JD Vance's so-called ‘childless cat ladies’ have thoughts — and pictures of their cats

Former President Donald Trump has tapped U.S. Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as his vice presidential nominee, and, of course, that means scrutiny. This viral clip from 2021 of an interview with former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, in which Vance took aim at a broad swath of the Biden Administration ... and their cats, recently resurfaced.

"We're effectively run in this country via the Democrats via our corporate oligarchs by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too," Vance said, going on to name Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, as the "childless," feline-owning controllers of the future of the Democrats. (Harris has two stepchildren. Buttigieg has twins. Cat status unclear.)

We asked Michigan's "childless cat ladies" to share their opinions about the 2024 presidential election — and, obviously, pictures of their cats.

A stake in America's future

Childless cat and dog lady here.

I spent 37 years in public education, first teaching English and social studies and then special education. I worked my final nine years as the principal of a Wayne County program for severely cognitively and physically impaired students.

In cooperation with their families, we set high, yet achievable goals for our students, and I'm proud of the hard-working and creative staff with whom I was fortunate to work.

After all my years of dedication to the education of children, JD Vance has no business telling me that because I chose not to have children of my own, I have no stake in America's future.

Marilynn Bachorik

Dearborn

I would rather live with a thousand cats

I am a single woman who never married and was unable to have children. Yes, I do have a cat, his name is Copper and he is a wonderful companion.

I would rather live with a thousand cats than with J.D. Vance.  

Sandra Yarrington

Clinton Township

Who says cat ladies don't care about humans, too?

It’s not so much that I mind being called a childless cat/dog lady. I am one. And I am fine with that. I am a wife and community member, cofounder of a nonprofit, disaster responder and director of an animal control. I am not one singularity, but for grins, I’ll identify as the childless cat lady. 

And here’s the thing I’ve learned in my years of disaster response and animal control: There is no social safety net for our most vulnerable humans, and animal shelters are increasingly being asked to be the liaison between the few social services that exist for our elderly, mobility challenged, cognitively challenged adults and our children.

I am expected to connect the elderly with Adult Protective Services — who often can’t do anything. I’m a mandatory reporter to Child Protective Services, who often can’t do anything. I am expected to help domestic violence victims’ pets get safe so the victims won’t have to worry about their pet's lives being used against them as they are whisked away into the night for their protection. I provide a pet food pantry for those going through hard times. I listen to the lonely senior citizen who calls every Wednesday because yes, we care. We raise items and clothes for those who have lost everything in a fire, whose perished animals we respectfully make final arrangements for. We are the Yellow Pages and beginning advisors to people who have to start all over and advocates for renters whose slumlords try to illegally evict them.  

So while some would easily write off those of us who have not birthed children by choice — or infertility, suffered baby loss, child loss or unsuccessful rounds of IVF — I’d like to remind Mr. Vance and his ilk that quite a few of us spend our time caring for those most in society would discard or dismiss. Those that would be degraded and discarded for not pulling their Hooverville boots up by Reganomics bootstraps, and are at my door every morning begging for help due more to our society’s moral failing rather than their own. 

So, yes. I’m a proud childless cat/dog lady who has her boots on the ground every day, caring for those with no voice at the human-animal intersection: the animals, the poor, the elderly and memory care population, the severely mentally ill, the homeless and the children in unsafe and unsanitary conditions. 

And I’ll be at it again tomorrow. 

Melissa Miller

Eastpointe

'Catnip for Congress, anyone?'

Ah yes, the dreaded cat ladies are at it again, wielding their sinister powers of empathy, competence and pet adoption/rescue to take over the world. Next, they'll be implementing mandatory cat-cuddling sessions to keep us all in line. Truly terrifying.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg are too busy with their actual human children to mastermind such an intricate plot.

If having a cat means better policy decisions, maybe we should all get one and see where it takes us.

Catnip for Congress, anyone?

Katherine Simpkins

Adrian

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