The Republican presidential campaign is still receiving backlash for comments made about women who do not have biological children.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, who previously served as a White House aide under the Trump administration, has warned his re-election campaign that they are in a “strategically disastrous” area as they continue insulting childless women after a recent campaign event. Prior to Donald Trump addressing the crowd, GOP Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas poked fun at Kamala Harris for not having kids who could help her stay “humble.”
The comments, made a rally in Flint, Michigan, on Tuesday September 17, were in the context of Sanders reflecting about how her own children—she also said that motherhood was her most important job—“keep me humble” as well as remind her of “what’s important” in life. The governor then said that Harris “doesn’t have anything” to give her the same lesson.
The Democratic nominee does not, in fact, have her own biological children, but is the stepmother to her husband Doug Emhoff’s adult children, Cole and Ella. The insult to Harris coincided with Trump’s ongoing struggle to win over the support of female voters. Although the GOP nominee has a strong following, the switch from President Joe Biden to Vice President Harris has proven greater Democratic support among young and female voters.
Griffin said in a recent interview that comments such as those made by Sanders are detrimental to the GOP chances of winning the November 5 election. The former director of strategic communications emphasized that such remarks negatively impact “50 percent of the voting bloc,” not just a “small segment” of voters. She also noted that Trump “already has ground to make up” with female voters considering the high priority of reproductive health issues that is felt by Democrats.
In a similar vein, Trump’s campaign was widely criticized for comments made by his running mate J.D. Vance in 2021, when he said that the country is being led by a “bunch of childless cat ladies” who are unhappy and intent on letting the entire country be “miserable, too.” Previously, Griffin commented on how both Trump and Vance are some of the “biggest offenders” of “escalatory rhetoric.”
