 enough to recognize that. We just have to prosecute our case, get our voters out there, make sure people
00:34:15.380 are knocking on doors and getting the message out. That is the job of a presidential campaign,
00:34:19.900 and I feel very good about where we are. Meanwhile, Joe Biden has admitted he can't serve a second term,
00:34:25.520 but has not admitted that he probably shouldn't be serving this one and the remaining six months.
00:34:30.580 We're in a provocative position now with respect to our security, as world leaders take a look at what we
00:34:35.260 all saw from the Oval Office the other night and the days and weeks before. And I wonder your
00:34:40.380 feelings on whether the sitting president needs to step down. Well, look, Megan, we have a
00:34:46.000 constitutional process, the 25th Amendment. If the president can't run for president, how can he
00:34:50.440 possibly serve as president? And it drives home how much this was totally a cynical political ploy.
00:34:55.720 This is not about public service. Kamala Harris lied, Megan, for an entire presidential term
00:35:01.840 about Joe Biden's mental fitness. She only told the truth when she saw an opportunity to cast him
00:35:07.740 aside and the entire Democratic Party saw an opportunity to cast him aside to salvage their
00:35:12.920 political prospects. They saddled America for three and a half years with a president who can't do the
00:35:18.680 job, and they only changed their minds when they recognized there was a political opportunity to get
00:35:23.680 rid of him. That is not public service. That is political cynicism in a way that's made our country
00:35:28.660 so much weaker, Megan. And we have to call that out. And importantly, if Joe Biden cannot do the
00:35:34.780 job, he's got to step down. And I don't know anybody who's watched Biden over the last few
00:35:39.140 weeks who can say with confidence, this is a guy who could actually serve as president of the United
00:35:43.200 States. The fact that Democrats are still covering for him drives home how shameful their conduct has
00:35:48.380 been over the last few years. So, I mean, when you say he can't serve as president, do you because that
00:35:55.720 are you saying he should step down? Because, of course, that would elevate her and that might make her
00:36:00.140 tougher to beat. I don't think it would make her tougher to beat. But Joe Biden cannot continue to serve
00:36:05.400 as president if he can't do the job. Right. This is not about politics, Megan. This is about do we have
00:36:10.060 somebody who can actually do the job as president? Clearly, Joe Biden can't. The Democrats have lied about
00:36:15.860 that fact. And most importantly, because it's only six months, we've just got to remind the American
00:36:20.520 people that the reason why we have a president who can't do the job is because Kamala Harris lied to
00:36:25.920 people. Remember, she said that he was sharp as a tack just a few months ago. She said that he was
00:36:30.280 totally capable of doing the job and the entire Democratic Party joined her. We now know they were
00:36:36.440 lying to us. And the only way to penalize that dishonesty is to vote them out in November. That's what I'm
00:36:42.260 trying to convince every American to do. You know, one of the main concerns, as you know, voters have
00:36:46.940 in this election is the economy. I mean, it just the economy and immigration remain one and two,
00:36:51.560 depending on the day they reverse positions. And I don't I haven't seen the evidence that Kamala
00:36:56.940 Harris has any ability to address the economy. We've seen what she's done at the border, although
00:37:02.000 they're now denying all responsibility for it, though. Every single paper, The New York Times,
00:37:05.280 The Washington Post, all whether they use the term borders are or not. Usually they did
00:37:08.860 said she had been appointed in the lead position over it. But here's the thing. Her approach to
00:37:16.520 the country and I assume to the economy as well, continues to go back to this term of equity.
00:37:25.040 She sees any difference in America's economic position or any position as relating to equity
00:37:32.500 and our problems with it in America. And she explained it herself in this mashup that
00:37:37.220 forgive me. I don't know who put it together, but we'll we'll get it. I wanted to place some of her
00:37:41.700 thoughts on it and get your reaction on that issue of equity versus equality and SOT 26.
00:37:47.580 So there's a big difference between equality and equity.
00:37:51.900 Equality
00:37:52.300 suggests often everybody should get the same thing.
