Weird: Impact of campaign slogan on 2024 election | LiveNOW from FOX

Is JD Vance weird? Vice President Kamala Harris and her Democratic allies have began using the word "weird" as a way to describe Republicans. David Frank, a professor of rhetoric at the University of Oregon joins LiveNOW's Austin Westfall to help break down the meaning of the Democrats' new message.

Kamala Harris' campaign allies have increasingly leaned on a new label for Donald Trump's campaign that was sparked by a viral comment made by Governor Tim Walz.

How it started

The new attack line was spoken into existence by Gov. Tim Walz during an interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe talk show.

Walz, who has been routinely mentioned as a possible running mate pick for Harris, was arguing that Trump's campaign has focused on culture war tactics rather than policy that will help people. Under Walz's assessment, these tactics have left small-town America divided.

"We do not like what has happened where we can't even go to Thanksgiving dinner with our uncle because you end up in some weird fight that is unnecessary," said Walz. He continued: "Well it's true, these guys are just weird."

Hours later, on another MSNBC show that evening, Walz reiterated the attack: "These are weird people on the other side. They want to take books away; they want to be in your exam room."

Weird attacks go viral

After the Morning Joe interview, Walz shared a clip of the "weird" remark on X, which gained more than 5,000 likes. Later in the night, he shared another clip from the later interview with the caption: "I'm telling you: These guys are weird."

That second tweet garnered more than 46,000 likes on X. Days later, Walz retweeted a clip of Trump talking about Hannibal Lecter, again writing: "Say it with me: Weird." That tweet also got 42,000 likes.

Since then, other Democrats have jumped on board, with Harris herself also dropping a "weird" bomb. "You may have noticed that Donald Trump has been resorting to some wild lies about my record. And some of what he and his running mate have been saying – well it's just plain weird," Harris said during a speech in Massachusetts.

Her campaign also put out a statement last Thursday, talking about Trump's appearance on FOX News, consisting of a bullet point list of supposed takeaways from the interview, including one point that reads: "Trump is old and quite weird?"

Criticism of attacks
Conservatives have criticized the Democrats for the weird attacks, accusing progressives of lowering the political discourse.

In a tweet, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wrote: "This whole ‘they’re weird’ argument from the Democrats is dumb & juvenile. This is a presidential election, not a high school prom queen contest. It’s also a tad ironic coming from the party that preaches ‘diversity & inclusion.’ Win on policy if you can, but cut the crap please."

However, Democrats responded by pointing out that Trump frequently slaps demeaning nicknames on his political opponents, like "Sleepy Joe", "Crooked Hillary", and, most recently, "Lying Kamala."

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung also ripped the Democrats for using "weird" -- particularly in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Trump.

"Democrat potential VP nominee [Walz] calls President Trump, who just had an assassination attempt on his life, weird," Cheung wrote on X. "The only thing weird is Democrats and Kamala Harris supporters trying to gaslight everyone into thinking the shooting was staged."

It's worth noting Cheung then called Democrats "deranged" in that same post. Then, after Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell called the Trump-Vance ticket "weird" and "creepy", Cheung responded by sharing a statement that accused "Eric Swallows" of "projecting his weird and creepy vibes."

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