Trump says Vance 'loves family' as he works to clean up his VP's 'childless cat ladies' comments

Former President Donald Trump is attempting to clean up his vice presidential pick's resurfaced comments disparaging Democratic officials who don't have children as "childless cat ladies" with a simple message: Sen. JD Vance "loves family."

"He's not against anything, but he loves family. It's very important to him," said Trump during an appearance on Fox News' "Ingraham Angle" on Monday night.

"He feels family is good, and I don't think there's anything wrong in saying that," Trump said.

In an unearthed 2021 Fox News interview, Vance suggested that Democratic failures are due to a lack of biological children, specifically pointing out vice president, and current presidential candidate, Kamala Harris; Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

His comments immediately sparked a backlash from the politicians he named, as well as women who have struggled with fertility -- nothing that Vance himself voted against establishing federal protections for IVF.

Harris' family, including second gentleman Doug Emhoff's ex-wife and her stepdaughter, all came to her defense, rejecting the idea that family is only biological. Buttigieg told anchor Kaitlin Collins that Vance shouldn't comment on other people's children.

The former president attacked Democrats on Monday, accusing them of taking Vance's words out of context.

"I think they understand it. No, I think they understand it," said Trump when asked what his message would be to concerned voters, specifically those without children.

"The Democrats are good at spinning things differently from what they were. All he said is, he does like I mean, for him, he likes family. I think a lot of people like family, and sometimes it doesn't work out."

Trump then went a step further, saying Vance's strong family values are actually an asset to the Trump campaign's coalition of voters when asked to reassure voters that Vance was "an excellent pick."

"Well, first of all, he has got tremendous support, and he really does among a certain group of people. People that like families," Trump said.

The former president, attempting to walk a fine line between supporting his newly minted vice presidential pick while also trying not to alienate voters, went on to say that "in many cases" people without a family are better off than those with one.

"You don't meet the right person, or you don't meet any person, but you're just as good, in many cases, a lot better than a person that's in a family situation," Trump said.

Vance has spent his time on the trail cleaning up his comments himself, calling them "sarcastic" while at the same time doubling down on his argument.

"Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment," Vance said on the "Megyn Kelly Show" podcast last week. "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's true. It is true that we become anti-family."

Vance's original comments form 2021 mentioned the "choices" those Democrats had made that led them to be "miserable" and "childless cat ladies."

While Vance claims Democrats are "anti-family and anti-child," President Joe Biden and Harris have advocated for the child tax credit. The expanded child tax credit put in place during COVID expired in 2021 after pressure from Republicans and independent Joe Manchin. Democrats continue to fight to bring it back -- with Biden calling for it to be put back in place in his FY2025 budget.

Trump also had to defend his own comments, which sparked criticism. Over the weekend while speaking to Christian conservatives, Trump told the crowd they won't have to vote anymore after four years.

The Harris campaign quickly latched on to those comments, accusing Trump of vowing to end democracy, which the former president swiftly rebuked.

"I said, typically Christians do not vote ... Don't worry about the future, vote on -- you have to vote on Nov. 5. After that, you don't have to worry about voting anymore. I don't care because we're going to fix it, and the country will be fixed," Trump told Ingraham, arguing he hadn't even heard of the criticism. "If you don't want to vote anymore, that's OK. And I think everybody understood it."