00:37:58.100 Well, that often assumes everybody started out in the same place
00:38:01.720 as opposed to equity, which is everyone should end up in the same place.
00:38:08.540 And if you then understand not everybody started out in the same place, you understand some people
00:38:13.060 need more. So we all end up in the same place.
00:38:17.980 Right.
00:38:18.360 And being guided by this principle
00:38:20.300 of what we must do
00:38:22.980 in the spirit and in the interest of equity
00:38:25.880 to put equity firmly
00:38:28.760 at the center
00:38:30.320 of our economic policy.
00:38:34.920 That was by a Twitter account called
00:38:37.080 and wokeness was a great follow.
00:38:38.940 What do you make of this notion?
00:38:41.640 It's totally crazy talk, Megan.
00:38:43.420 Look, I think most Americans, regardless of their skin color, would say
00:38:46.340 we want people to work hard
00:38:48.200 to actually get ahead.
00:38:49.560 Right. We want people who benefit
00:38:51.260 from this great American system
00:38:53.500 to benefit if they work hard and played by the rules.
00:38:56.120 You can't say everybody has to end up in the same place
00:38:58.460 because some people are going to work a little bit harder than others.
00:39:01.020 And that's fine.
00:39:01.980 And we want those people to be rewarded.
00:39:04.200 The other crazy thing about this, Megan,
00:39:05.800 is it justifies some really monstrous discrimination
00:39:08.560 from the Harris administration
00:39:10.320 in the name of so-called equity.
00:39:12.540 Let's just take one example.
00:39:14.060 There was a farm program that the Harris administration
00:39:16.380 put in place to help farmers
00:39:18.400 who are trying to get off
00:39:19.440 to a start in farming.
00:39:21.660 A great program, something I support,
00:39:24.040 but I think it should apply to farmers
00:39:25.980 whether they're white or black
00:39:27.360 or any other skin color.
00:39:28.720 The Harris administration explicitly said
00:39:31.500 if you're a white farmer, don't apply.
00:39:34.040 A court found that that was illegal.
00:39:35.940 And that monstrous level of discrimination
00:39:37.900 based on skin color
00:39:39.120 is what is justified
00:39:40.720 when people start appealing to equity
00:39:43.100 instead of equality under the law.
00:39:45.420 The fundamental American principle
00:39:46.700 is we treat everybody the same.
00:39:48.780 If you work a little bit harder,
00:39:50.540 you should be rewarded for it.
00:39:51.840 If you don't work as hard,
00:39:53.060 you shouldn't be rewarded for it.
00:39:54.500 But you don't discriminate against people
00:39:56.440 based on their skin color
00:39:57.720 because you have some crazy left-wing notion
00:40:00.200 that you have to put everybody
00:40:01.680 at the exact same place at the end of the day.
00:40:04.160 It sounds kind of okay,
00:40:06.240 kind of weird depending on your perspective,
00:40:07.880 but if you think about what it justifies
00:40:10.080 in our government,
00:40:10.960 it is taking us back 50 years,
00:40:13.760 discrimination on the basis of law,
00:40:16.660 discrimination on the basis of skin color,
00:40:18.440 it's bad news, Megan,
00:40:20.660 and I don't think we should go for it.
00:40:22.200 It sounds kind of communist is what it sounds.
00:40:25.440 And it's pretty alarming.
00:40:27.220 That decision you referenced
00:40:29.280 about the Biden-Harris administration
00:40:31.260 on the farmers and the ranchers
00:40:33.380 would give the help to black farmers
00:40:38.020 irrespective of their financial situation.
00:40:40.840 So literally Oprah Winfrey
00:40:42.600 could say she has this ranch out in Montecito
00:40:45.480 and that she wanted to take advantage of the program
00:40:47.420 and she would get it.
00:40:48.440 And some struggling farmer or rancher in Appalachia
00:40:52.480 would be denied if he happened to be white.
00:40:54.400 It was insane.
