The National Republican Senatorial Committee suggested in a recent memo that its candidates attack Vice President Kamala Harris for, among other things, being “weird.” Unfortunately for them, this asked the obvious question: Who was weirder than Donald Trump, his new running mate JD Vance, or the Republican Party?
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz gained national attention after he went on MSNBC to laud Harris’ first campaign speech, saying about Republicans, “These are weird people on the other side. They want to take books away. They want to be in your exam room. … These are weird ideas.”
Tagging the GOP and its policies as “weird” has quickly taken off. When asked about Vance’s offensive remarks about “childless cat ladies” running the Democratic Party, even independent Sen. Joe Manchin had to admit, “That truly is just a weird position to take. I’ve never heard that before.”
Republicans are predictably aggrieved by the public acknowledging how off-putting their behavior is. Right-wing wraith and Fox News host Laura Ingraham spent an entire segment of her show trying desperately to paint Harris as the weird one. “Dems: The Real Part of Weird,” read the chyron under her rant.
Vivek Ramaswamy stomped his feet and called the talking point “dumb & juvenile,” only to have Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez break down how “super weird” conservatives are these days.
“Being obsessed with repressing women is goofy,” the New York Democrat tweeted. “Trying to watch what LGBTQ+ people do all the time is abnormal. Punishing people who don’t have biological offspring is creepy.”
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio weighed in on the matter Tuesday, saying, “They called us weird so I’ll call them weirder. That’s what I used to do back in high school.” His I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I defense is undercut by the fact that he and other conservatives spent hours whining about how a five-minute segment of a nearly four-hour Olympics opening ceremony ruined the entire Olympics for them.
It looks like the National Republican Senatorial Committee might be right: Pointing out how “weird” your opponent is might indeed be a winning message.
Let’s defeat the “weird” this fall. Donate to Kamala Harris now.
