JD Vance is a Bad Father

On Saturday, JD Vance tweeted about being confronted by a group of protesters while walking with his 3 year-old daughter, who “grew increasingly anxious and scared” as the demonstrators “followed us around and shouted.” Vance engaged with the group, he claims, to keep them from further scaring his toddler, but that “if you’re chasing a 3-year-old as part of a political protest, you’re a shit person.”

What about forcing 10-year-olds into childbirth? Does that make you a shit person, too? Because while I don’t want any child afraid for any reason, I have to point out that quite a few American daughters are feeling “increasingly anxious and scared” these days. And it’s not protesters they’re afraid of.

While Vance cosplays as ‘protective dad’ online, his beloved abortion bans are regularly forcing little girls into childbirth. We’re talking about children with bodies too small to ride a roller coaster, now legally mandated to carry pregnancies to term.

Does Vance believe in protecting little girls from broken pelvises and fistulas? Or his bravado reserved for children he can use as political shields?

What’s particularly sickening is seeing comment after comment on Twitter lauding the vice president. “Family is always off limits, especially children,” one user writes. Another calls on protesters to “leave the kids alone.” The one that sent me over the edge, though, was from someone who gushed, “it is nice to hear that your young daughter, who was scared, saw her role model stand up to the people scaring her.”

Give me the biggest fucking break. Vance does not “stand up” for his daughter. Every day, he makes the world more dangerous for his children—especially his daughter, who will grow up in a country with fewer rights than her mother had. There’s no Father’s Day card for men who turn their daughters into second-class citizens.

Let’s be real: JD Vance is a terrible father. How many little girls will grow up able to say their dad traded their rights away for a bit of political power and a pat on the head from the world’s worst man? When Vance’s daughter looks back, I doubt she’ll care much about his ‘protective’ tweets—but she might wonder why he let women die of sepsis.

The truth is that Vance’s protective posturing perfectly captures the empty masculinity of the Republican Party. It’s all bluster and showmanship with no real ‘protection.’ Conservative men love to play savior, so long as they don’t actually have to save us.

It’s the ‘protector’ label they love, not women.

After all, just look at the men running this country. Donald Trump has repeatedly sexualized his daughter Ivanka, saying she has “the best body” and that if they weren’t related, “perhaps I’d be dating her.” According to a book by Miles Taylor, former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, Trump also spoke to aides about Ivanka’s breasts, her backside, and “what it might be like to have sex with her.”

Then there’s Elon Musk, who has at least 14 children with four different women and is estranged from his 20-year-old daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson. Musk has repeatedly and publicly misgendered Wilson, who is trans, calling her “dead, killed by the woke mind virus.” She has since spoke out about Musk’s “vicious” and “cruel” treatment of her as a child—like berating her for having a high voice.

Do these sound like the actions of men who love and ‘protect’ their daughters?

It’s no surprise that videos released today of Vance’s exchange with protesters don’t show his daughter being shouted at or followed. And as others have pointed out, it’s unlikely that Secret Service would allow anyone aggressive near the vice president and his toddler.

Still, I don’t think Vance completely fabricated his child’s fear—when my daughter was young, a group of protesters would have unsettled her, too. But if I asked her now, at 14, what scares her most, I know what she’d say.

Like me, she’s terrified for her future and the future of her friends. She’s afraid she’ll have to risk her health or life if she wants to have children one day. She worries about her trans classmates, who confide in her about their fear of losing access to life-saving healthcare. Most of all, she fears that the country she lives in doesn’t see her as a full human being.

It’s easy to ‘protect’ your daughter in a tweet. Making the world safe for them is a harder task—especially in a country run by men whose concern for their daughters only stretches as far as their political usefulness. Something tells me that when Vance’s daughter gets older, she’ll have the same fears that mine does. But what do I know? I’m just a woman, and we all know how the vice president feels about those.

Where Are the ‘Protectors’?