00:40:56.080 And discrimination on the basis of race is illegal.
00:40:58.400 And so that's why it was struck down.
00:41:00.500 You know, it wasn't so long ago
00:41:02.800 that the same people piling on you now,
00:41:05.160 Joy Reid, who says you only care about
00:41:06.680 white moms who want to stay at home,
00:41:08.900 even though you're married to a non-white mom
00:41:11.760 who is not staying at home.
00:41:12.720 Yeah, just crazy talk.
00:41:14.880 They were in love with you after Hillbilly Elegy
00:41:17.940 until, you know,
00:41:19.400 because they thought you were like a Trump whisperer.
00:41:21.160 You were the guy who could help them understand
00:41:22.620 the evil man who had ascended to the presidency.
00:41:25.280 But there was an interesting exchange
00:41:26.920 that you had on Joy Reid's show back in the day.
00:41:30.480 This is 16, discussing your book.
00:41:32.180 We pulled it up just for kicks.
00:41:34.280 Here it is.
00:41:34.680 J.D., thank you so much for being here.
00:41:37.480 I have read so many think pieces about your book
00:41:39.760 and seen so many interviews with you.
00:41:41.600 I have the book right here.
00:41:42.680 Can't wait to dive into it.
00:41:44.280 But your story, first of all, is fascinating.
00:41:47.420 So the way you went from sort of Rust Belt country to Yale.
00:41:50.480 One of the things that's really fascinating
00:41:51.920 about your story, J.D.,
00:41:52.960 is how similar some of the pathologies you talk about
00:41:55.780 are to the pathologies that normally people
00:41:58.620 assign to African-Americans, right?
00:42:00.280 That, you know, these ideas about the way you're raised.
00:42:02.460 You're raised mostly by your grandparents.
00:42:03.980 The way that you were able to use opportunity
00:42:06.340 like the military to get a college degree.
00:42:08.200 That's very familiar across racial lines.
00:42:10.560 So why do you suppose there's such a huge gulf
00:42:12.980 and distance ideologically between African-Americans
00:42:16.860 and people like the ones you came from?
00:42:21.820 Well, obviously, a lot of it goes back to 40 or 50 years ago
00:42:24.820 when the two groups sort of diverged
00:42:27.160 because of certain policies that were supported.
00:42:30.580 A big part of it is just that because of the way
00:42:32.720 that black Americans have been discriminated against legally,
00:42:35.500 I think black Americans have tended to focus
00:42:37.380 on a politics of race
00:42:39.060 and which party is going to provide the most racial uplift
00:42:41.880 or tear down the most legal barriers,
00:42:43.880 whereas white Americans have typically voted,
00:42:46.280 their pocketbook, voted a politics of class.
00:42:49.580 And so they've tended to not necessarily overlap.
00:42:53.680 Pretty fascinating.
00:42:54.560 By the way, you look so young.
00:42:55.660 It's crazy what's happened to you in the past eight years.
00:42:58.720 It was before the beard, Megan.
00:43:00.640 That's a long time ago.
00:43:02.200 Well, yeah.
00:43:02.540 I feel like Usha's done a good job with you, J.D.
00:43:04.980 You're sharper dressing, and I like the beard.
00:43:10.000 Yeah, you've got to chill out with that.
00:43:12.120 She's already arrogant enough about a lot of things.
00:43:15.240 She deserves to be.
00:43:17.640 But I think you were making a good point there.
00:43:20.060 And I think even Joy Reid could see it back then.
00:43:22.680 Now, maybe not.
00:43:23.900 Well, look, it's very simple.
00:43:26.920 And actually, I think it's starting to change, by the way, Megan.
00:43:29.160 I think you see a lot of black and white Americans
00:43:31.040 voting more along class lines,
00:43:33.520 voting more along who's actually best for me.
00:43:35.740 There are a lot of black energy workers
00:43:37.080 who are not going to benefit from the policies
00:43:38.700 of a Harris administration
00:43:39.640 to destroy the American energy industry.
