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Associated Press

Even before he was on the shortlist for vice-president, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was working to portray Donald Trump and Republicans to the American public as “just weird”.
“These are weird people on the other side. They want to take books away. They want to be in your exam room,” Walz said in a TV interview last month.
The message started with news interviews and eventually spread like wildfire across social media with the help of young Americans.
The simple terminology of labelling the other side as “weird” or “odd” is not revolutionary or sophisticated in American politics but represents a new framing for Democrats who have spent the last eight years trying to defeat Trump and Trumpism by personifying him as the greatest threat to democracy.

Walz went back to the reference at his first rally Tuesday with Vice-President Kamala Harris, saying of Republicans: “These guys are creepy and yes, just weird as hell”
“The opposite of normalising authoritarianism is to make it weird, to call it out and to sort of mock it,” Jennifer Mercieca, a historian at Texas A&M University, who wrote a book on Trump’s rhetoric, said. “To say, ‘Hey, that’s a weird thing you’re doing, calling your opposition enemies instead of saying that they’re good people who have different policy preferences’.”
Now the party is turning the page with a new generation of candidates trying to appeal not just to Americans’ fears about what a second Trump presidency would mean, but to plainly label the policies and actions of the Republican Party as abnormal.
And Democrats see no more effective messenger to deliver this new attack than Walz, the 60-year-old Midwestern dad, who on Tuesday was chosen to become their vice-presidential nominee.
“Governor Walz can do the job, and helps reinforce that we’re team normal,” Democratic congressman Greg Landsman of Ohio said in a statement Tuesday. “We’re pragmatic, reliable and bipartisan.”
Walz’s ability to speak in layman’s terms about policy and politics coupled with his knowledge of the internet zeitgeist has helped propel the little-known politician to the national stage and on the “For You” social media pages of millions of Gen Z voters whose support will be crucial for Democrats come November.
Labelled “the cool dad” online, news that Walz would be the Democratic running mate ignited a stream of online memes, including one with the caption: “To the window to the Walz”, a reference to the hit 2003 rap song “Get Low” by Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz.
On TikTok, users created 60-second montages of Walz talking about the phenomenon of the new Charli XCX album Brat, which he says his young daughter helped explain to him, mixed with footage of him lambasting Republican vice-presidential nominee Senator J.D. Vance for his comments on “childless cat ladies”.

“Go ahead and continue to denigrate people. Go ahead. My God, they went after cat people. Good luck with that,” Walz says in a MSNBC clip that has more than 150,000 likes on TikTok. “Turn on the internet. See what cat people do when you go after them.”
But the same qualities that led Walz to the Democratic ticket are already being used against him by Republicans who have just in the last few hours labelled him as “weird” 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 like protecting abortion rights, legalising recreational marijuana and restricting gun access have helped him gain popularity with young voters beyond his own solidly blue state to communities across the country.
Voters of Tomorrow, a Gen Z-led organisation that represents young political activists and voters, threw its full support behind Walz after weeks of campaigning on his behalf, saying that he has “dedicated his life to educating and empowering young people as a teacher and public servant”.
“Governor Walz gets bonus points for articulating exactly how young Americans feel about Donald Trump and J.D. Vance: They are weird,” Santiago Mayer, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. “Trump and Vance are weirdly fixated on taking away freedoms from Americans and weirdly obsessed with culture wars.”


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US presidential election 2024

How Tim Walz rose to prominence, partly by calling Trump, Republicans ‘weird’

Democratic vice-presidential nominee. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz at a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Vice-President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Supporters at the campaign rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Trump supporters go after Tim Walz’s China experiences after Kamala Harris picks him as VP

Governor Tim Walz takes questions last month in Minnesota. Photo: Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS. Photo: Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS

A campaign worker crosses the stage where US Vice-President Kamala Harris and her running mate Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota would be making their first joint appearance in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Governor Tim Walz taking questions last month in Minnesota. Photo: Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS

US Vice-President Kamala Harris arriving at Philadelphia International Airport on Tuesday for a first appearance together with Walz as the Democratic Party’s ticket in the November elections. Photo: AFP 

Kamala Harris picks Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as running mate against Trump and Vance

Democratic presidential candidate US Vice President Kamala Harris holds a campaign rally with her new running mate Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz at the Liacouras Center at Temple University in Philadelphia. Photo:  EPA-EFE

Former US president Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and his vice-presidential running mate Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio at a campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Walz accompanying Harris when she spoke at a Planned Parenthood clinic in St Paul, Minnesota, on March 14, 2024. Photo: AP

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Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her 2024 running mate on Tuesday


Before he was Kamala Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz was using the Democrats’ best dis phrase of the 2024 campaign. It spread like wildfire across social media with the help of young Americans.


How Tim Walz rose to prominence, partly by calling Trump, Republicans ‘weird’

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her 2024 running mate on Tuesday

Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her 2024 running mate on Tuesday