FOR ALL THE CAT LADIES

Less than two weeks ago, the political landscape looked, um, pretty different. Some of us may or may not have been hiding under the covers doing shots of cough medicine and/or plotting a four-year adventure in greater British Columbia.

Things have changed. And while much of the credit goes to the ascent of VP Harris and the energy unleashed by her rapidly coalescing campaign, you've gotta give an assist to Tr*mp's VP pick, the disastrously perfect J.D. Vance, whose incel blather has managed to offend great swaths of the public right out of the gate.

Most famously (apart from his alleged intimacy with living-room furniture), Vance blamed the country's ills on "childless cat ladies." This is what political scientists refer to as a "boo-boo." The boner mot unleashed a storm of commentary, posts, memes and other cultural effluvia testifying to the number and vehemence of "cat ladies," childless and otherwise, in what non-Republicans recognize as modern-day America.

Honestly, Handmaid's Tale-level misogyny is one thing, but you can't go after cat parents, man!

We are now waiting for the most famous person in the world, who does not have children and adores her kitties, to weigh in. Taylor Swift has in the past induced huge numbers of her fans to register to vote; that was before feline-loving females were targeted.

Could Taylor reduce the likes of J.D. Vance to dust with the flick of a fingernail if she so desired? We have no doubt. But we want to see it.

And this isn't just about us. It's also about Romeo, Gonzo, Bonzo, Felicia, Chalupa, Fifi, Brunhilde, Snowy, Windswept, Dum-Dum, Figaro, Pamina, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Thelonious, Zeppo, Princess Sweet Pea, Sherbert, Orlando, Ailey, Midnight, Tiny, Lily, Boris, Petunia, Gossamer and Olivia Benson. They're so sweet. But why won't they do what we tell them?