At a Trump rally/”town hall” event in Flint, Michigan, Tuesday, Trump surrogate Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AK) took a shot at Harris for not having biological children — Harris is stepmom to Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff’s two children.
“So, my kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble,” Sanders said.
But after the subject was changed, Lanza made a point of doubling back to condemn Sanders:
PHILLIP: But they’re doubling down on this, really. I mean, I cannot understand what the rationale is this, for this.
HUGHES: I don’t understand why you would want to alienate such a huge sector of the electorate with these kind of unwise comments. I think there’s a way that you can support, you know, large families. There’s a way that you can talk about the fact that the birth rate is in decline, not just in America, but all around the world, and that’s a huge problem. There’s a way to talk about that without just kind of gratuitously disrespecting people. And let’s be honest, most of these politicians have huge egos on both sides. A lot of people who get into politics are not humble, and certainly having kids doesn’t make you humble if you otherwise have a huge ego to begin with.
PHILLIP: And also, I mean, I don’t understand the idea of making — I mean, the joke actually would have been really funny if she had just left it as her daughter’s comment, honestly. Why go that extra step?
ALLISON: I don’t know. My childless uterus was not on the bingo card of being a talking point for Republicans in 2024. Like the way that childless women is the priority of their talking points from J.D. Vance to Sarah Huckabee Sanders is just unnecessary. It doesn’t make sense to me.
I hope we can all agree. I’m the only woman sitting here at the table without children that like I am still a humble person. I still care about this country. I still can give back. I’ve been a public servant most of my life. Having children makes no one more better or less better than anyone. And you don’t know people’s stories.
So, you are not just insulting people because you think folks are making choices. You don’t understand why they don’t have children.
SWISHER: Also, parental cosplaying is shameful. It’s a shameful thing to do. And you don’t have kids so that you can use them as a prop in order to tell her heinous remark about someone who actually is a parent to children.
I have four kids want only one of whom I had, and the others I adopted. It’s the idea that Kamala Harris’ stepchildren are not people she raised when all the parents are agreeing this is — I don’t know what else to say. To use parenting as a prop is repulsive.
ALLISON: It doesn’t matter though, whether you’re a parent or not.
PHILLIP: There’s a part of this that I think is steeper than just like callous comments. I mean, there are people on the right who do believe fundamentally that it’s immoral to not have kids, that people, women are being tricked into deferring childhood. That’s become part of the talking points.
I mean this conservative lawyer, Will Chamberlain, right as Biden dropped out, he posted this on X, real simple, underdiscussed reason why Kamala Harris shouldn’t be president. No children. I mean, is that a part of political right that really needs to be kind of addressed?
JENNINGS: I don’t agree with this. Look, having — I have four kids too. Having four kids was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. And also having a stepmother who raised me for a large portion of my life was also one of the greatest things that happened to me. And so I understand the value of people who step into other people’s families and blend together and help raise children that aren’t their own.
So, I don’t love that. In full disclosure, I’ve only seen the clip. I haven’t seen if she said anything after what the full context of the remarks is. But we also live in America and we’re all free and we’re all free to make choices about our lifestyles and about our family choices and so on and so forth. I think having families is wonderful. It may not be for everybody and some people may not be able to and some people can’t for various reasons. I don’t think anybody ought to be demonized for that.
So, my view is my kind of Republican Party welcomes everyone.
We do encourage families. We encourage life, but we also encourage everybody to do what’s best for themselves and their own personal situation and respect other people’s choices. That’s my view.
PHILLIP: Is this the time where I mentioned the IVF vote on Capitol Hill that failed today because Republicans voted against it? That seems like a political layup that they could have just let it go, especially since Trump. I mean, you now work for the Trump campaign. And Trump has said he is the biggest supporter of IVF. He wants the government to subsidize it. Meanwhile, over on Capitol Hill, they can’t even pass a bill giving women the right to have access to it.
LANZA: Yes. Listen, Schumer has his bill for the day, but we know where the President Trump stands. He’s made his position clear. He’s willing to move the Republican Party to him.
But I do want to get back to Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s comment. I too was blessed to have a stepmother. I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t be able to have normal conversations without a stepmother. So, I found that comment to be actually offensive. I don’t know what more to say about that. I’m disappointed in Sarah was saying that. I’m sure I’m going to get a criticism from the campaign. But I have to sort of defend somebody who’s a stepmom. It’s a tough job. People step into that role. It’s usually a difficult dynamic. My mom excelled at it. I’m sure your mom excited. I’m sure you excited and we should reward that and sort of speak of that in a very high tone.
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