00:43:42.080 So I do think that's slowly starting to change.
00:43:44.320 But it is interesting to sort of hear
00:43:46.180 how fascinated these people were with my story
00:43:49.880 five, 10 years ago.
00:43:51.720 And now that I am on the presidential ticket,
00:43:55.020 they've decided that I'm the worst possible guy
00:43:56.940 in the world.
00:43:57.920 It's fascinating to me.
00:43:59.360 It's not surprising, Megan.
00:44:00.880 And it's kind of what I signed up for, right?
00:44:03.160 I mean, I want to make people's lives better.
00:44:05.000 My whole idea here, and the reason I accepted
00:44:07.540 President Trump's invitation to join the ticket
00:44:10.040 is because I think that Americans have been screwed over
00:44:12.800 by a lot of stupid policies.
00:44:14.500 I'd like to change that.
00:44:15.760 And if the cost of changing that
00:44:17.080 is people like Joy Reid used to say nice things about me,
00:44:20.000 and now they lie about me, whatever.
00:44:21.960 As Harry S. Truman said,
00:44:23.640 if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
00:44:25.340 I think it's an honor to be here.
00:44:26.920 And everything that comes along with it,
00:44:28.600 I just see as a necessary part
00:44:30.100 of having to do this job.
00:44:32.080 When Trump named you as his running mate,
00:44:34.300 we revisited some of your bio.
00:44:36.760 And one of the points I made that day was,
00:44:39.180 this is a man whose life has been formed
00:44:41.360 by strong women.
00:44:43.180 That's very clear.
00:44:44.220 That's a fact.
00:44:45.540 Right.
00:44:45.720 It's not spin.
00:44:47.100 From mamaw, your grandma, to your mom,
00:44:51.100 though it was a complicated relationship
00:44:52.480 and remains so, I'm sure.
00:44:53.800 To your sister, Lindsay, with whom you're very close,
00:44:55.880 to Aunt Wee.
00:44:56.720 And then you move on to Yale Law School,
00:45:00.140 and there's Amy Chua, our mutual friend,
00:45:02.520 who we love, who encouraged you to write the book
00:45:04.620 and changed your life and saw in you
00:45:06.560 this special story in person
00:45:08.100 that ultimately would lead you
00:45:09.920 to enter the national conversation.
00:45:12.680 And then Usha, who you met at Yale Law School,
00:45:15.520 who I know has been responsible in large part
00:45:17.420 for teaching you how to love,
00:45:19.700 how to be in a relationship,
00:45:21.040 how to conquer some of those childhood demons.
00:45:24.520 So to me, it's a great success story
00:45:27.180 of not just Dady Vance, but of American women,
00:45:29.740 strong American women,
00:45:31.080 from mamaw with her guns
00:45:33.420 and her love of the F-bomb,
00:45:35.840 to your own mom with her addiction problems,
00:45:38.840 though she managed to make her imprint,
00:45:41.940 to the beautiful Lindsay, the sisterly love
00:45:44.500 who beat herself up for not protecting you more,
00:45:46.580 ultimately to this more sophisticated,
00:45:49.060 incredible, dynamic wife, Usha,
00:45:52.440 who's taking you on the next leg of the journey.
00:45:54.420 So how do you see those women
00:45:56.160 and your arc with them, JD?
00:45:59.200 Well, I think it is the through line of my life, Megan,
00:46:01.500 that there have been strong women
00:46:02.620 who have made it possible for me to have a good life.
00:46:05.560 And you mentioned mamaw.
00:46:06.620 I've heard so many mamaw stories
00:46:08.040 from friends and family just in the last few days,
00:46:10.900 people who have come out of the woodwork, obviously,
00:46:12.820 because we gave this speech at the RNC convention.
00:46:15.720 And one story I heard, Megan,
00:46:17.900 just a couple of days ago from my aunt
00:46:19.640 is we were in a car and I was so young,
00:46:22.780 I'd just forgotten this story.
