In a 2020 interview with podcast host Eric Weinstein, Vance discussed how his mother-in-law took time off from her job to help care for the Vances’ newborn child, to which Weinstein responded, “That’s the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female.” During the remark, Vance can be heard saying, “Yes."

NEW VANCE AUDIO: In an interview from 2020, JD Vance agrees with a podcast host who says having grandmothers help raise children is “the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female.”

He also agrees when the host says grandparents helping raise children is a “weird, unadvertised… pic.twitter.com/W4KwHfZyw2

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) August 14, 2024

Vance’s spokesperson has denied agreeing with Weinstein’s comment, saying he “reacted to the first part of the host’s sentence, assuming he was going to say: ‘that’s the whole purpose of spending time with grandparents.’”

The resurfaced clip prompted swift backlash online, and the story swiftly spread to mainstream news.

Fox News misrepresented the facts to argue the controversy shows that Democrats are anti-family.

On Thursday’s edition of Jesse Watters Primetime, guest host Rachel Campos-Duffy framed the backlash as Vance “being under fire again, this time for praising his mother-in-law who helped care for his son after he was born.” Campos-Duffy then aired a heavily-edited version of the viral clip, which left out Weinstein’s comment about “the postmenopausal female.”

“Maybe the neoliberals at NBC haven’t seen the studies that show when grandparents help take care of their grandchildren, everyone benefits,” Campos-Duffy retorted.

Later in the segment, guest Peachy Keenan gave her take: “It’s so funny that they’re criticizing him for using his mother-in-law to babysit. … To liberals, that is like taking away from that woman's empowerment or her job or what she wants to do. Those grandchildren are like a drag on her dreams and goals.” 

Campos-Duffy did stumble through a whitewashed version of Weinstein’s comments: “There was also a conversation, JD didn’t say it, the podcaster did, but it appeared that JD agreed, which was about postmenopausal women, that, you know, that they may – they actually want to take care of their grandkids." 

Needless to say, what some people want is a different concept than “the whole purpose” of the person. That's not a distinction right-wing media is great at, though.