JD Vance wants to be a wartime vice president. His enemy is America’s women, but they may stay within his grace so long as they bear many children.
In a 2021 interview with The Federalist, Vance said that “we have to go to war” against the idea that women can decide not to have children, suggesting that someone who focuses on building their career instead of making babies will be “a sad, lonely, pathetic person.”
Though he is a weirdo, that isn’t what is propelling his dreams of war against women. What drives his extremism is his nascent fascism, which he has embraced with the zeal of a convert. What he is talking about are the principles behind the Nazi Lebensborn program, which meant “fount of life." Here is how it is described in the Holocaust encyclopedia:
The Lebensborn program was created by the SS in late 1935 in order to promote the growth of Germany’s healthy “Aryan”population. The term Lebensborn itself means “Fount of Life.” The program was designed to be the wellspring of future generations descended from those whom Nazi authorities deemed “racially valuable.” It originally focused on encouraging SS men to have large families and discouraging unmarried, pregnant “Aryan” women from seeking illegal abortions.
The Lebensborn program was heavily influenced by Nazi racial ideology and theories of eugenics. It only accepted healthy applicants who could establish their “Aryan” ancestry. The SS screened individuals' personal medical histories as well as their family records. Applicants could be denied on the basis of their alleged racial “impurity” or health issues. They could also be denied if they had a family history of physical, mental, or psychiatric disabilities. Nazi theories of eugenics advanced the idea that personal character traits like loyalty and bravery were inheritable and could be promoted through the process of selective breeding. In this way, the SS hoped to stimulate the growth of a strong, “racially elite” German population to advance Nazi goals of conquering and colonizing the territories of Eastern Europe.
The Lebensborn program focused on attracting unmarried, pregnant “Aryan” women. At the time, there were strong pressures against single motherhood in German society. The program offered the mothers financial support and adoption services. It also provided a series of private maternity homes away from the judgemental eyes of family members, friends, and acquaintances. In this way, Himmler hoped to discourage abortions. The Nazi regime strengthened existing German laws that prohibited most abortions. At the same time, though, the regime was operating “hereditary health” courts that ordered abortions and sterilizations for those whom Nazi authorities decided were not of “good racial stock.” Despite the regime's increased penalties for seeking abortions, Himmler estimated there were at least 100,000 “biologically valuable” pregnancies terminated in Germany every year.
The Lebensborn homes were designed to be pleasant spaces where women could live comfortably as they received prenatal care, delivered their babies, and recovered from labor. Because the program sought out women eager to avoid the public scandal of an unmarried pregnancy, the homes prioritized anonymity and staff discretion. The Lebensborn homes were typically established on the grounds of private country estates. A program brochure explained that single women must obtain permission from the Lebensborn central office before they could take their newborns home. The program assumed guardianship of unmarried mothers’ children and determined where they would be raised.
Ideas like this are as deeply linked to fascism as Cracker Jacks are to baseball. This evil idea is the basis of Putin’s kidnapping of scores of thousands of Ukrainian children, who will be assimilated as Russians in a fascist dictatorship. This is at the heart of Orbanism because Orban is also a fascist, and JD Vance is his fanboy.
JD Vance should terrify America’s women, and yet millions will pull down a lever for him and the rapist at the top of the ticket.
I have daughters, and I don’t want any politician focused on what he thinks makes them happy — particularly if he is a fraud and extremist. I don’t want any politician asserting control over their lives. Yet, I can’t help thinking about the assertion that JD Vance made about happiness and how it is achieved:
Not enough people have accepted that if they put their entire life’s meaning into their credential, into where they went to school, into what kind of job they have ― if you put all of your life’s meaning into that, you’re going to be the sort of person who asks women to talk about how they regret having children. You’re going to be a sad, lonely, pathetic person and you’re going to know it internally.
I wonder if he might think to ask his running mate The Donald a couple of questions:
Does raping a woman make her happy?
How about simply grabbing her by the pussy or assaulting her?
Maybe JD Vance should start there, and abandon evil ideas identical to those of Heinrich Himmler.
The Trump-Vance ticket is an obscenity. It is indecent, corrupt, extreme, dishonest and dangerous. It must be defeated.
It is important to see the connections and understand the source of the extremist ideas being bandied about.
JD Vance is showing America who he is. It’s no surprise. After all, he was picked by Don Jr. and Eric. Uday and Qusay got their man, and now that man has America’s women in his sights. I think it best that we pass on America’s first incel vice president, who finds old Nazi ideas irresistible.
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Steve, this was an outstanding article. Your grasp of the parallels and significance of the Nazi movement to the current events shaping our politics is so incredibly beneficial. Thank you for sharing. Your thoughts and ideas are so helpful to those of us that don’t know or remember these terribly important historical details and facts.
“The Trump-Vance ticket is an obscenity”…that is the truest and best line of the morning.