While the left and media are working overtime to rebrand Kamala Harris’ awkward affect as “brat” and cool, they are running with the newly unveiled talking point that Donald Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance is “weird.”
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Ben Shapiro, host of The Ben Shapiro Show, to discuss the narrative against Vance and what actually qualifies as “weird” in politics in 2024.
‘J.D. Vance is Weird’
The attacks on Vance have been swift since he was named Trump’s running mate less than two weeks ago. The first-term senator from Ohio was forced to defend himself after a 2021 clip of him calling Democratic leaders “childless cat ladies” was re-circulated, and now the left has taken to calling the 39 year old “weird.”
If you turned on any cable news show or Sunday morning program over the weekend, Harris surrogates and leftist pundits were out in full force with the same talking point: “J.D. Vance is weird.” Some of the names reportedly on Harris’ shortlist for vice president – including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker – made the cable news rounds to use the term.
Former Biden administration press secretary Jen Psaki used the talking point as a centerpiece of her MSNBC show, interviewing Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg on the topic. Harris’ husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, weighed in by calling Vance a “fool” and “clown” on Preet Bharara’s podcast.
And Capitol Hill types also got in on the action. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) – who some may say has some ‘weird’ behavior in his past – was on CNN calling the GOP vice presidential nominee “creepy and weird,” while Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said “Vance seems to be more weird and erratic than President Trump” on CBS’ Face the Nation.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) took the same tact on X, claiming Vance is “super weird” because of his “incel platform” that includes “repressing women” and “publishing people who don’t have biological offspring.”
Vance, meanwhile, told Fox News that the criticism is to be expected. “Look, the price of admission — meaning, the price of getting to serve the people of this country — is the Democrats are going to attack us with everything that they have,” he said. “I think it’s an honor.”
The Media Narrative
In Megyn’s view, the “weird” attack on Vance is “weird” in and of itself. “J.D. Vance is not weird. He is pretty much as normal as they get, which is why they consider him a threat,” she said. That is why they are using a label that doesn’t apply to him… but it is definitely a coordinated attack.”
To that point, Shapiro said CNN and MSNBC apparently used the word “weird” in reference to Vance some 150 times over the weekend. “So, if you don’t believe that they are all marching in lockstep and they don’t get their talking points from the DNC, they 100 percent do,” he said.
What is ‘Weird’?
Shapiro said the “slur” is a form of projection from the left. “To me, this is all projection because there are only two ways in which a candidate is weird,” he explained. “One is sort of interpersonally weird. So, you might say somebody who laughs strangely and who starts jabbering about coconut trees, might be a little weird… And then there is weird positionally.”
As it relates to “interpersonally weird,” Shapiro said Vance is anything but. “When J.D. talks, J.D. is actually perfectly normal,” he noted. “If anything, he lies on the sort of dull side in terms of his sort of affect. He is not somebody who is electric on TV.”
He believes the same is true on the policy side. “According to the left, what makes you ‘weird’ is believing that it is actually of moral benefit to the United States for people to have children. That is J.D.’s actual position,” Shapiro said. “It also happens to be the biologically correct position, which is that if you wish society to propagate itself, it is very important that – on a moral level – people have kids.”
While Shapiro said the left is “glomming onto” Vance’s “childless cat ladies” comment, he said they are missing the point. “They are saying he is positionally weird,” he said. “But what is more positionally weird: That people ought to have kids and the society ought to incentivize its citizens to have children, or… to suggest that society ought to be completely apathetic about whether people have kids at all and ought to treat your personal decision making as to whether you gallivant around on Ru Paul’s Drag Race or become the head of a traditional family and go to church regularly as a matter of moral apathy?”
“Positionally,” Shapiro said, the Democratic Party has proven itself to be “very weird” on issues relating to family, gender ideology, and more. “If you are just talking ‘weird,’ the Democrats have nothing on ‘weird’ when it comes to J.D. Vance and so they’ve been trying to manufacture this narrative,” he concluded. “I just don’t think that J.D. is weird enough for it to actually work, but this is certainly what they are trying.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Shapiro by tuning in to episode 850 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.