After it was announced that Senator JD Vance would be running as former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate, Democrats are resorting to a bizarre novel strategy to spread their messages against him.
Instead of critically examining his political views or his career in the Senate, they rely on a specific argument: JD Vance is “weird.”
That’s right, folks. The Democrats on the radio and internet got the memo and for some reason they’re being told to convince the public that Vance is too weird to be vice president. It’s a weird departure from the usual “anyone who opposes us is a racist” trope, but maybe the left is trying to spread itself further?
The topic of conversation seems developed with Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Tim Walz, who used it during a recent interview.
Since Vice President Kamala Harris took over the campaign against former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance, Democrats have been attacking Republicans with a novel line of attack: telling them they’re just weird.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a potential running mate of Harris’s, who has been using that description for months, said it during his first viral television appearance of the week and then in subsequent ones. The Democratic Governors Association, which Walz leads, amplified it on social media. And the Harris campaign has adopted it, too, using the label repeatedly this week in press releases and posts on X and TikTok.
This plain and typically Midwestern description of Trump and Vance resonates and marks a remarkable rhetorical shift away from Biden’s apocalyptic, high-minded message and toward a more visceral tone that perhaps better reflects how many voters respond to far-right rhetoric, particularly that of Vance.
“It perfectly describes the discomfort that people feel. It’s how people who don’t live and breathe politics every day react when they hear the Republican vice presidential nominee disparaging people without children,” said Tim Hogan, a Democratic strategist who worked on the 2020 presidential campaign of another Minnesotan, Sen. Amy Klobuchar. “It’s simple. It’s maybe how you would talk to your neighbor about the crazy political climate we live in.”
I tell you, these guys are weird. pic.twitter.com/fvNRNf7T7T
— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) July 24, 2024
Meanwhile, other Democrats and activist media figures have started using the “weird” stereotype against Vance and Republicans. But it didn’t take long for right-wing social media users to point out that this messaging strategy is a fundamental flaw.
Social media commentator Rogan O’Handley, aka DC Draino, posted a picture of Ella Emhoff, the stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris, who appears to be dressed as a radiant watermelon.
“JD Vance is weird” pic.twitter.com/2GDYROIlOu
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) July 29, 2024
Siraj A. Hashmi of the Washington Examiner joined in the fun with a picture of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) kneeling in the Capitol wearing a kente cloth, supposedly to express her solidarity with black Americans.
“JD Vance is so weird.” pic.twitter.com/8IBxJwO24M
— Turd Ferguson (@SirajAHashmi) July 29, 2024
Kyle Mann, editor-in-chief of The Babylon Bee, published a picture of a drag queen reading to children – an action that the left promotes in public libraries.
“JD Vance is funny.” pic.twitter.com/OKFM9RehGK
— Kyle Mann (@The_Kyle_Mann) July 29, 2024
Meanwhile, social media influencer Hollaria Briden posted a picture of two seemingly crazy feminists in costumes depicting female genitalia and holds up an obscene sign.
Donald Trump Jr. also spoke out and presented a video showing Harris’ meeting with a man disguised as a woman in the White House.
“JD Vance is weird” – Team Kamala Harris pic.twitter.com/avMgy4Kp8M
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 28, 2024
Twitchy’s Sam J posted a photo of President Joe Biden nibbling on his wife’s hand as she spoke at a podium at an event.
JD Vance is weird. pic.twitter.com/DgpVhf3BNg
— The🐰FOO (@PolitiBunny) July 29, 2024
Finally, Vance himself spoke out, posting a video of Harris introducing herself at an event by announcing her pronouns.
“JD Vance is weird” pic.twitter.com/a91dVSnp1V
— JD Vance (@JDVance) July 29, 2024
The vice-presidential candidate has, for his part, brushed the “weird” label the Democrats used against him.
Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio), the Republican nominee for vice president, said over the weekend he was not offended by Democrats calling him “weird” after previous comments he made before becoming former President Trump’s vice presidential nominee resurfaced.
“No, not at all,” Vance told a Fox News reporter in an interview that aired Sunday. “It doesn’t hurt my feelings.”
“Look, the price of admission – the price of serving the people of this country – is that the Democrats are going to attack us with everything they have. I think that’s an honor,” Vance continued.
“As Harry Truman once said, ‘If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen,'” he said.
The fact that Democrats have chosen this strategy at all shows a remarkable inability to read the mood in the room. If you think men can get pregnant, dress in offensive costumes, wear African clothing if you’re a white woman, and call other people “weird,” then maybe you should take a look in the mirror.
The reality is that there are oddities in every political movement. In fact, you have to be at least a little bit odd to run for office. But when parts of your political party resemble a Ringling Bros. circus, calling other people “odd” is not a good idea, especially when social media is involved.
