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In recent weeks, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and her surrogates have been repeatedly using the word “weird” to describe their political opponents.
More specifically, Democrats have using the “weird” label against American voters who favor socially conservative policies that protect unborn life and favor the family, children, and traditional values.
A particular target of the “weird” accusation has been Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-OH, a Catholic.
Harris’ selection of far-left favorite Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate showed that her campaign is doubling down on the “weird” strategy: It was Walz himself who likely coined and undoubtedly popularized the attack when he stated on MSNBC last month: “These are weird people on the other side.”
But now, weeks after it first spread like wildfire throughout left-wing spheres, “weird” seems to be backfiring on the newly minted Harris-Walz ticket in several ways.
America is ‘weird’
While Democratic politicians and activists continuously use the word, they almost never provide a definition of what it truly means to be “weird.”
Although they hurl the word as an insult, could “weird” actually be an unintentional compliment?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “weird” as meaning “of strange or extraordinary character.” In fact, the modern word traces its origin back to the Old English word “wyrd,” which meant “destiny.”
In a piece published in The Free Press over the weekend, Republican former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy asserted that America – and especially the America envisioned by the founding fathers – is inherently a “weird” country.
Ramaswamy recounted that his immigrant parents would frequently tell him, “if you’re going to stand out, you might as well be outstanding.”
He called this advice “quintessentially American,” noting: “It’s what distinguished America’s Founding Fathers.”
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The businessman-turned-candidate continued:
The Old World was one that aspired to a certain form of normalcy—one where people stayed in their respective lanes. An inventor was an inventor, a lord was a lord, a philosopher was a philosopher. Much of this was determined at birth.
“But our Founders were different,” Ramaswamy noted. “They didn’t believe in those boundaries.”
He pointed out that many of the founding fathers, including Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, were polymaths – true Renaissance men, with a host of achievements across many fields.
“They were weird,” emphasized Ramaswamy. “Often the ones who said the weirdest things adopted some of the weirdest viewpoints by the standards of their day.”
Later in his piece, Ramaswamy stated that using accusations of “weirdness” to degenerate political opponents is “anti-American, on at least two levels.”
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“First, it denies the possibility of exceptionalism,” he wrote:
Most people who go on to accomplish extraordinary things in America—or anywhere in the world—said and believed some “weird” things when judged by the standards of their day. Think of Abraham. Or Galileo.
“And people who think differently also tend to be a little strange themselves,” Ramaswamy stressed.
Catholics are ‘weird’
Ramaswamy’s point that being able to dissent from a false and dangerous prevailing worldview requires a degree of “weirdness” certainly applies to present-day Catholics as well.
Catholic sociologist Dr. Anne Hendershott wrote in Crisis Magazine on Monday that “being a faithful Catholic in the modern world seems weird to those who have embraced the modernist radical materialism that permeates so much of the culture.”
Hendershott stated that Democrats repeatedly calling Vance “weird” is “really a coded attack on his Catholic faith and his belief that what the Church teaches is true.”
“The truth is that Catholicism has been viewed by many as ‘weird’ for more than 2,000 years,” she pointed out:
Most faithful Catholics are used to being viewed as “weird” because of our certainty that Three can be One, that the Holy Eucharist can be the Real Presence of Christ, and that we can believe in what we cannot see.
…
Embracing a corrupt culture that values “reproductive choice,” “assistance in dying,” “same-sex marriage,” and gender ideology, today’s Catholic-in-name-only Democrat politicians like President Biden or Nancy Pelosi would never be seen as weird because they have publicly rejected the teachings of their Church.
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“Catholicism is indeed countercultural,” Hendershott wrote. “Faithful Catholics in today’s modern world know that being a faithful Catholic … is going to be viewed as countercultural—or fundamentally weird.”
“This may actually appeal to those in every generation who want to break free from the ‘normal’ and find real meaning in their world,” she concluded.
But what about the ‘cat ladies?’
In addition to calling Vance – a Marine Corps veteran, husband, and father of three – “weird,” Democrats as of late have also rallied around defending so-called “childless cat ladies.”
The exact term dates back to a 2021 interview then U.S. Senate candidate Vance gave to Tucker Carlson, who at the time hosted a popular primetime show on FOX News.
Vance was discussing the fact that many prominent Democrats who do not have children support policies that are detrimental to working families.
“We’re effectively run in this country – via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs – by a bunch of childless cat ladies,” he told Carlson, “who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.”
“And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?” Vance asked.
>> VANCE: PUSHING SEXUALLY EXPLICIT BOOKS ON KIDS IS ‘WEIRD’ <<
This election cycle, Vance’s tongue-in-cheek remark has become a rallying cry for many members of the party that disparages traditionally-minded Americans as “weird.”
The Los Angeles Times reported this weekend: “The annual gathering of cat owners at the Pasadena Convention Center, known as CatCon, was underway late Saturday morning.”
The conventions’ “thousands of attendees dressed in costumes or wore cat ears, furry tails and shirts with hiss-terical puns as they strolled and gawked at hundreds of exhibition stands selling cat-related merchandise and products,” the Times noted:
But amid the sea of feline aficionados, 43-year-old Shannon Peace stood out for a different reason — her shirt. Printed on the front, it read: “Childless Cat Ladies for Kamala.”
“I had a different shirt picked out for today; it had several cats and it said: ‘Ew, people,’” she said, chuckling. “But then [Vance] made those comments.”
The Times article mentioned that a booth at the convention sold a shirt bearing the words “Childless cat lady ready to force my misery on conservatives.”
The man who designed the shirt told the Times: “We’re just guys in a cat ladies’ world.”
In addition, a group of left-wing activists even organized a Zoom call titled “Cat Ladies for Kamala,” which took place this past weekend.
“Join the Cat Ladies for Kamala on this Zoom call for us, and our cats, to come together and hear more about how to get involved to ensure we elect Kamala Harris as the 47th President of the United States,” the call’s description stated. “Event is open to cat ladies from all genders.”
