Vice President Kamala Harris and her Democratic allies are emphasizing a new line of criticism against Republicans, branding Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, as “weird.”
Democrats have applied this label with enthusiasm in interviews and online, particularly targeting Vance’s comments on abortion and his previous suggestion that political leaders without biological children “don’t really have a direct stake” in the country.
This “weird” narrative has given Democrats an edge they rarely had when President Joe Biden was still running for reelection. Trump’s campaign, which often dominates political discussions with the former president’s pronouncements, has spent days trying to counter this narrative by highlighting what they deem as “weird” about Democrats.
David Karpf, a strategic communication professor at George Washington University, praised the strategy. “I don’t know who came up with the message, but I salute them,” he said, noting that the label resonates quickly with Harris supporters and frustrates opponents, leading to amplified responses.
Harris and her allies have frequently used the label. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called Trump and Vance “just weird” in an MSNBC interview, a sentiment he reiterated on CNN, referencing Trump’s repeated mentions of the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Following Trump’s appearance on Fox News, the Harris campaign issued a news release with the subject line “Statement on a 78-Year-Old Criminal’s Fox News Appearance,” highlighting “Trump is old and quite weird.”
Harris’ allies, including Sens. Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, have echoed the sentiment, criticizing Vance’s past comments about limiting the political power of childless Americans as “a super weird idea.” At her first fundraiser since becoming the Democrats’ likely White House nominee, Harris herself labeled Trump’s and Vance’s comments as “plain weird.”
Many Democratic comments allude to a 2021 interview where Vance criticized prominent Democrats without biological children, including Harris. Harris’ use of “weird” may date back even further; in his 2021 book, political reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere wrote that Harris planned to respond to Trump during debates by asking, “Why are you being so weird? What’s wrong with you?”
Trump’s campaign has attempted to counter this narrative. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung posted a video of Walz calling Trump and Vance “weird,” accusing Harris’ backers of being out of line. Donald Trump Jr. and Vance have also tried to shift the conversation back to Harris and her policies, with Trump Jr. criticizing her stance on crime and Vance labeling her comments on climate anxiety as “really weird stuff.”
Democrats have co-opted Republican attack lines to support Harris, turning the “weird” label back on Republicans. University at Buffalo political communication professor Jacob Neiheisel compared this to Arizona Sen. John McCain’s 2008 attempt to portray Barack Obama as a celebrity with no real accomplishments. The “weird” message, he said, might be an attempt to counter longstanding efforts by the right to paint Harris in a similar way.