Teachers union chief: Vance 'must really be disconnected from life'

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten suggested Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) "must really be disconnected from life" in response to resurfaced comments in which he called out the union head for not having children.

"It was just a bizarre thing for him to double down on it now because every parent and every teacher and every kid in August and September are thinking about the new year and what it means and that engagement," Weingarten said Sunday on MSNBC's "Inside with Jen Psaki." "So he must really be disconnected from life."

Weingarten was responding to a resurfaced clip from 2021 of Vance speaking to the Center for Christian Virtue — an Ohio policy group — about left-wing ideology in schools.

“You know, so many of the leaders of the left, and I hate to be so personal about this, but they’re people without kids, trying to brainwash the minds of our children. And that really disorients me, and it really disturbs me,” Vance said in the clip.

“Randi Weingarten, who’s the head of the most powerful teachers union in the country, doesn’t have a single child," Vance added. "If she wants to brainwash and destroy the minds of children, she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone.” 

The clip was shared by the Harris campaign on the social platform X, where it has more than 11.9 million views.

Weingarten reposted the clip last week, calling the Vance comments "gross" and "sad and insulting to millions of modern families, and school teachers including Catholic nuns"

Weingarten said Sunday the comments were "strange" when they were initially made, but it was "even stranger" when Vance "doubled down" on them last week in the midst of backlash as the Republican vice presidential candidate.

"And we have 50 million kids in the United States, and they are our future," she said. "And whether you go to public school or parochial school or private school, this is that moment that parents and teachers and kids are all bonding together, like it’s that moment of engagement. It’s that moment of the teachers trying to create safe and welcoming environments."

Vance's spokesperson, Taylor Van Kirk, said in a statement to The Hill, "There are a lot of great teachers across the country, and JD's criticism of Randi Weingarten's actions is not about them."

“There is no bigger threat to American children than the left wing indoctrination being forced on our schools by elites like Randi Weingarten, with the support of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz," Van Kirk wrote.

"It's essential that our schools focus on teaching reading, writing, math, and the basics, and get out of the business of forcing anti-American propaganda into the curriculum," Van Kirk added. "Senator Vance is committed to ending the leftist indoctrination in our schools and will continue to loudly call this stuff out to defend our kids.”

Vance has come under scrutiny in recent weeks over his remarks about family planning and single adults. He faced a firestorm around resurfaced remarks that the country was being run by "childless cat ladies," which he has since called a "sarcastic comment."

The AFT endorsed Vice President Harris shortly after she replaced President Biden atop the Democratic Party ticket.

"The only other thing I would say is this, I don't care about myself. You know, we’re — I’m used to this. I’m a big girl," Weingarten remarked about Vance's comments. "But what I care about is we really need to create this kind of environments of engagement for kids. And this is the kind of bullying and divisiveness that I think Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are saying we’ve got to turn the page, and we’ve got to actually look at what the promise of America is, and our future and have some joy and hope and togetherness in terms of going ahead in our future."