00:46:24.460 And we were driving to Eastern Kentucky
00:46:25.920 and a motorcyclist pulls up
00:46:28.540 and he's kind of swerving and he's being aggressive
00:46:30.620 and he's just being really ridiculous
00:46:31.960 and kind of scaring us in the car.
00:46:33.740 And I pointed it out, my aunt points it out,
00:46:36.600 she's driving and mamaw reaches underneath her seat,
00:46:39.520 pulls out a .44 Magnum and taps it on the window.
00:46:43.320 And this guy sort of almost swerves
00:46:45.020 and crashes his motorcycle.
00:46:46.180 Well, that was the end of the motorcycle harassment.
00:46:48.900 And that's just the type of person mamaw was,
00:46:51.280 but she was just this incredibly strong person.
00:46:53.880 And yeah, you know,
00:46:54.560 Usha is more sophisticated in the ways of the world,
00:46:56.960 but I think what sort of unites them is one,
00:46:59.920 they're very tough.
00:47:01.540 Two, they're incredibly protective of their family.
00:47:03.760 Three, they're very smart, right?
00:47:05.220 Mamaw wasn't well-educated,
00:47:06.800 but she was a very brilliant person.
00:47:09.120 And, you know, the only downside I'll say of Usha
00:47:11.680 is I asked the convention planners,
00:47:14.560 I said, what about having my wife introduce me
00:47:17.140 before my speech?
00:47:18.480 I'm not making that mistake ever again, Megan,
00:47:20.640 because she did such a good job
00:47:22.700 and I was so proud of her,
00:47:24.600 but I'm not gonna have to follow that act ever again, right?
00:47:26.880 I'm gonna make Usha introduce President Trump.
00:47:29.360 She really was.
00:47:30.720 And she just-
00:47:31.800 Part of her nature,
00:47:32.580 like the way she projects
00:47:33.620 the self-deprecating nature
00:47:34.800 is what makes her so attractive and charming.
00:47:37.560 Yeah, and she's just herself.
00:47:40.020 And, you know, what I was worried about,
00:47:42.300 having never been in the spotlight is,
00:47:44.220 I just want you, honey, to be,
00:47:46.240 I said this to Usha,
00:47:47.160 I just want you to be who you are
00:47:48.500 because I love you,
00:47:50.160 the world's gonna fall in love with you.
00:47:51.940 And she just went out there,
00:47:53.060 she didn't accept the speechwriter's speech,
00:47:54.940 she wrote her own speech,
00:47:56.120 said exactly what she wanted to say,
00:47:58.340 and she did such a good job with it.
00:47:59.900 And I just, you know,
00:48:00.860 as a guy who's very in love with his wife,
00:48:03.000 I was very, very proud of her.
00:48:04.260 But not following that speech again, Megan.
00:48:06.860 So how did you feel
00:48:07.900 when you got the call from Trump?
00:48:09.200 You know, you and I talked
00:48:10.080 when you weren't even in politics.
00:48:11.520 You had just returned to Ohio
00:48:12.900 from San Francisco.
00:48:14.040 You were telling me
00:48:14.800 you just couldn't take,
00:48:15.860 like, the people openly defecating
00:48:17.260 on the sidewalks.
00:48:18.000 It was a lot from this kid,
00:48:19.820 this kid from, you know, Midwest.
00:48:22.440 And you weren't even in politics,
00:48:23.400 and now, you know,
00:48:24.560 flash forward eight years later,
00:48:25.660 you get the call from President Trump
00:48:26.740 asking you to be his running mate.
00:48:28.080 How did he put it to you?
00:48:29.460 How did he ask you?
00:48:30.260 And how did it feel?
00:48:32.400 Well, the funny thing, Megan,
00:48:33.580 is we're in the hotel room in Milwaukee.
00:48:35.340 We had just arrived.
00:48:36.680 He apparently called,
00:48:37.960 and I didn't see the call,
00:48:39.200 because it went straight
00:48:39.800 to voicemail or something.
