Republican presidential nominee JD Vance’s attempt to flip the “weird” label onto his Democratic counterpart Tim Walz was met with confusion by CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview that aired on “State of the Union” Sunday.
Bash asked the Ohio senator about the “weird” label Walz has applied to Vance, Donald Trump, and others in the Republican Party. It has since become popular Democratic messaging.
“The New York Times reports that when Donald Trump was asked about it, he said, ‘Not me. They’re talking about JD,’” Bash recited, looking to Vance to respond.
“Well, certainly, they’ve levied that charge against me more than anybody else, but I think that it drives home how they’re trying to distract from their own policy failures,” Vance said. “I mean, look, this is fundamentally schoolyard bully stuff.”
“They can accuse me of whatever they want to accuse me of,” Vance continued. “As Harry S. Truman once said, ‘If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.’ And I’m doing this because I think that me being vice president will help improve people’s lives. So, I accept their attacks, but I think that it is a little bit of projection.”
“Dana, if you think about, you know, just take a couple of days ago, Tim Walz gives this big speech. He’s been announced as the VP nominee. And I remember when I had just been announced as a VP nominee, I gave my big speech, and I saw my wife, and I gave her a big hug and a kiss because I love my wife, and I think that’s what a normal person does. Tim Walz gave his wife a nice, firm Midwestern handshake and then tried to sort of awkwardly correct for it,” he added.
“You’re saying Tim Walz doesn’t have affection for his wife?” Bash asked. “I don’t even understand that.”
“I said that he acted weird, which he did on a national stage in front of his wife and in front of millions of Americans who presumably were watching at home,” Vance replied.
