Why are Democrats suddenly calling the opposition 'weird'?

For years, Democrats (and a small number of Republicans) have been working on how best to frame Donald Trump and his MAGA movement to persuadable voters. At various points over the past decade, Trump has been portrayed as a "threat to democracy," a "fraud," and a "con man," all in an attempt to impart a sense of looming and existential endangerment over his political ascendency. 

This year, however, as a reenergized Democratic party rallies around Vice President Kamala Harris as its new standard-bearer following President Joe Biden's decision to end his reelection campaign, a growing number of lawmakers have rolled out a new line of attack on Trump and his vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance: They're just weird. Although perhaps not the most sophisticated line of attack, it's a message that has nevertheless gained traction, first among campaign surrogates and potential vice presidential nominees like Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and then Harris' own team and the Democratic party at large. 

It remains to be seen whether the Democrats can ride this "weird" wave all the way to an electoral victory, but it seems clear that the party sees this tonal shift as impactful — at least for now. 

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'Weird people' was an online hit

While the trend arguably began with Minnesota's Walz, whose "description last week of 'weird people on the other side' was an online hit with Democrats," The New York Times said, the Harris campaign's embrace of that same framing should come as little surprise. Preparing for a one-on-one debate with Trump in 2018, Harris went so far as to tell aides that if he attempted to stalk behind her onstage as he did Hillary Clinton in 2016, she would turn and ask him "why are you being so weird?" CNN said. Recently, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg similarly described Trump as getting "older and stranger," and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Vance is "weird" and "erratic." Harris added her campaign's official seal of approval, writing in a memo of takeaways from a recent Trump interview that "Trump is old and quite weird?" 

The Democratic National Committee itself followed suit shortly thereafter.

Previous attempts by Democrats to use "high-minded defenses of our principles or elegant rhetorical phrases aren't doing the job," said The Bulwark. "Neither is existential dread." Labeling Trump and Vance as weird is "less lofty and more grounded in daily reality." The tactic "conspicuously stands apart from the Democrats' usual 'when they go low, we go high' modus operandi," ABC News said. Notably, the "weird" attacks make up a "unified Democratic firing line" that stands in "sharp contrast to the Republicans, who have yet to emerge with their own effective message to counter Harris' 'honeymoon' period," The Independent said. 

Biden couldn't "authentically call his opposition 'weird,'" said Amanda Litman, co-founder of the progressive group Run for Something, to Politico. Harris' embrace of the term is in part "about being free from the obligation to speak in Biden's voice." The previous era of 'strained decorum is — or at least should be — over,' said Rolling Stone. 

'Cut the crap please'

To a lesser extent, Republicans have "also gotten in on the action," including releasing a campaign memo for Senate candidates highlighting Harris' "weird" behavior, such as loving Venn diagrams, Semafor said. 

The GOP's attempt to flip the "weird" attack back at Harris might be "one way to undermine Harris' personal appeal without getting into more sensitive territory" like race and gender, Semafor said. Not all Republicans seem to agree, however. Former GOP presidential candidate and fervent Trump backer Vivek Ramaswamy decried the Democrats as acting "dumb & juvenile" and urged them to "win on policy if you can, but cut the crap please" in a post on X. 

Vance, for his part, has denied being affected by the "weird" attacks. "It doesn't hurt my feelings," said Vance in a brief Fox News interview this week. Vance also called the "weird" label the "price of admission" for running for high office, and "ultimately an honor."