00:48:41.140 So I call him back,
00:48:42.800 and he answers the phone.
00:48:44.520 He says, you know, J.D.,
00:48:45.360 you missed a very important phone call.
00:48:46.960 Maybe I'll have to give this
00:48:48.240 to somebody else.
00:48:49.580 So my heart kind of stops, right?
00:48:51.220 And I tense up really,
00:48:52.600 really powerfully.
00:48:54.160 But the funniest thing, Megan,
00:48:55.820 is because we're in the hotel room
00:48:57.580 with my seven-year-old kid,
00:48:59.700 he's talking about his Pokemon cards, right?
00:49:01.900 So I'm trying to have this conversation
00:49:03.840 with the President of the United States
00:49:05.520 offering me the Vice Presidential nod.
00:49:07.480 And in the background,
00:49:08.240 my seven-year-old's talking about Pikachu.
00:49:09.960 I'm like, God, for the love of God, son,
00:49:11.720 for 30 seconds,
00:49:12.840 just let me have this conversation.
00:49:15.180 And it's funny.
00:49:16.140 The President hears him
00:49:17.580 and says, put him on the phone.
00:49:19.920 And then asks my seven-year-old,
00:49:22.080 what do you think about this statement
00:49:23.260 I'm about to put out,
00:49:24.840 nominating your dad for Vice President?
00:49:27.440 And my son listens to it.
00:49:28.640 He says, oh, that sounds nice.
00:49:31.400 And it's just such a surreal moment.
00:49:34.100 My wife actually got a photo of me
00:49:35.820 on the phone with the President.
00:49:38.080 You know, what an honor, right?
00:49:39.260 I mean, that's the thing
00:49:40.120 that I try to just remind myself of
00:49:42.140 every single day is
00:49:43.500 I didn't come from anything material, right?
00:49:46.800 I did not have the advantages
00:49:48.100 of a lot of people in politics,
00:49:49.400 but I had an incredibly loving family.
00:49:52.080 And I just feel so grateful
00:49:53.760 to have this opportunity.
00:49:55.280 And as I said to the convention, Megan,
00:49:57.040 that the most important thing
00:49:58.100 that I think I can bring to the ticket
00:49:59.560 is to never forget where I came from,
00:50:01.860 to never forget the perspective
00:50:03.120 of people who are struggling.
00:50:04.700 Like, you know, it's people like Mammal
00:50:06.640 who really suffer
00:50:07.820 when grocery prices go up
00:50:09.340 as much as they have
00:50:10.240 under the Harris administration.
00:50:11.640 It's people like Mom
00:50:13.240 who's struggled with addiction,
00:50:14.720 but she's been clean for 10 years now
00:50:16.400 who really, really struggle
00:50:18.100 when you have this poisonous fentanyl
00:50:19.940 coming across our southern border.
00:50:21.460 So I just want to remember
00:50:22.820 where I came from,
00:50:24.160 serve the people who made me who I am.
00:50:26.200 And I think if I do that,
00:50:27.420 I'll be a fine vice president
00:50:28.660 and the country will be better for it.
00:50:29.980 But that's my goal.
00:50:32.500 Senator and vice presidential nominee,
00:50:35.640 J.D. Vance, what a pleasure.
00:50:37.160 Great to see you again.
00:50:37.940 Hope you come back.
00:50:39.240 Thanks, Megan.
00:50:39.700 See ya.
00:50:39.900 And thanks to all of you
00:50:42.020 for joining us today.
00:50:43.000 Wow.
00:50:43.380 Would love your thoughts
00:50:44.260 on our interview
00:50:45.260 and this controversy
00:50:46.340 and this ticket
00:50:48.000 and how you like the chances
00:50:50.260 even though the race is tightening.
00:50:52.300 You can email me,
00:50:53.720 megan, M-E-G-Y-N
00:50:54.880 at megankelly.com.
00:50:57.400 Or you can go to our website,
00:50:58.400 megankelly.com
00:50:59.220 and sign up
00:51:00.020 for our once a week email
00:51:02.120 where we give you all the news
00:51:03.800 in 60 seconds or less.
