JD Vance, the Republican senate nominee from Ohio being backed by former president Donald Trump, has allegedly said that people should continue to stay in marriages — including the ones that are “violent” — for the sake of children.
“This is one of the great tricks that I think the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace, which is the idea that like, ‘well, OK, these marriages were fundamentally, you know, they were maybe even violent, but certainly they were unhappy. And so getting rid of them and making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear, that’s going to make people happier in the long term,’” Mr Vance said while addressing the Pacifica Christian High School in Southern California last September, Vice News reported.
“And maybe it worked out for the moms and dads, though I’m skeptical. But it really didn’t work out for the kids of those marriages,” he continued.
“And that’s what I think all of us should be honest about, is we’ve run this experiment in real time. And what we have is a lot of very, very real family dysfunction that’s making our kids unhappy.”
Asked by Vice News recently why he thought it would be better for children if their parents stayed in violent marriages, the best-selling author of the book Hillbilly Elegy refused to respond.
“I reject the premise of your bogus question,” he said in a statement via his campaign.
“As anyone who studies these issues knows: domestic violence has skyrocketed in recent years, and is much higher among non-married couples. That’s the ‘trick’ I reference: that domestic violence would somehow go down if progressives got what they want, when in fact modern society’s war on families has made our domestic violence situation much worse. Any fair person would recognize I was criticizing the progressive frame on this issue, not embracing it.”
Mr Vance has faced backlash for his comments from Democrats as well as journalists and commentators on social media.
“JD Vance thinks parents should stay in violent marriages ‘for the sake of their kids,’” said his Democratic Senate election opponent Tim Ryan. “That’s not just wrong, it’s unbelievably dangerous,” he said.
Podcast host and former NBA player Rex Chapman tweeted: “JD Vance believes women should just suck-it-up in a violent marriage.”
“The GOP of 2022 is remarkable...”
Author and nurse Theresa Brown tweeted: “What JD Vance said is disgusting and dangerous. All women have the right to live safely.”
“What kind of neanderthal doesn’t believe that?”
