Trump Responds to Tim Walz Calling He and J.D. Vance 'Weird'
Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at the Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 8, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. Credit - Joe Raedle—Getty Images
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump responded to the Democratic party’s apparent new strategy against him and his running mate Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance: calling them weird.
At a rally in Montana on Friday, the former President reacted to Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz using the term to describe them. “No, we're not weird. We're very solid people. We want to have strong borders. We want to have good elections... ” Trump said. “I think we're the opposite of weird. They’re weird.”
Trump went on to claim that Kamala Harris' campaign team is “work[ing] with the press” to come up with “soundbites” of he and Vance being called “weird.”
“It’s unbelievable. You know it’s not a word that’s really used too much in politics,” Trump said. “No, J.D. Vance is a great patriot.”
Trump shared a video of his comments on his Truth Social account in the early hours of Saturday morning.
At a Pennsylvania rally on Aug. 6, during Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s first speech as official running mate to Vice President Harris, he debuted by calling Trump and Vance weird, remarking that they are “creepy” and “weird as hell.”
Read More: 'Just Plain Weird’: Harris Embraces a New Label for Trump
In his Friday speech, Trump listed multiple policies Walz signed into law while Governor, including his support for a 2024 state law that requires all Minnesota public schools to provide menstrual products in bathrooms.
“Think of the things I just said, and he says ‘J.D. Vance is weird,’” Trump said.
Walz used the “weird” label when addressing the Republican candidates in July.
“These guys are just weird. They’re running for He-Man women-haters’ club or something. That’s what they go at. That’s not what people are interested in,” Walz said on MSNBC on July 23.
Walz had previously used the term to describe some Republicans, but his appearance on MSNBC seemingly set the Democrats on a track to embracing the term party-wide.
Read More: How ‘Weird’ Became a Main Campaign Attack—for Democrats and Republicans
Vance also responded to the “weird” charge in an interview with Dana Bash on CNN’s State of the Union on Aug. 11, calling it “fundamentally school yard bully stuff.”
“They’re name-calling instead of actually telling the American people how they’re going to make their lives better,” he said. “I think that’s weird, Dana, but look, they can call me whatever they want to.” Vance chalked up the use of “weird” to be less about him and Trump, and more about his opponents not being “comfortable in their own skin, because they’re uncomfortable with their policy positions for the American people.”
Interestingly, Trump has also used the term “weird” to describe Harris in the past, but the word is now being used repeatedly about himself and his running mate, Vance.
Contact us at letters@time.com.