00:51:05.200 What a fascinating guy.
00:51:06.360 He's so interesting.
00:51:07.520 It's amazing to me
00:51:08.340 to see the media pile on this guy.
00:51:09.900 Like he's the devil.
00:51:11.640 Does he seem like the devil to you?
00:51:13.540 It's just absurd.
00:51:14.500 At the same time
00:51:15.360 when they're running cover for her,
00:51:16.780 literally scrubbing her record.
00:51:18.660 You know,
00:51:19.080 you got websites calling her
00:51:20.700 the most liberal,
00:51:21.540 nonpartisan websites
00:51:22.860 calling her
00:51:23.340 the most liberal senator
00:51:24.200 in the Senate.
00:51:25.500 Now scrubbing that.
00:51:26.740 Just happened to scrub it this week.
00:51:28.500 You know,
00:51:28.620 they say,
00:51:28.840 oh, that was our policy.
00:51:29.740 Every once in a while,
00:51:30.540 like every year or so,
00:51:31.380 we take another.
00:51:32.060 Oh, really?
00:51:32.500 Just happened to hit this week
00:51:33.420 that you decided
00:51:33.860 to make her not
00:51:34.620 the most liberal senator?
00:51:36.020 By the time
00:51:37.040 they had labeled her that,
00:51:38.480 her senatorial days were over.
00:51:40.420 So what changed
00:51:41.100 in terms of her
00:51:42.000 liberal Senate policies?
00:51:43.400 Nothing.
00:51:44.560 She ran for president.
00:51:46.100 The borders are nonsense.
00:51:47.620 Do you know how many times
00:51:48.620 the mainstream media
00:51:50.140 called her that?
00:51:50.980 And forget that label.
00:51:52.040 Just said she was
00:51:52.700 in charge of the border.
00:51:53.520 She'd been placed
00:51:53.940 in charge of the border,
00:51:54.700 in the lead position
00:51:55.340 in charge of the border.
00:51:56.660 Now it's like,
00:51:57.500 what border?
00:51:58.260 What?
00:51:58.620 That was Mayorkas.
00:51:59.460 Because that media
00:52:00.960 has decided to make
00:52:02.820 these comments
00:52:03.580 some national hurricane.
00:52:05.420 And it's not going
00:52:06.040 to be just this.
00:52:07.500 We talked about this
00:52:08.340 the other day.
00:52:09.180 Because Kamala Harris
00:52:10.320 is a woman of mixed race,
00:52:13.360 they are going to make
00:52:14.400 everything about race
00:52:16.400 and gender.
00:52:18.420 Right?
00:52:18.620 She's Asian,
00:52:20.640 she's Indian,
00:52:21.280 and she's black.
00:52:23.100 Her dad was Jamaican
00:52:24.120 and her mom was,
00:52:26.960 I'm trying to remember exactly,
00:52:29.020 but she's from India.
00:52:30.720 In any event,
00:52:31.840 everything is going to make,
00:52:34.080 is going to be about
00:52:34.920 race and gender.
00:52:36.380 And so any small comment
00:52:38.320 that he's ever made,
00:52:39.800 of course,
00:52:40.100 that Trump's ever made,
00:52:41.080 is going to be ginned up
00:52:42.180 and turned into
00:52:42.740 a national news story
00:52:43.700 because this is how
00:52:44.420 they motivate their base.
00:52:45.600 The Republicans are racist.
00:52:47.920 The Republicans are sexist.
00:52:49.840 We're the only good party.
00:52:51.300 Ignore the fact
00:52:52.060 that we're going to mutilate
00:52:53.280 your 14-year-olds.
00:52:56.180 Ignore the fact
00:52:57.040 that your daughter's
00:52:57.780 going to face
00:52:58.520 partial paralysis
00:52:59.620 in a volleyball game
00:53:01.160 because we insist
00:53:02.400 on making biological boys
00:53:04.180 have access
00:53:05.160 to her sports
00:53:06.160 and her private spaces.
