JD Vance on rising childcare costs: grandma & grandpa should look after your kids

Another day, another clip of JD Vance saying something really offensive. This is currently going viral – Vance appeared at a Q&A session with Charlie Kirk and the conversation turned to daycare costs, which have skyrocketed in recent years. Kirk asked Vance, “What can we do about lowering the cost of daycare” with a reference to working families. The first place Vance went was to the unpaid labor of grandparents: “One of the ways you might be able to relieve a little bit of the pressure on people who are paying so much for daycare is maybe make it so… grandma and grandpa wants to help out a little bit more, or maybe there’s an aunt or uncle who wants to help out a little bit more.”

Kirk: What can we do about lowering the cost of daycare? pic.twitter.com/YIS68cXKw4

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 5, 2024

He was asked for a policy proposal on decreasing childcare costs and his first thought is that family members should do unpaid labor. I’m surprised he didn’t mention his belief that a menopausal woman’s “whole purpose” is raising her grandchildren. If you listen to the whole clip, I’m also struck by his disgust for state licensing for daycare centers? Like… state oversight is a good thing. I know that’s a bold statement in Vance’s world, but daycare centers should be licensed and have some regulations so that children are being cared for in a safe environment, and being cared for by people who know what they’re doing? Vance wants children to be raised by unlicensed people with no state or local oversight.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid.