The Vice President of the United States and his wife Usha are expecting their fourth baby, setting an apparent example for their fellow natalists. But just how intertwined is JD Vance with the natalist movement overall and what does it have to do with Usha’s new podcast about children’s books? This week, June and Josh dig into JD Vance’s history with conservatism and Catholicism to try to figure it out.

***WANT MORE ILL CONCEIVED? Every other week, we release B-side supplements to the main episodes where we read your e-mail responses and discuss things further. Come check us out at Patreon.com/illconceived!***

***WE WANT YOUR THOUGHTS FOR THE WORLD FAMOUS MAILBAG! Send an email with feedback about this week's episode to illconceivedpod@gmail.com***

EPISODE ART: JD Vance in a press photo by Niall Carson for Getty Images. Born in Middletown, Ohio, Vance graduated from Ohio State University and Yale Law School, eventually working under Peter Thiel at Mithril Capital. After being elected to the United States Senate in 2022, Vance was selected by Donald Trump to serve as his running mate for the 2024 presidential election.

AUDIO CLIPS:

• 18:51 – Donald Trump reading from 2 Corinthians as part of the America Reads the Bible special event
• 24:51 – JD Vance referring to Democratic opposition as "childless cat ladies"
• 59:39 – Usha Vance reading The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter for her podcast Storytime with the Second Lady

SOURCES:

• J. D. Vance and the Right’s Call to Have More Babies
• The troubling history behind JD Vance's natalism
• JD Vance And Peter Thiel: What To Know About The Relationship Between Trump’s VP Pick And The Billionaire
• What have I done? I forced my kid to listen to Usha Vance’s podcast - now she’s a fan
• JD Vance Repeats ‘Anti-Family’ Criticism of Democrats on Sunday Morning News Show Tour
• Baby Bonuses and Motherhood Medals: Why We Shouldn’t Trust the Pronatalist Movement
• Trump May Soon Offer a Motherhood Medal, an Idea Popularized in Nazi Germany
• Republicans Are Right: One Party Is ‘Anti-Family and Anti-Kid’
• Usha Vance and JD Vance, Pronatalism’s Poster Couple, Are Having a 4th Kid
• JD Vance’s Approval Rating Plunges to New Historic Low
• Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul Announce First Four Communities to Receive Free 2-K Seats
• Democracy | Of Childless ‘Psychopath’ Women and ‘Replacement’: JD Vance’s Birthrate and Immigration Obsessions Have Shared History
• An Analysis of Happy No Snakes Day and the Deeper Implications on the Horizon for Children’s Literature and Christian Nationalist Policies in the Public School System
• Beyond the Nuclear Family
• The Role of the Nuclear Family in Capitalism
• With Defense of ICE, JD Vance Clarifies His Next Target: You
• J.D. Vance Used to Be an Atheist. What He Believes Now Is Telling.
• Gold Mother's Cross
• Wikipedia: Order of Maternal Glory
• Who in the USSR was awarded the ‘Mother-Heroine’ title?
• National Conservatism: A Statement of Principles
• 5% of People Detained By ICE Have Violent Convictions, 73% No Convictions

FOLLOW THE SHOW:

• Website: illconceivedpodcast.com
• Bluesky: ‪@illconceivedpodcast.com
• Tumblr: @illconceivedpod

FOLLOW JOSH:

• Website: joshboerman.com
• Bluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.world
• Other podcast: The Worst of All Possible Worlds
• Stream: Traditional Scrench

FOLLOW JUNE:

• Bluesky: @junlper.beer
• Other podcast: Kill The Computer
• Writing: June's Substack

ILL CONCEIVED THEME SONG BY: Caleb (Linktree / Bluesky)