‘Make Motherhood Great Again’: Pronatalism Finds a Comfortable Home in the Trump Administration

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A month into President Donald Trump’s second term, Sean Duffy, the newly appointed secretary of the Department of Transportation (DOT), issued a memo declaring that “DOT-supported or assisted state contracts shall prioritize projects and goals … that give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average.” This move by Duffy—who happens to be a father of seven—tying federal transportation spending to birth and marriage rates was characterized as “disturbingly dystopian” by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and “deeply frightening” by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

Duffy’s directive embraces pronatalism—a once-fringe right-wing ideology that has found a comfortable home in the current administration. (Vice President JD Vance, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have around 22 kids between them.) Pronatalists believe that having lots of children is an urgent social project—at least for those living in the United States and Europe—in order to “maintain population levels, support economic growth, and preserve cultural and national identities.” And although not usually mentioned in the same breath, pronatalism fits cozily aside the Trump...