CNN
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Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders reignited controversy over how Donald Trump’s allies talk about stepmothers and childless women when she told supporters of the former president Tuesday night that Kamala Harris has nothing to keep her humble.
Introducing Trump at a town hall meeting in Flint, Michigan, Sanders said his three children were a “constant reminder of everything that’s at stake in this country” ahead of the election.
“My children humble me. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris has nothing to humble her,” said Sanders, the first female governor of Arkansas and a former Trump White House press secretary. “You would think that after four years of consecutive failures, she would have some humility. Unfortunately, she doesn’t.”
The comments come as Trump’s campaign team tries to narrow the gap with Harris among female voters. Sanders is one of several former Trump campaign members who have tried to vouch for the former president with women, despite his long history of sexual misconduct allegations and his conviction for sexual abuse and defamation last year. During his time in the White House, Sanders, who has sometimes been the subject of sexist comments about his appearance, defended Trump after he was criticized for his attacks on female politicians.
Her remarks Tuesday, in which she argued that children serve as a reminder of what matters in an election and alluded to the vice president’s lack of biological children, recalled comments made by Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, a longtime critic of those, especially elected officials, without children.
The Ohio senator blasted a “childless elite” in Washington that he said has “no vested interest” in the country’s future, and said the United States was run by “childless women who are unhappy in their own lives and the choices they’ve made.” Vance also said the Democratic Party had become “anti-family and anti-child.”
The comments, made before he joined Trump on the Republican presidential ticket, were widely criticized by members of both parties. Pop star Taylor Swift alluded to Vance’s lines in her endorsement of Harris, signing off as “Childless Cat Lady.” Trump has since said, “I hate Taylor Swift.”
Sanders spokesman Sam Dubke said the governor was referring to the Biden-Harris administration’s economic and border security policies.
“Vice President Harris, without winning a single vote, and after raising prices by 20% and allowing nearly 10 million illegal border crossings, claims that she alone can solve America’s problems,” Dubke said in a statement to CNN. “This is the lack of humility that Governor Sanders was referring to.”
The Harris and Trump campaigns did not respond to requests for comment.
Although Harris has no biological children, she does have two stepchildren – Cole and Ella Emhoff – from her 10-year marriage to her second husband, Doug Emhoff.
“We may not look like the other families in the White House, but we are ready to represent every family in America,” Cole Emhoff said in a video introducing his father at last month’s Democratic National Convention.
The second gentleman’s ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, has continually defended Harris and his role in their blended family.
“Cole and Ella inspire us to make the world a better place. I do that by telling stories. Kamala Harris has spent her entire career working for people, ALL families,” she wrote on social media Tuesday in response to Sanders’ remarks. “It keeps you pretty humble.”
At the heart of the Democratic reaction to Vance’s, and now Sanders’, remarks, however, is that women’s value and contribution to their communities should not be based on whether or not they have children.
Democrats have sharply criticized the GOP’s rhetoric on the issue as a distraction.
“When you don’t have substance, you have to resort to superficiality,” said Donna Brazile, a Harris ally and veteran Democratic political strategist.
Brazile noted that Vance missed recent Senate votes to temporarily expand the child tax credit and protect and expand access to in vitro fertilization, which Senate Republicans blocked.
Members of Sanders’ own party also reacted to his remarks at the Flint event.
Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist and senior political commentator for CNN, said he understands the value of stepparents, having been raised for many years by his stepmother.
“My kind of Republican Party welcomes everybody,” Jennings said on CNN’s “NewsNight with Abby Phillip” Tuesday. “We encourage families, we encourage life, but we also encourage everybody to do what’s best for themselves in their own circumstances and respect the choices of others.”
Brian Lanza, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign who was also raised by a stepmother, told Phillip he was “offended” by the comment and “disappointed” that Sanders said it.
“I’m sure I’m going to get some flak from the campaign, but I have to defend a mother-in-law. It’s hard work,” Lanza said. “We should reward that and talk about it in a forceful way.”
