The GOP is scrambling to find a line of attack against Kamala Harris’s VP pick — and it’s not going well

Tim Walz has made his debut as Kamala Harris’ running mate, and Republicans are struggling to apply their standard villainization playbook to the Minnesota governor.

Walz has been making waves for weeks now as a good-natured, relatable politician with a particular aptitude for dressing down the Republican agenda in terms that any voter can understand — and the GOP hates it.

Republicans are scrambling to paint the governor-turned-VP candidate as a devilish Marxist hellbent on running the country into the ground — their usual stuff — while leveling a bunch of other really weird attacks. Here are some of their most pathetic attempts to turn voters against Walz.

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  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    301·
    3 months ago

    Also Republicans: screaming themselves hoarse about an Algerian woman boxer.

    The weird get weirder and I’m loving this VP pick. What a 180 from just a few weeks ago, when a lot of us thought the Democrats were just going to march into a very likely loss with Biden as the nominee…most people now laugh when JD is the topic and a couch reference is made and the Republicans are proving themselves to a bunch of creepy weirdos on the daily.

  • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
    49·
    3 months ago

    I don’t think they’ll struggle to attack him, it’s just a question of whether it will stick and how much it will matter since he’s only the VP pick. In some ways it’s useful because it distracted them from Harris.

    The attacks seem pretty obvious: he’s a pedophile, he eats babies, Minneapolis burned under his watch, he retired from the national guard to avoid combat, he supported LGBTQ groups in high schools, he lived in China, he facilitated sending children to China, say China a lot, say Marxist a lot, say communist a lot, highlight Bernie and Hillary’s support of him, etc.

    Remember, they only need to villainize him to people that already think he’s a villain, so nothing needs to be true or especially devastating. It’s like the Fox cut-down that people responded to by being like “the reasons Fox says he’s bad are all the reasons I like him!”

    It’s like, well, yes. Fox isn’t trying to convince you. They’re trying to make sure republican voters don’t stay home.

    Edit: oh, and tampons, I forgot they were attacking him about tampons.

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
      17·
      3 months ago

      This doesn’t make sense to me. They need to villainize him for those low info voters on the fence of voting. Most Republicans are voting for Trump, not against Kamala.

      • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
        13·
        3 months ago

        Their problem is they want to energize their base to vote while not encouraging a wider turnout. That’s the point of attacks, not to change opinions. Unfortunately for them, their attacks end up energizing their opponents base because they’re so fucking stupid or actually pointing out things the opponents base wants.

        “Kamala picks the vp endorsed by Sanders. This Democratic ticket is a horrible vehicle for progressive change that we must stop.” That’s the sort of attack that actually helps your opponent. If they let Kamala’s campaign paint them as both radical and not looking for real change, they’re cooked. And so far that’s what they’re doing.

    • chetradley@lemmy.world
      7·
      3 months ago

      “I hope Tim Walz sexually assaulted teenage boys so we can use it against him” would be such an eye opener if these people had the ability to think about what they were posting.

    • Wogi@lemmy.world
      86·
      3 months ago

      The original image is so much better. No need to add a dipshit, just the VP nominee with a baby pig.

      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
        51·
        3 months ago

        I don’t like the whole “down to earth politician I could get a beer with” thing, but I legitimately don’t think I can picture trump or vance looking happy with a farm animal, and I think that says something about them as peoplecin a way that’s different than just “down to earth”.

        You should look like that if you’re at a fair and someone hands you a piglet. It’s just a funny, cute thing that’s supposed to make people happy.

        • Wogi@lemmy.world
          8·
          3 months ago

          Trump couldn’t pull off holding a book for fuck’s sake. And this guy, he’s just charming. He’s a big lovable oaf.

        • Zaktor@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          22·
          3 months ago

          I think the range of clothing I can picture them in is suit or golf polo. They just exude the energy of rich boys who don’t want to do anything “beneath their station”.

            • Zaktor@sopuli.xyzEnglish
              9·
              3 months ago

              Vance probably has as he was in the military. Even a cushy press job has to make his own bed. But I’m sure he’s put that all behind him and now thinks of that as work for the servants.

        • Sc00ter@lemm.ee
          12·
          3 months ago

          The “get a beer with” thing is about trust and being comfortable. Sounds like, “handing him a piglet” is your version of this. His reaction makes you trust and be comfortable with him as a decent human.

          I vote, you now use the phrase, “I’d hand that guy a piglet.” And make it your own.

          • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
            1·
            3 months ago

            Makes a lot of sense when you put it like that. :)

            I felt funny about it because I don’t generally need my politicians to be “down to earth” because exceptional people are often not and that’s fine, but I do need them to have that human joy of a baby animal, even if they’re not a pet owner or anything.

            Definitely appreciate the insight that it’s related, but different qualities being desired. :). Definitely going to use that phrase now.

          • barsquid@lemmy.world
            18·
            3 months ago

            If we were in a novel or a movie the critics would have called that symbolism too heavy-handed. Of course they also would have said it is too unrealistic to have millions of dimwits voting for a con man because they are all racist.

      • pivot_root@lemmy.world
        6·
        3 months ago

        You see, Republicans saying that exact thing would’ve been smart. It’s both true (as an acronym for his rank), but also dangerously close to “CSAM” that idiots would be up in arms about the guy being a predator.

