'Not surprised at all': Hometown news editor explains Ohio knew about Vance's 'weirdness'
August 05, 2024
Ohio newspaper editor Chris Quinn isn't surprised to see the world's reactions to Republican vice presidential candidate and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance's "weirdness."
Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Monday, Quinn, editor of Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, explained he is "not surprised at all" to see shock over Vance.
Wallace played a smattering of clips showing Donald Trump complaining about being called "weird" and deploying the "I know you are, but what am I" retort.
"You know who's plain weird? She's plain weird," Trump told Fox host Laura Ingraham last week.
Read also: Inside J.D. Vance's 'Elegy' grift
"They're clearly triggered," Wallace said of Trump's response. "The candidate and his running mate saying we're not weird. And they sound weird doing it."
Vance has a knack for saying "a lot of weird things," she noted.
"That's why even super-conservative hosts are asking him about things that lead to weird, unpopular, and polarizing policies —policies that control things that J.D. Vance doesn't understand," Wallace explained.
Quinn confessed that he wished he'd come up with the word "weird" for Vance, noting that "it is so appropriate for what he's saying."
"I don't think we're surprised at all at the statements that are coming out now because of the way Ohio works," he continued. Due to closed primaries, the farthest right candidate wins the GOP race. A whopping 70 percent of Ohio voters aren't registered with either political party. "So, when it comes to the party primaries it's a very small percentage of people that make that selection, and it has turned the primaries into just a competition to be the most outrageous."
Quinn recalled during the U.S. Senate race when many of his controversial comments and policies were coming out.
Wallace asked if Vance could hurt Trump by being on the ticket.
"We did a story about this last week, and most people said no," Quinn explained. "That's because of the numbers in the last two elections compared to what Obama did. [Most people said] it's not possible. But I'm not sure I buy that. Trump wasn't a felon when he ran before. Now he is. And people in Ohio, in the center, pay attention to things like that. And it could be that they just don't want to vote for him or Vance."
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