00:53:07.420 That's pro-woman,
00:53:08.600 even if you're too stupid
00:53:09.920 to understand it.
00:53:12.460 The trick is just so old
00:53:14.120 and watching them all
00:53:15.520 rush to condemn,
00:53:16.700 you know,
00:53:17.460 a comment like this,
00:53:18.320 it's just gotten so tiresome.
00:53:19.860 I've seen it so many times now.
00:53:21.900 When it first happens to you
00:53:23.200 and you haven't been out there,
00:53:24.320 maybe some of our young viewers
00:53:25.540 are experiencing this,
00:53:26.460 it might seem genuine.
00:53:28.340 Oh no,
00:53:28.720 like they're really mad.
00:53:30.060 Like this is bad,
00:53:30.740 what he said.
00:53:32.440 Once you get to be
00:53:33.220 my old age,
00:53:34.460 you start to see the patterns
00:53:35.760 for what they are.
00:53:36.640 This is a manipulation.
00:53:38.400 Why do you think
00:53:39.020 the potential
00:53:40.300 vice presidential
00:53:41.260 running mates to her
00:53:42.820 are all over J.D. Vance?
00:53:45.160 Do you think
00:53:45.540 it's genuine outrage?
00:53:46.980 Sure.
00:53:47.720 Sure.
00:53:48.920 You know,
00:53:49.240 it's just,
00:53:49.980 not to mention
00:53:50.720 the number of things
00:53:51.440 that the left has said
00:53:52.220 about women
00:53:52.660 that they're fine with.
00:53:54.360 You know,
00:53:55.220 they,
00:53:55.740 what are they,
00:53:57.060 they were calling Casey DeSantis
00:53:58.300 the Walmart Melania.
00:54:01.080 They called Melania Trump
00:54:02.820 in the New York Times
00:54:03.740 a mannequin
00:54:04.740 when Trump was running
00:54:06.140 the first time.
00:54:07.200 They've called
00:54:08.000 Casey DeSantis
00:54:08.980 and others,
00:54:09.820 what is it?
00:54:11.680 The step,
00:54:12.280 not Stefford,
00:54:13.280 the,
00:54:13.560 what's the show?
00:54:15.340 The Handmaid's Tale.
00:54:16.680 Like that they're
00:54:17.440 some sort of
00:54:18.000 Handmaid's Tale
00:54:18.720 version of life,
00:54:19.920 not to mention
00:54:20.360 what they said
00:54:20.800 about Amy Coney Barrett,
00:54:21.800 same thing.
00:54:22.240 They were wearing
00:54:22.920 those Handmaid's Tale
00:54:23.600 outfit at her,
00:54:24.800 at her confirmation hearings.
00:54:27.460 That's fine.
00:54:28.860 You can do all of that
00:54:29.880 to Republican women.
00:54:32.000 You can say
00:54:32.540 as Gloria Steinem
00:54:33.380 did about Sarah Palin,
00:54:35.020 a woman only a man
00:54:36.120 could love.
00:54:36.960 That's no problem.
00:54:38.740 But if you use the phrase
00:54:39.960 childless cat lady
00:54:41.180 in sort of a flip moment
00:54:43.040 on Fox News,
00:54:43.780 on a cable news show
00:54:44.740 where,
00:54:45.380 you know,
00:54:45.780 that's,
00:54:46.140 that's where you go
00:54:46.560 to be flip.
00:54:47.580 You're the devil.
00:54:48.560 All right.
00:54:49.260 We report,
00:54:50.160 you decide.
00:54:50.580 megan at megankelly.com.
00:54:53.300 Thanks for listening.
00:54:54.260 Have a great weekend.
00:54:55.280 We'll see you Monday.
00:54:59.140 Thanks for listening
00:54:59.960 to The Megan Kelly Show.
00:55:01.260 No BS,
00:55:02.180 no agenda,
00:55:02.940 and no fear.