A game kids love to play is “Opposite Day” when, for one day, they get to wear their shoes on the wrong feet and have pancakes for supper and say “hello” when someone is leaving instead of “good-bye.” Temporarily breaking the rules is goofy and fun. But is this the same as “weird?”
On July 30, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade complained that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance were being labeled as weird. He argued that everybody is a little weird and being weird makes people relatable. “So, I just think that weird is cool, actually,” he said.
In fact, being weird is the exact opposite of relatable. Eating horseradish on your Cheerios might be eccentric, even charming. But giving that to your 2-year-old child is weird and creepy. No sane person would do that. Having a debate with an invisible friend is amusing. But buying clothes for an invisible friend is weird and a little worrisome.
Suddenly “weird” has become the word of the day. Trump absurdly claims that windmills cause cancer. If your old uncle Oscar said that after a couple of scotches you might chuckle and forget about it. But when the president of the United States says that, it’s weird. When you turn on the shower, Trump claims, no water comes out. If that ever happens, you call a plumber. It is not a nationwide problem. But Trump keeps bringing it up over and over again as if he expects everybody to agree with him. He insists he’d rather be electrocuted than eaten by sharks. Okay, we all have our preferences. But why use that as a regular part of his campaign speeches? It’s not as we all need to prepare ourselves for the inevitable shark/electrocution decision. People love their kids but Trump said, “If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.” It sounds weird and disturbing. People are saying J.D. Vance is weird. But does having a dolphin fetish make you weird? Yeah, it kind of does.
In 1993, Trump argued before Congress that Native Americans should not be granted gaming licenses because, “Our great country is being taken over by the Indian tribes.” He said, “They don’t look like Indians to me and they don’t look like Indians to Indians.” (What?) Interviewed by the National Association of Black Journalists, Trump remarked that vice president Kamala Harris recently “turned black.” This is weird, especially coming from a guy who paints himself pumpkin orange—as if we’re all supposed to believe that is his natural suntan.
In 2016, Trump announced, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay?” Actually, that’s not okay. Even to say that is weird. But to say it and mean it is a profoundly disturbing warning sign.
The whole concept of “weird” is not possible unless it is balanced with the concept of “normal.” Are we supposed to agree that it is normal for a presidential candidate to shoot somebody with immunity? Is it normal for the leader of the free world to be a convicted felon and sex offender? If we let that slide, what else are we agreeing to? Opposite Day is only fun and a little weird if it’s “just pretend.”