JD Vance spins Andy Breshear’s ‘make him go through this’ line into sordid claim—and fumes over it

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) is denying accusations that he wished a member of Sen. JD Vance’s (R-Ohio) family would fall victim to sexual assault.

While discussing reproductive rights to MSNBC from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Tuesday, Beshear pushed back on previous remarks from Vance in which he described pregnancy by rape as “inconvenient.”

“I mean, think about what some people had had to go through because of these laws,” Beshear said to host Mika Brzezinski. “I mean, JD Vance calls pregnancy resulting from rape ‘inconvenient.’ Inconvenience is traffic. I mean, make him go through this.”

The comment immediately received pushback from the Trump campaign, who argued that Beshear was calling for either Vance’s wife or young daughter to be physically abused.

“DISGUSTING: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear wishes for a member of JD Vance’s family to become pregnant due to rape,” the Trump War Room account on X said.

The clip sparked breathless outrage as people ran with the framing.

“Disgusting horrible person an embarrassment,” said on person on X.

“Democrats are psychos,” said another.

It wasn’t long before Vance himself criticized Beshear for his statement during the interview, claiming Beshear wished a family member of his would get raped.

“What the hell is this? Why is @AndyBeshearKY wishing that a member of my family would get raped?!?” Vance asked. “What a disgusting person.”

The Trump-Vance campaign also issued an official statement on what they described as Beshear’s “vile comments” at the DNC.

“After speaking on the DNC main stage last night, Harris campaign surrogate Governor Andy Beshear went on national television this morning and explicitly called for a member of Senator Vance’s family to be raped,” the statement began. “His comments are disgusting, vile, and should not be tolerated in American politics.”

The campaign went on to demand that Harris “immediately repudiate Governor Beshear’s comments and demonstrate that regardless of partisan disagreements, this kind of violent rhtoric has no place in our public discourse.”

Beshear responded to the controversy in a follow-up interview with MSNBC in which he argued that Vance’s response was not only “ridiculous” but a “deflection” from the topic at hand.

“JD Vance knows that he and Donald Trump are so wrong on this issue and so he’s trying to make himself a victim.” Beshear said.

After listing the names of specific people who he described as victims of conservative policies regarding reproductive health, including some who spoke at the DNC, Beshear added that “as a man, JD Vance will never have to face any of this personally.”

“But it’s sad that he lacks the empathy to be able to put himself in a different position and to understand why having exceptions, having reproductive freedom, is so important in the first place,” Beshear said. “Obviously I’d never wish harm on anyone. It just … again, deflection, trying to make himself and Donald Trump the victims.”

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