Republicans are turning to an insult Democrats used against them two years ago as their midterm chances droop.
MS NOW reported that top Republicans have started slurring rivals as "weird," which Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz deployed in July 2024 against Donald Trump, JD Vance and other Republicans.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) called Democrats "dangerous, radical, and weird" three times in a speech of less than 10 minutes at the Republican convention in Dallas this month, and Vance called Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed "evil" and "weird."
The president has repeatedly called Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico "weird." On Friday, the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA, Inc. released an ad that opens by calling Talarico "weird — very weird."
The Republicans are leaning on the insult while the political landscape turns against them. Trump's approval ratings are historically low, inflation hasn't gone away, gas prices remain above $4 a gallon, and the war in Iran has passed the seven-month mark.
"When you can't talk about your successful record on the economy, you do ridiculous things like calling people 'weird,'" Mike Madrid, a longtime Republican strategist and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, told MS NOW.
Madrid said the tactic looked desperate when Democrats used it, "and it's even more desperate now because it's not even original — it's a photocopy of desperation."
The attack may not have worked the first time either. Geoff Garin, president of Hart Research, which polled for the Harris campaign, told MS NOW that "weird" did not do well in the campaign's internal polling. A Democratic operative said the GOP's use of the word shows Republicans are "in panic mode."
Drew Westen, a psychology professor and political strategist, said "weird" doesn't have the force of "woke," the progressive term Republicans turned into an insult. "I think Republicans are throwing spaghetti against the wall because they're so disliked by the public," Westen said.
GOP officials were unapologetic. Bernadette Breslin, press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said "weird is an understatement." Natalie Baldassarre, press secretary for the Republican National Committee, dismissed a question about whether the party had tested the term with voters. "No studying is needed," she said.
The El-Sayed campaign said the candidate is "not concerned about the sounds coming from Washington." The Talarico campaign did not respond to MS NOW's request for comment.
Madrid predicted the strategy will fail with voters who care more about prices than personalities.
"If it's the difference between putting in somebody who's 'weird' and driving up the price of gas," he said, "we're at the point now where the average old white Republican is going to say, 'Give me the weird guy.'"