The Daily Populous Sunday September 1st, 2024 evening edition
Authored by lgbtqnation.com and submitted by Coffee_n_wifi

Former President Donald Trump appears with Republican vice president nominee JD Vance and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson during the first day of the Republican National Convention Photo: Mike De Sisti / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Donald Trump appeared to say that his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), isn’t weird because he’s “so straight.”

Trump was speaking at a town hall event in LaCross, Wisconsin, yesterday with former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii when he discussed how the Harris-Walz campaign has been calling Republicans – and especially Vance – “weird.”

“They picked this guy,” Trump said, referring to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), who has been vocal about calling Vance and Trump weird. “He is weird! Right? I’m not weird, he’s weird.”

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“No, he’s a weird guy, he’s a weird dude,” Trump continued. “You know, they come up with soundbites, they always have soundbites, and one of the things is that J.D. and I are weird.”

Then Trump defended himself and Vance from the weird charges, calling Vance “so straight” and a “top student.”

“This guy is so straight? J.D. is so… He’s doing a great job, smart, top student, great guy, he’s not weird and I’m not weird. I mean, we’re a lot of things, we’re not weird.”

Trump: I'm not weird. He's weird. He's a weird guy. He is a weird dude. They say JD and I are weird. That guy is sooo straight, JD. pic.twitter.com/YQaq8IEqK6 — Acyn (@Acyn) August 30, 2024

The Harris-Walz campaign started pounding Trump and Vance for being “weird” in July, shortly after Biden announced that he was stepping out of the race. The insult may seem like it underplays how progressives view a potential Trump second term, but it has gotten an oversized reaction from many on the right.

Part of the issue is that conservatives often construct their identities around the idea that they are normal and people who are different from them – LGBTQ+ people in particular – are abnormal or weird. Many have responded to the “weird” accusations by simply stating that queer people are, to them, more weird.

So perhaps it’s not surprising that Trump would use Vance’s heterosexuality as a defense against the “weird” accusations.

Another possibility is that Trump wasn’t saying much of anything when he called Vance “so straight” and instead was having issues with remaining coherent. Trump struggled to stick to topics at the town hall event, rambling from one subject to another without making a point.

At one point in his appearance, he suggested that wind power was a reason that people aren’t eating much bacon anymore (which isn’t true – bacon consumption has increased every year except for one in the U.S. since 2011, according to the MRI-Simmons National Consumer Survey).

Trump: Some people don't eat bacon anymore. This was caused by their horrible energy. Wind. They want wind all over the place. When it doesn't blow, we have a problem. pic.twitter.com/z9FnkHnYOU — Acyn (@Acyn) August 30, 2024

At another point in the event, Trump said that 107% of jobs created in the past several years are going to “illegal immigrants.” This is not only impossible, but it’s also far from the truth. According to Forbes, American-born people in the workforce have increased by 6% under President Joe Biden. There has also been an increase in foreign-born workers getting jobs in the U.S., but Labor Department statistics include both undocumented and documented immigrants in that number.

Trump: I don't know if you heard the latest statistic that of the jobs these people created, which is very little, every single job was taken, about 107%, by illegal immigrants. There has been no job creation from them. pic.twitter.com/3SpFVhdsR2 — Acyn (@Acyn) August 30, 2024

Trump also claimed that it’s legal in Minnesota for a mother to execute a baby after they are born. This is not true.

Trump lies that in Minnesota it's legal for moms to execute their born babies. Someone wake up the fact checkers please! pic.twitter.com/to6NAyxy9S — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 30, 2024

Deadaghram on September 1st, 2024 at 11:16 UTC »

Is this why republicans think being called weird is the worst insult? Because they think it means gay?

awwrats on September 1st, 2024 at 10:51 UTC »

To be honest, I never really gave Vance's sexual orientation a second thought. I just a thought he was weird in that weird republican way. Now I'm thinking "what if the weird he projects is him trying to pretend that he's not gay and that's his straight guy act and we're all perceiving it as just weird?"

killerkebab1499 on September 1st, 2024 at 10:30 UTC »

I find it genuinely hilarious how offended so many Republicans have gotten over being called weird.

It's not just the irony of being offended by something so stupid when they moan about other people being offended all the fucking time.

It's the fact that for years people have been insulting republicans in so many worse ways.

They don't care when we say they're in a cult, they don't care when we say that they have been brainwashed, and they don't care when we call them stupid.

But being called weird? That's just too far.