On CNN, JD Vance tries to turn the tables on Tim Walz: He’s the one being “weird”

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance tried to turn the tables on Democratic rival Tim Walz, saying the Minnesota governor is the one being “weird.”

In an interview with CNN which aired this Sunday (11), the Ohio senator pointed to the attitude of Walz and his wife, who shook hands before hugging on stage during the rally in Philadelphia, in which Vice President Kamala Harris introduced him as her running mate.

Vance accused the Democratic ticket of “a little bit of projection,” contrasting how he had hugged and kissed his own wife after his first speech as the Republican vice presidential candidate.

“Tim Walz gave his wife a nice, firm Midwestern handshake and then tried to correct it somewhat awkwardly,” Vance said.

“I think what it comes down to is that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are two people who are not comfortable with themselves because they are uncomfortable with their political positions for the American people,” he said.

“And then they’re calling names instead of actually telling the American people how they’re going to make their lives better. I think that’s weird, but hey, they can call me whatever they want.”

Asked if he was suggesting the governor has no affection for his wife, Vance said Walz “acted strangely, what he did, on a national stage in front of his wife.”

Vance’s comments come as Democrats seize on a message from Walz — weeks before his selection as Harris’ running mate — describing former President Donald Trump and Vance as “just weird” in an interview with MSNBC.

In the interview with CNN Vance dismissed the taunt as “basically schoolyard bully stuff.”

The characterization of Vance as “weird” was fueled in part by comments he made in a 2021 interview claiming that the United States is run by “old ladies and children who take care of cats.”

He specifically mentioned Harris, who is a stepmother, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who soon adopted children with her husband. Vance said he “of course” acknowledges Harris and Buttigieg’s families and argued that his comments were taken out of context.

With less than three months until Election Day, Trump and Vance are facing a very different race than they did last month, when Trump picked Vance as his running mate and Republicans gathered in Milwaukee for the party convention.

President Joe Biden’s departure and his replacement as the Democratic nominee by Harris has led to a much tighter presidential race than polls had predicted, when Trump led for much of 2024.

Vance acknowledged in the interview that “it’s different.” “But what’s different is we’re running against a different person that a lot of Americans just don’t know,” he said.

The Ohio senator said Republicans’ goal is to contrast the policies Trump championed during his term with those of the Biden-Harris administration.

“Now, this was an easier case to make when Joe Biden was there, because people associate Joe Biden with the policies. But I think Kamala Harris clearly owns the policies of the Biden-Harris administration, especially when we consider the fact that we’ve all learned over the last few months that Joe Biden is clearly not capable of doing the job,” Vance said.

He also claimed that Harris “really called the shots” in the Biden White House. “I mean, how could she not? I think Joe Biden really doesn’t know where he stands,” Vance said.

Tim Walz’s Military History

In the interview, Vance also accused Walz of “lying about his own record” of military service. He criticized the Minnesota governor for once claiming he had carried weapons “in war” — a Harris campaign spokesman said Walz had misspoken — and for failing to correct past descriptions of him as having served in wars.

“I’m not criticizing Tim Walz’s service; I’m criticizing the fact that he lied about his service to gain political advantage,” Vance said, accusing Walz of “outrageous behavior.” “It’s not right to falsify or exaggerate what you did, and I think that’s what he did,” Vance said.

Walz served in the Army National Guard for 24 years before retiring to run for Congress in 2005. He deployed with his unit to Italy in 2003 in support of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan, but was not deployed to a combat zone as part of his service.

Vance noted that retired Sergeant Major Doug Julin, who was Walz’s superior and is a longtime critic of the Minnesota governor, told CNN on Friday (9), that Walz avoided his mission in Iraq by retiring months before he was to be deployed. Notification of the mission came in the fall of 2004, before Walz retired, Julin said.

“He knew he was going to Iraq,” Vance said. “He decided to step down — to retire; whatever word you want to use — because he wanted to run for Congress. He lied about that. He said when he decided to retire, he didn’t know he was going to Iraq. That’s another untruth, as even his senior military officer has said,” Vance said.

“I am not criticizing your service. I am criticizing dishonesty – dishonesty spoken in favor of and for the purpose of political gain.”

He also said Walz’s selection of Harris was “a serious lapse in judgment.”

“And I don’t want to hear from a spokesperson for the Kamala Harris campaign; I want to hear from Kamala Harris addressing what I just said,” Vance said. “He said he served in a war, and he didn’t. That’s dishonest. The truth is Tim Walz didn’t tell the truth, and more importantly, it’s about Kamala Harris’s trial.”

Access to the abortion pill

Vance said that if reelected, Trump would not try to block access to the abortion drug mifepristone. However, he said the former president would let states make the decision on abortion policy — a position he acknowledged would lead to a patchwork of policies, including blue states with fewer restrictions and red states with more.

Asked about Kate Cox, the Texas woman who had to leave the state to have an abortion after her fetus was diagnosed with a rare and fatal genetic condition, Vance said: “My heart breaks for that woman.”

He said Trump “is not trying to prevent women who have unviable pregnancies from getting the medical care they need.”

“But what President Trump has said is we’re going to let the voters make those decisions. You have to let the voters make those decisions,” Vance said. “I think we have to let the voters decide, and when they do, you have to respect that.”

Vance said he was not personally “making judgments about what those laws should be.”

Political influence on interest rates

Vance said he agreed with Trump’s comment at a news conference last week that presidents should “have at least a say” in Federal Reserve policy — a position that would undermine the central bank’s historic autonomy.

“The political leadership of this country should have a greater say in the monetary policy of this country. I agree with him. This should fundamentally be a political decision. Agree or disagree, we should have the elected leaders of the United States having a say in the most important decisions facing our country,” Vance said.

“Whether the country goes to war; what our interest rates are — these are important questions that American democracy should have important answers to,” he said.

“I think all President Trump was saying was, look, it’s kind of weird that you have so many bureaucrats making so many important decisions. If the American people don’t like our interest rate policy, they should elect someone else to change that policy. Nothing should be above democratic debate in this country when it comes to the big issues facing the United States.”

More attacks on Kamala Harris

After Trump sparked controversy by questioning Harris’s racial heritage – whose parents were immigrants from Jamaica and India – Vance said he believes she “is who she says she is.”

However, he again portrayed Harris as a political “chameleon,” arguing that this was the point Trump was trying to make with his false comments at the recent National Association of Black Journalists convention.

“She’s not running a political campaign. She’s directing a movie. She’s just talking to voters from behind a teleprompter. It’s all scripted. She doesn’t have her political views out there,” Vance said.

He also pointed to the liberal positions Harris took during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary — a race she dropped out of in 2019 before the first votes were counted.

“She didn’t answer why she wanted to ban fracking but now doesn’t; she wanted to defund the police but now doesn’t; she wanted to open the border but now doesn’t,” Vance said.

“She should have to answer why she presents a different set of policies to one audience and another set of policies to another audience,” he said. “And I think that’s what President Trump was trying to say. This is a fundamentally disingenuous person. She’s different depending on who’s in front of her.”