On Thursday, as CNN shows hyped actress Jennifer Aniston complaining about J.D. Vance quipping that liberals are mostly "childless cat ladies," afternoon host Jake Tapper went so far as to have on CNN entertainment reporter Elizabeth Wagmeister to gloat over the story and tie in Taylor Swift.
Setting up the segment, Tapper recalled: "What do Jennifer Aniston, Pete Buttigieg, and Whoopi Goldberg have in common? They are all less than pleased with Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance after a clip from 2021 recently resurfaced. Take a listen to what Vance told Tucker Carlson on Fox back in 2021."
Then came a clip of Vance appearing on Fox's Tucker Carlson Tonight from July 29, 2021:
We are effectively run in this country -- via the Democrats, via 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. And it's just a basic fact if you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC -- the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.
It was not clarified that the then-Senate candidate was observing that both men and women who choose not to have children disproportionately tend to be Democrats more than Republicans.
Notably, according to the Wikipedia entries for current U.S. Senators, five out of 16 Democrat women, but only one out of nine Republican women do not have children.
After reading response statements released by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Vice President Kamala Harris, Tapper then brought in Wagmeister to tie in Aniston and Swift. The CNN reporter tagged Senator Vance's views on abortion as "far right" as she read Aniston's criticism of him:
I want to read you some of what she said about this resurfaced clip from J.D. Vance. She said, quote, "I truly can't believe this is coming from a potential VP of the United States." She goes on to say, "Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option because you are trying to take that away from her, too." So there we see Aniston speaking about his far right stance on reproductive rights.
Then, even though Swift had not made a statement on the matter, Wagmeister stretched to make her part of the story by relating to viewers that the liberal singer's fans have been taking shots at the Republican vice presidential candidate:
But it's not just Jennifer Aniston. One of the most famous and proud -- I will say -- childless cat ladies, we all know, is Taylor Swift. In fact, she appeared on the cover of Time magazine when she was honored as "Person of the Year" with her cat -- there we see it. That's how much we know she loves her cats. Now, Taylor Swift, she has not made any presidential endorsement yet. People are wondering if she may -- if she will -- but the Swifties - per usual -- they are coming out in full force, and they have taken to social media to react to J.D. Vance's comments about "childless cat ladies."
I want to read you one of my favorites, Jake. Here it is. Someone said, "Hell hath no fury like a certain childless cat lady who is yet to endorse a presidential candidate."
Another Swiftie says that J.D. Vance really, quote, "F-d this one up. The Armageddon is coming for him." So, again, we're waiting to see if we'll get an endorsement from Taylor Swift, but the Swifties are out.
Transcript follows:
CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper
July 25, 2024
4:39 p.m. Eastern
JAKE TAPPER: And we're back with our 2024 Lead, kind of pop culture, too, because the question is: What do Jennifer Aniston, Pete Buttigieg, and Whoopi Goldberg have in common? They are all less than pleased with Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance after a clip from 2021 recently resurfaced. Take a listen to what Vance told Tucker Carlson on Fox back in 2021.
J. D. VANCE, THEN-OHIO REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE: We are effectively run in this country -- via the Democrats, via 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. And it's just a basic fact if you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC -- the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.
(...)
TAPPER: ... Well, let's get right to CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister in L.A. with perhaps the most interesting critic on this list, Jennifer Aniston, who typically keeps a pretty low profile when it comes to politics, not to mention. What made Ms. Aniston speak out?
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right, Jake. Jennifer Aniston rarely speaks about her personal life even though she's one of the most famous women on the planet, and rarely enters the political fray, but this is a personal matter for her. Last night, Jake, she took to her Instagram stories.
I want to read you some of what she said about this resurfaced clip from J.D. Vance. She said, quote, "I truly can't believe this is coming from a potential VP of the United States." She goes on to say, "Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option because you are trying to take that away from her, too."
So there we see Aniston speaking about his far right stance on reproductive rights. And the reason I said this is a personal matter for Aniston is because in 2022, in a cover story with Allure magazine, she revealed for the first time that she had a very difficult journey with her fertility struggle. She said that she tried IVF -- it didn't work. So, again, a personal matter for her that's really resonating with a lot of women today both on the right and the left.
But it's not just Jennifer Aniston. One of the most famous and proud -- I will say -- childless cat ladies, we all know, is Taylor Swift. In fact, she appeared on the cover of Time magazine when she was honored as "Person of the Year" with her cat -- there we see it. That's how much we know she loves her cats. Now, Taylor Swift, she has not made any presidential endorsement yet. People are wondering if she may -- if she will -- but the Swifties - per usual -- they are coming out in full force, and they have taken to social media to react to J.D. Vance's comments about "childless cat ladies."
I want to read you one of my favorites , Jake. Here it is. Someone said, "Hell hath no fury like a certain childless cat lady who is yet to endorse a presidential candidate." Another Swiftie says that J.D. Vance really, quote, "F-d this one up. The Armageddon is coming for him."
So, again, we're waiting to see if we'll get an endorsement from Taylor Swift, but the Swifties are out.
TAPPER: You know, I've always been taught that politics is a matter of addition, not subtraction, so that was an interesting choice by Senator Vance...
