You really have to hand it to U.S. Republicans and their proxies – when they get labelled with something, they really know how to lean into it.
Lately, Republicans are being called anti-women and just plain weird. The anti-women tag has been getting fresh attention because of the storm caused by Donald Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance. In an interview with right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson a few years ago, which was recently unearthed, Mr. Vance decried the fact an increasing number of Americans were not having kids.
For that, he seemed to put the blame on women, referring to them as “childless cat ladies.” Given the chance to backtrack or clarify, Mr. Vance did anything but, saying he only wanted people to know he didn’t have anything against cats. Then there is the Republican war on abortion ...
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, is the one credited for labelling Republicans “weird.” Mr. Walz was largely, but not exclusively, referring to just about anything that comes out of Mr. Trump’s mouth. He also could have been talking about the strange things you often hear watching Fox News.
These are folks who (mostly) worship at the altar of Mr. Trump and who believe they have the proper pulse on America, not the Democrats.
The other day, the male host of a Fox show called The Five was ranting about anyone who would vote for Ms. Harris just because she is a woman.
“[The Democrats are] not the party of virtue, security – it’s not the party of strength – it’s definitely not the party of family,” said Jesse Watters. “And to be a man and then vote for a woman just because she’s a woman is either childish – that person has mommy issues – or they are just trying to be accepted by other women.”
If he’d stopped there it might have been enough to simply make a few million people across America spit up the coffee in their mouth. But he couldn’t. He had to go on so their heads exploded, too.
“And I heard the scientists say the other day that when a man votes for a woman, he actually transitions into a woman.”
Now, that is weird.
I highlight this latest bit of Republican craziness because it underscores, I believe, just how scared and rattled the party and its supporters on Fox and elsewhere are. They are frightened of Ms. Harris and what she has done to the U.S. presidential race.
She has changed it in a profound way. Mr. Trump and his team have seldom seemed as unnerved. The former president is not sure how to attack Ms. Harris beyond calling her names -- a “lunatic,” “liar,” “evil,” et al. In a bizarre appearance at a convention of Black journalists this week, Mr. Trump doubled down on weird, saying Ms. Harris was Indian before “she happened to turn Black. And now she wants to be known as Black.” For good measures, he added that illegal migrants were pouring across the U.S. border and stealing “Black jobs.”
Mr. Trump is so scared he’s now talking about not debating Ms. Harris.
It has given Ms. Harris a great line on the campaign trail. “If you’ve got something to say, say it to my face,” she extolled at a recent campaign stop.
At first, it looked like the tight window Joe Biden left Ms. Harris and the Democrats to try and win the November election would be a negative. It actually might be a positive. The Republicans don’t have a long runway to try and undermine the exciting, shiny new candidate the Democrats are now running. Her honeymoon may even last a few weeks more.
She hasn’t even announced a running mate or spoken to her party’s national convention. Those events will also garner fresh momentum. A running mate like, say, Arizona senator Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, would only serve to contrast the deeply flawed choice Mr. Trump made for a potential VP in Mr. Vance.
Polls are coming out seemingly every day now that show the race a dead heat. Some even put Ms. Harris ahead. Regardless, the wide lead Mr. Trump had over Mr. Biden has all but disappeared. Women, for one, seem to be coalescing around Ms. Harris in big numbers.
My guess is many men are going to be jumping on board, too, unafraid of what might happen to them biologically if they cast their vote for a woman.