Donald Trump Jr posted a tweet over the weekend in which he tried to own Tim Walz. The Minnesota Governor made headlines a few weeks ago when he slammed former President Donald Trump and other Republicans as “weird”. The concept caught on. 

Some observers believe it, and Walz’s mid-western likeability played a part in Kamala Harris’s decision to select him as her Vice Presidential pick. 

Many close to the Trump campaign appear infuriated with the “weird” tag. On Saturday, Don Jr. shared a video clip of Walz greeting his wife at a recent rally. They shake hands before hugging. 

“Totally normal to greet your wife with a firm handshake and a bro hug/back slap. Tim Walz isn’t weird at all, guys 🤣🤣🤣” crowed Jr. 

Jr’s tweet has prompted 9k comments. Many commentators came with videos and photos of Donald and Melania Trump. They scolded Jr for suggesting that Walz is the weird one. 

For example, there was that time when Donald Trump greeted his wife at a rally with a handshake and then appeared to push her away from the podium.

Then there are the times when Melania doesn’t even want to shake her husband’s hand. 

JD Vance also criticizes Tim Walz

Donald Jr was not the only one to try and attack Walz over the hug with his wife. Donald Terump’s Vice Presidential pick JD Vance also commented on it during an interview with Dana Bush on CNN’s “State of the Union” yesterday. 

Vance said Democrats blasting Republicans as “weird” was childish and bullying. 

““It drives home how they’re trying to distract from their own policy failures. I mean, look, this is fundamentally schoolyard bully stuff,” Vance said. “They can accuse me of whatever they want to accuse me of.”

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

“So I think that what it is is two people, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, who aren’t comfortable in their own skin because they aren’t comfortable with their policy positions for the American people, 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,” Vance added.

Queer former students of Tim Walz praise him as a teacher

Walz appears to have proved a welcome addition to the Harris Presidential campaign among Democrats. He also has a track record of standing up for LGBTQ+ rights. Over the weekend, former students of his remembered their teacher. Back in 1999, Walz helped set up the first Gay-Straight Alliance, Mankato West High School in Mankato, where he and his wife worked. 

Jacob Reitan, a founding member of that GSA and now an LGBTQ activist and lawyer, spoke to MSNBC.

“Both Tim and Gwen were incredibly supportive of their gay students, and they modeled values of inclusivity and respect,” Reitan, 42, said. “I was bullied in high school. [Their values] helped not just me, but it also, I think, helped the bully. It showed the bully a better path forward, and I can think of no one better than Tim Walz to show that better path forward for America.”

Another student from that time had similar praise. Seth Elliot Meyer is bisexual and attended the GSA at the school. 

“I had a really hard time in high school, and I felt like a lot of teachers wanted me to be someone else,” Meyer said. Walz, however, “was in a minority of teachers who wanted me to be OK with who I was and speak my mind, and whether it was with GSA stuff or anything else, was happy to be questioned and challenged, because he wanted to question and challenge things.”

Related
Tim Walz has long been a friend to the queer community, and here’s the proof

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