        Still would be an incredibly scummy thing to do to attack opponents, but that might have actually achieved something for those amoral fuckwits.

    • solsangraal@lemmy.zipEnglish
      25·
      3 months ago

      how long before the inevitable “national guard isn’t real army men!!!” talking point is flying around?

  • ATDA@lemmy.world
    33·
    3 months ago

    If Jesus were her running mate they’d find some way to double down on ‘Democrats bad’ by making a new hyper Christianity that’s even more theocratic and fascist.

  • Otakulad@lemmy.world
    122·
    3 months ago

    Well yeah. I mean look at this man. Free breakfast AND lunch. Sounds like the devil’s work to me. You have to be a good Christian like Sarah Huckabee and remove child labor laws.

    I mean, who hugs kids like this anyway?

  • ceenote@lemmy.world
    1222·
    3 months ago

    I love the contrast this is painting between the far-left and far-right. On the one hand, you got fascists carrying tiki torches and chanting “jews will not replace us,” and on the other you got people saying “let’s make sure no children are starving.” And talking heads on Fox are super pissed about the latter.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1383·
      3 months ago

      To be clear neither Harris or Walz are “far left”…

      This is what actual moderates looked like.

      I’m happy to have them, but we lose if we call what they’re doing “far left”.

      We desperately need to bring the Overton Window back where it should be.

      • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
        51·
        3 months ago

        As far as I understand, far left is anti-capitalism (communism), and/or anti-authority (anarchism), and/or maybe more recently radical ecologists who are ready to destroy property.

      • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
        30·
        3 months ago

        Oh, only the Wrong Wing calls them far left. Normal people know better. For one thing, they have a chance of being elected.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
          32·
          3 months ago

          Normal people know better.

          We’ll see. I suspect we’re going to get a full-court press against Walz, particularly after the DC media circuit was shilling so hard for Shapiro and didn’t get what they wanted.

          He’s going to get the same tarring and feathering as the Sanders campaign did, back in 2020, after Chris Matthews nearly had a heart attack on air when Bernie won Nevada.

        • ceenote@lemmy.world
          14·
          3 months ago

          That’s what I’m saying. Right wing talking heads are priming people to start thinking “The far left doesn’t seem so bad.”

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
        413·
        3 months ago

        To be clear neither Harris or Walz are “far left”…

        Policies that were considered centrist compromise planks back in the 70s and 80s are now “Fringe Leftist Views” in the modern media, because so much of our information is owned and manufactured by right wing extremists.

        • teamevil@lemmy.world
          3·
          3 months ago

          Who love to scream that the liberal media isn’t right enough… the right is the absolute scum of the earth, they can shove their Fuck you I got mine attitude right up their ass

    • bitchkat@lemmy.worldEnglish
      51·
      3 months ago

      There is no far left in mainstream US politics. That is nothing more than republican fear mongering.

  • EvilBit@lemmy.world
    39·
    3 months ago

    Believability is the nemesis of the GOP this cycle.

    Walz is a villain? Not believable

    Vance fucked a couch? Believable

    Trump took illegal funds from Egypt? So believable

  • Media Bias Fact Checker@lemmy.worldB
    413·
    3 months ago
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  • So_zetta_slowpoke@lemmy.world
    12·
    3 months ago

    Maybe don’t make your whole political strategy about tearing people down and try to actually run candidates who are better in some measurable way

  • Greeklibertarian27@lemmy.world
    139·
    3 months ago

    Well I mean as a foreigner the way I see him and is presented is a Vans 2.

    Someone from the Midwest that is the real American, had a low class working life and now will fight for the Americans that feel neglected.

    With Vans I get it. With the dems not so much since they never target the white working class.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      10·
      3 months ago

      Vance did 4 years in the military right after high school and then got some kind of sweetheart deal from Ohio State. (He graduated a 4 year degree in 2 years, which just does not happen.) Then went to Yale law school. He took that degree and worked as a corporate lawyer and venture capitalist.

      Walz did 23 years in the military and worked as a teacher.

      One of them is cosplaying as a blue collar worker from the Midwest and one of them actually is a blue collar worker from the Midwest. Anyone voting for Vance based on that lie deserves what they get.

  • nifty@lemmy.world
    13·
    3 months ago

    Some info about the stolen valor comments:

    Left national guard after two decades to run off public office

    Eustice says he remembers Walz struggling with the timing of wanting to serve as a lawmaker but also avoiding asking for a deferment so he could do so.

    "He had a window of time. He had to decide. And in his deciding, we were not on notice to be deployed. There were rumors. There were lots of rumors, and we didn’t know where we were going until it was later that, early summer, I believe,” Eustice told ABC News.

    Also, he did carry weapons of war and “in war”, unless someone wants to correct this.

    Walz deployed with the Minnesota National Guard to Italy on Aug. 3, 2003, to support Operation Enduring Freedom, according to the Minnesota Guard. The battalion supported security missions at various locations in Europe and Turkey, according to the Guard, and Walz was stationed in Vicenza, Italy, until returning to Minnesota in 2004. He did not deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.

    On operation enduring freedom, part of war on terror

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Enduring_Freedom

    So, in fact he did carry weapons in war. Why are people saying he didn’t?