Former President Donald Trump doesn't like being called "weird" and he was quick to complain about that during a town hall in La Crosse, Wisconsin—though he couldn't manage to do it without being weird in the process.
Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate Tim Walz is responsible for a new angle of attack against Republicans, referring to them as "weird people on the other side" while referencing their nationwide assaults on public education and reproductive rights, saying they "want to take books away" and "want to be in your exam room."
Since then, the Trump campaign has sputtered while trying to regain control of the narrative—and it was really weird that Trump used the word "weird" 11 times in 40 seconds while insisting he isn't weird at all.
He said:
"He [Walz] is weird. He’s weird, I’m not weird, he’s weird. No, he’s a weird guy, he’s a weird dude.”
“See, they come up with sound bites, they always have sound bites, and one of the things is that JD and I are weird. That guy is so straight, JD is so, he’s doing a great job, smart, top student, great guy, and he’s not weird and I’m not weird. I mean we’re a lot of things but we’re not weird I will tell you, but that guy is weird.”
To show just how weird he was actually being, the Harris campaign posted a video of his rant to X, formerly Twitter.
His denial, his critics pointed out, only showed how just weird he actually is.
Democrats appear to have gained a messaging advantage since President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 race and endorsed Harris to be his successor. Trump's campaign, which typically dominates the political narrative, has spent weeks attempting to counter this by pointing out what they claim are the Democrats' oddities. But without much success.
David Karpf, a strategic communications professor at George Washington University, praised Democrats' "weird" line of attack in an interview with The Associated Press, noting that it "frustrates opponents, leading them to further amplify it through off-balance responses.”
And Trump has indeed been off balance, earlier this month insisting “Nobody’s ever called me weird" during an interview on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. He acknowledged he is "a lot of things, but weird I’m not.” He insisted that "the evening news, every one of ‘em’s talking, they introduce the word ‘weird,’ and all of the sudden they’re talking about ‘weird.’”
He made similar remarks during a rally in Montana, declaring that the Harris campaign is “work[ing] with the press” to craft “soundbites” of him and Vance being called “weird.”
It's clear the Harris campaign has gotten under Trump's skin, so be sure to expect even more weird behavior in the coming month.
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