ICYMI: JD Vance Suggests People in ‘Violent’ Marriages Shouldn’t Get Divorced

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

MSNBC Morning Joe (WATCH): Fmr. Sen. Claire McCaskill On JD Vance’s Remarks

Fmr Sen. McCaskill: “This notion that he thinks he belongs in the United States Senate today when he says that somehow women who are in a violent relationship for the sake of their children should stick it out – it’s disgusting. And Ohio needs to wake up, because this is really scary, nutty stuff.”

Vice News: JD Vance Suggests People in ‘Violent’ Marriages Shouldn’t Get Divorced
By Cameron Joseph
July 25, 2022

• JD Vance said people need to be more willing to stay in unhappy marriages for the sake of their kids—and seemed to suggest that in some cases, “even violent” marriages should continue.

• The Ohio Republican Senate nominee, talking to Pacifica Christian High School in Southern California last September, gave an extended answer that claimed that people now “shift spouses like they change their underwear,” and that it had done long-term damage to a generation of children.

• “This is one of the great tricks that I think the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace, which is the idea that like, ‘well, OK, these marriages were fundamentally, you know, they were maybe even violent, but certainly they were unhappy. And so getting rid of them and making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear, that’s going to make people happier in the long term,’” Vance said.

• “And maybe it worked out for the moms and dads, though I’m skeptical. But it really didn’t work out for the kids of those marriages,” Vance continued. “And that’s what I think all of us should be honest about, is we’ve run this experiment in real time. And what we have is a lot of very, very real family dysfunction that’s making our kids unhappy.”

• This isn’t the only time Vance has tied divorce rates to societal instability.

• When he was asked about gay marriage at a March candidate forum hosted by Toledo Right to Life, Vance said that he doesn’t like the “cafeteria Christianity” of people selecting their own beliefs and said he believed that “marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman,” before pivoting into a criticism of how divorce has become more societally acceptable.

• “The entire idea that you can discard your husband or your wife like a piece of clothing is one of the most dangerous assaults that we’ve ever seen on the family in this country,” he said. “If we want children to grow up with healthy, happy lives, we should be reminding them that the most important thing that we can do for our kids is make sure they grow up with a mom and dad at home. The assault on the institution of marriage has been a profound evil. It hasn’t just affected our adults, it’s affected our children in big ways.”

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