Vance looks to turn tables on Walz: He’s the one being ‘weird’

(CNN) — Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance sought to turn the tables on Democratic rival Tim Walz, asserting that the Minnesota governor is the one being “weird.”

In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash that aired Sunday, the Ohio senator pointed to Walz shaking his wife’s hand before hugging her onstage at the rally in Philadelphia at which Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled him as her running mate.

Vance accused the Democratic ticket of “a little bit of projection,” contrasting how he’d hugged and kissed his own wife after his first speech as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

“Tim Walz gave his wife a nice, firm Midwestern handshake, and then tried to sort of awkwardly correct for it,” Vance said.

“I think what it is, is two people, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, who aren’t comfortable in their own skin, because they’re uncomfortable with their policy positions for the American people,” he said. “And so they’re name-calling instead of actually telling the American people how they’re going to make their lives better. I think that’s weird, Dana, but look, they can call me whatever they want to.”

Asked whether he was suggesting the governor doesn’t have affection for his wife, Vance said Walz “acted weird, which he did, on a national stage in front of his wife.”

Vance’s comments come as Democrats seize on a message that stems from Walz — weeks before his selection as Harris’ ticket mate — describing former President Donald Trump and Vance as “just weird” in an interview on MSNBC.

In his “State of the Union” interview, Vance dismissed the taunt as “fundamentally schoolyard bully stuff.”

The characterization of Vance as “weird” was fueled in part by comments he made in a 2021 interview, claiming that the United States is run by “childless cat ladies.” He specifically mentioned Harris, who is a stepmother, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who would soon afterward adopt children with his husband. Vance said “of course” he acknowledges the families of Harris and Buttigieg, and argued his comments were taken out of context.

With less than three months until Election Day, Trump and Vance are confronting a wildly different race than the one they faced last month, when Trump tapped Vance as his running mate and Republicans gathered in Milwaukee for the party’s convention.

President Joe Biden’s departure and replacement as Democratic nominee by Harris has led to a much tighter presidential race than the one polls showed Trump leading for much of 2024.

Vance acknowledged in the interview that “it is different.”

“But what’s different about it is we’re running against a different person who a lot of Americans just don’t know,” he said.

The Ohio senator said Republicans’ goal is to contrast the policies Trump stood for during his term in office with those of the Biden-Harris administration.

“Now that was an easier case to make when Joe Biden was in there, because people associate Joe Biden with the policies. But I think Kamala Harris clearly owns the policies of the Biden-Harris administration, especially when we consider the fact that as we’ve all learned in the last few months, Joe Biden clearly isn’t capable of doing the job,” Vance said.

He also claimed that Harris “really has been the one calling the shots” in the Biden White House.

“I mean, how could she not? I think Joe Biden doesn’t really know where he is,” Vance said.

Walz’s military record

Vance also accused Walz of “lying about his own record” of military service in the interview.

He criticized the Minnesota governor for once claiming to have carried weapons “in war” — a Harris campaign spokesperson said Walz misspoke — and for failing to correct descriptions of him in the past as having served in wars.

“I’m not criticizing Tim Walz’s service; I’m criticizing the fact that he lied about his service for political gain,” Vance said, accusing Walz of “scandalous behavior.”

“It’s not right to misstate or embellish what you’ve done, and I think that’s what he did,” Vance said.

Walz served in the Army National Guard for 24 years before retiring to run for Congress in 2005. He deployed with his unit to Italy in 2003 in support of the US’ war effort in Afghanistan but did not deploy to a combat zone as part of his service.

Vance pointed out that retired Command Sgt. Maj. Doug Julin, who was Walz’s superior and is a longtime critic of the Minnesota governor, told CNN’s Laura Coates on Friday that Walz dodged his deployment to Iraq by retiring months before he would have been deployed to Iraq. Notice of the deployment came in the fall of 2004, before Walz retired, Julin said.

“He knew he was going to Iraq,” Vance said. “He decided to quit — to retire; whatever word you want to use … because he wanted to run for Congress. He lied about that. He said that when he decided to retire, he did not know he was going to Iraq. That is another untruth, as even his senior military officer said.

“I’m not criticizing his service. I’m criticizing dishonesty — dishonesty spoken in favor and for the purpose of political benefit.”

He also said Harris’ choice of Walz is “a serious lapse in judgment.”

“And I don’t want to hear from a campaign spokesperson of Kamala Harris; I want to hear Kamala Harris herself address what I just said,” Vance said. “He said he served in war, and he didn’t. That is a dishonesty. … The truth is that Tim Walz didn’t tell the truth, and importantly, Dana, this is about Kamala Harris’ judgment.”

Abortion pill access

Vance said if reelected, Trump would not seek to block access to the abortion drug mifepristone.

However, he said the former president would “let states make the decision on abortion policy” — a position he acknowledged would lead to a patchwork of policies, including blue states with fewer restrictions and red states with more.

Asked about Kate Cox, the Texas woman who had to leave the state to receive an abortion after her fetus had been diagnosed with a rare and deadly genetic condition, Vance said, “My heart breaks for this woman.”

He said Trump is “not trying to prevent women who have nonviable pregnancies from getting access to the medical care that they need.”

“But what President Trump has said is that we’re going to let voters make these decisions. … You’ve got to let the voters make these decisions,” Vance said. “I think that we have to let voters decide, and when they speak their mind, you have to be respectful.”

Vance said he was personally “not passing judgment on what those laws should be.”

Political influence over interest rates

Vance said he agrees with Trump’s comment in a news conference last week that presidents should “have at least a say” over Federal Reserve policy — a position that would undercut the central bank’s historical autonomy.

“The political leadership of this country should have more say over the monetary policy of this country. I agree with him. That should fundamentally be a political decision. Agree or disagree, we should have America’s elected leaders having input about the most important decisions confronting our country,” Vance said.

“Whether the country goes to war; what our interest rates are — these are important questions that American democracy should have important answers for,” he said. “I think all President Trump was saying was that look, it’s kind of weird that you have so many bureaucrats making so many important decisions. If the American people don’t like our interest rate policy, they should elect somebody different to change that policy. Nothing should be above democratic debate in this country when it comes to the big questions confronting the United States.”

More attacks on Harris

After Trump set off controversy by questioning the racial heritage of Harris – whose parents were immigrants from Jamaica and India – Vance said he believes Harris “is whatever she says she is.”

However, he again cast Harris as a political “chameleon,” arguing that was the point Trump was attempting to make with his false comments at the recent National Association of Black Journalists convention.

“She’s not running a political campaign. She’s running a movie. She only speaks to voters behind a teleprompter. Everything is scripted. She doesn’t have her policy positions out there,” Vance said.

He also pointed to liberal positions Harris took during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary – a race she dropped out of in 2019, before the first votes were cast.

“She hasn’t answered why she wanted to ban fracking but now she doesn’t; she wanted to defund the police but now she doesn’t; she wanted to open the border but now she doesn’t,” Vance said.

“She should have to answer for why she presents a different set of policies to one audience and a different set of policies to another audience,” he said. “And I think that’s what President Trump was getting at. This is a fundamentally fake person. She’s different depending on who she’s in front of.”

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