Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance called pop superstar Taylor Swift a “disconnected” billionaire Wednesday, one day after she endorsed the Democratic president ticket by invoking his criticism of “childless cat ladies” such as herself.
“We admire Taylor Swift’s music, but I don’t think most Americans, whether they like her music or are fans of hers or not, are going to be influenced by a billionaire celebrity who I think is fundamentally disconnected from the interests and the problems of most Americans,” the senator from Ohio told Fox News’ “The Story.”
“Look, when grocery prices go by 20%, it hurts most Americans. It doesn’t hurt Taylor Swift. When housing prices become unaffordable, it doesn’t affect Taylor Swift or any other billionaire. It does affect middle class Americans all over our country.”
Swift, 34, cited Vance’s 2021 remarks about childless women in an Instagram post endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris — moments after the Democrat debated former President Donald Trump Tuesday night.
Alongside a photo of Swift holding her fluffy feline Benjamin Button, the “Cruel Summer” singer wrote: “I think [Harris] is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”
Swift mentioned three specific policy areas — LGBT rights, abortion rights, and access to IVF — in her endorsement, writing: “I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate [Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz], who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”
She signed the post “Taylor Swift Childless Cat Lady.”
Swift’s net worth is estimated by Forbes to be $1.3 billion — compared to the 78-year-old Trump’s $3.8 billion fortune.
Vance told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson in an interview that was resurfaced after his selection by Trump to be his running mate that “we are effectively run in this country — via the Democrat [Party], 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.
“If you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” Vance added.
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Trump has had a mixed record on some of the issues invoked by Swift.
Although he was the first sitting president to take office supporting legal recognition of same-sex marriage and appointed the country’s first openly gay acting Cabinet-level official, he has repeatedly vowed to ban transgender women from female sports competitions if he retakes the White House.
Polls show abortion rights are one of Trump’s major liabilities following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade — though he has advocated for state policies that preserve access in cases of rape, incest and threats to maternal health and rebuked a proposed six-week ban in Florida.
Trump has also urged greater access to IVF and recently proposed making the procedure free for parents through either a federal insurance mandate or direct government payment.
Swift was widely considered a Harris supporter and her endorsement did not come as a surprise — though it did garner nearly 10 million likes on Instagram as of mid-afternoon Wednesday.
False rumors that Swift and fellow pop star Beyonce would perform ahead of Harris’ Democratic National Convention speech last month helped pack the hall hours ahead of the vice president’s appearance.
