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Vance's weird stalking a sign of despair
"Not just weird, but creepy": JD Vance's stalker moves show the Trump campaign is fully out of ideas
As Kamala Harris surges in the polls, Republicans react by trying to drive up the incel vote
By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published August 9, 2024 5:56AM (EDT)
(Salon) ....(snip)....
While Trump unconvincingly denies that he's weird, his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, appears to be leaning into the "weird" charge. As his boss camps out at Mar-a-Lago, Vance has been tailing Vice President Kamala Harris around the country while she introduces her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, to the nation. Vance shows no sign of interest in refuting the rumors of his weirdness, instead acting like an unsavory creep everywhere he goes. When asked by a reporter what makes him smile, Vance let out a fake laugh, before weirdly insisting, "President Trump in particular has the best sense of humor." This is the same Trump who recently demanded, "Don't laugh under any circumstances" at Harris. Vance also pretends to be the presidential candidate at times, even trying to challenge Harris, not Walz, to a debate.
But what makes this all the weirder is Vance seems determined to prove correct the allegation that he's "stalking" Harris. On Wednesday, Vance pulled an unsettling stunt. He spotted Air Force Two on a Wisconsin tarmac and chased it down in a faux attempt to "confront" Harris. Thankfully, she had left the airport already, avoiding questions about whether it was time to file for a restraining order. But his behavior did create another round of reminders that JD Vance is a nosy creep. Recall that he has even demanded that local police have access to women's medical records so they can know if patients are or may be pregnant — and can use state force to keep them that way.
Link to tweet
As journalist Edward Isaac-Dovere said on CNN, the stunt was "not just weird, but creepy." The whole debacle just underscores how, as Vance admitted to donors, the decision of President Joe Biden to quit the race so Harris could take over has felt like a "sucker punch" to the Trump campaign, one that they are still reeling from. Of course, even that language is childish and weird, as it feeds off Trump's rich kid-bellyaching about how unfair it is that he can't pick his political opponent. When Trump chose Vance, Biden was still in. As Atlantic reporter Tim Alberta wrote, the choice "was borne of cockiness, meant to run up margins with the base in a blowout rather than persuade swing voters in a nail-biter."
....(snip)....
Centering the campaign around the creepy-and-weird vote was surprisingly effective against Biden, whose age-related issues made it difficult for him to call this out, much less push back on it. In that vacuum, normal people were tuning out altogether, because the election seemed grosser and sadder by the minute. The election had the same vibe as an internet forum that is becoming so overrun with trolls who regular users can't even stand to be in the room with anymore. Replacing Biden with Harris — and especially with her cheerful bulldog of a running mate, Walz — changes the dynamic considerably. By labeling MAGA as "weird," Harris and Walz have started to exact an actual price from Trump, Vance, and their acolytes for behaving the way they do. And that price is starting to show up in the polls. ...........................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/08/09/not-just-weird-but-creepy-jd-vances-stalker-moves-show-the-campaign-is-fully-out-of-ideas/
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