WASHINGTON (AP) — Even before he was on the list for Minnesota vice president Governor Tim Walz was working to portray donald trump and Republicans to the American public as “simply weird.”
“These are strange people on the other side. They want to take the books away. They want to be in your exam room,” Walz said in a TV interview last month.
The message began with news interviews and quickly spread across social media with the help of young Americans. The simple terminology of labeling the other side as “strange” or “outsider” is not revolutionary or sophisticated in American politics, but it represents a new framework for Democrats who have spent the last eight years trying to defeat Trump and Trumpism, personifying it as the greatest threat to democracy.
“The opposite of normalizing authoritarianism is to make it strange, denounce it and mock it,” Jennifer Mercieca, said a historian at Texas A&M University who wrote a book about Trump’s rhetoric. “Saying, ‘Hey, this is a weird thing you’re doing, calling your enemies opposition instead of saying they’re good people who have different political preferences.’”
Now the party is turning the page with a new generation of candidates who are trying to appeal not only to Americans’ fears about what a second Trump presidency would mean, but also to clearly label the Republican Party’s policies and actions as abnormal. And Democrats see no more effective messenger to deliver this new attack than Walz, the 60-year-old Midwestern father who on Tuesday was chosen to become their vice presidential nominee.
“Gov. Walz can get the job done and helps reinforce that we are a normal team,” Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio said in a statement Tuesday. “We are pragmatic, trustworthy and bipartisan.”
Walz’s ability to speak in layman’s terms about politics and policy, coupled with his knowledge of the Internet zeitgeist, helped propel the little-known politician onto the national stage and onto the “For You” social media pages of millions of Gen voters. Z, whose support will be crucial for Democrats in November.
Labeled online “the cool dad,” the news that Walz would be the Democratic running mate sparked a series of memes online, including one captioned “To the window to the Walz,” a reference to the 2003 rap hit “Get Low.” ”By Lil Jon and East Side Boyz. On TikTok, users created 60-second montages of Walz talking about the phenomenon of Charli XCX’s new album Brat, which he says his daughter helped explain to him, mixed with footage of him criticizing Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, for his comments about “hot women without kids.”
“Go ahead and continue to denigrate people. Go ahead. My God, they went after hot people. Good luck with that,” Walz said in an MSNBC clip that has more than 150,000 likes on TikTok. “Turn on the internet. See what cats do when you chase them.”
But the same qualities that led Walz to the Democratic ticket are already being used against him by Republicans who, in the last few hours, have labeled him “strange” and “radical”.
Trump sent a fundraising email Tuesday calling Walz “Dangerously Liberal” and saying he would “unleash HELL ON EARTH.”
But Walz’s legislative record on issues such as protecting abortion rights, legalizing recreational marijuana and restricting access to guns has helped him gain popularity with young voters, beyond his own solidly blue state, to communities all over the country.
Voters of Tomorrow, a Gen Z-led organization representing young political activists and voters, gave its full support to Walz after weeks of campaigning on his behalf, saying he has “dedicated his life to educating and empowering young people as teachers and servants.” public.”
“Governor Walz gets bonus points for articulating exactly how young Americans feel about Donald Trump and JD Vance: they are weird,” Santiago Mayer, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. American and strangely obsessed with culture wars.”
