Tim Walz, Warrior against the “Weird”

The VP pick viralized the word that punctured the MAGA balloon

Paul Greenberg

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Photo by Florian Klauer on Unsplash

“Democracy,” “Liberty,” “Freedom.” Great words, right? Unfortunately they have all proved to be no better than spit balls against a GOP gasbag of noxious hot air. We all care about democracy, but do we feel it? We all want liberty and freedom, but can we see in our minds eyes what it will actually look like after an election season of American Reichstag fires burns those blessings away? I’d argue that we can’t. Not at this moment. Which is why a word introduced into the 2024 presidential campaign vernacular by vice presidential pick Mike Walz is so welcome.

“I’m telling you,” Walz said recently in a recent television interview, “these guys are weird.”

These guys are weird.

Yes, they are.

“Weird,” the press has been noting, somehow gets at the “gut-level” feeling many average Americans (particularly swing state Midwesterners) experience but perhaps don’t say when they see all the many, well, weird things the present Republican candidates do or say. The odd ear bandage mimicry. The banning of books. The labeling of childless women as cat ladies. The paranoid fear that George Soros will charter 747s to fly black women to blue states to get abortions. The use of a pro wrestler to…

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Paul Greenberg
Paul Greenberg

Written by Paul Greenberg

New York Times bestselling author of Four Fish as well as The Climate Diet and Goodbye Phone, Hello World paulgreenberg.org