Show producer Nick Sanchez and I are walking across the parking lot at Arizona Christian University in Glendale. We’re on our way to a rally with Sen. JD Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president. As we pass a parked car, a guy in a MAGA hat calls out to us.
"If you see any snipers, yell! I mean, yell loudly!" he says.
Oh right, I think — snipers. I realize I haven’t even considered the fact that it’s only been about two weeks since someone tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump. And now Nick and I are casually strolling into a rally for the other guy on Trump’s ticket. Shouldn’t we be a little more freaked out?
But the truth is, the idea of snipers never even crossed my mind before we got in the car that day. Not because I’m some kind of tough guy, but because, to be honest, I’d kind of forgotten about the whole assassination attempt. Somehow, that story has been almost completely overshadowed by a single word: “weird.”
From the moment it was used by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in an appearance on MSNBC, “weird” has become a ubiquitous line of attack against Republicans — and Vance in particular.
On social media, Democrats have dredged up old comments from Vance denigrating “childless cat ladies.” They’ve amplified false rumors that he had sex with a couch, made fun of him for allegedly wearing eyeliner and cackled with glee when the sign on his podium kept falling off at a rally. Many of these posts went viral, and by the middle of last week, headlines began to appear suggesting that Trump was so annoyed about all this that he was considering dropping Vance from the ticket.
Which is why Nick and I are standing in line for the Vance rally. We want to see how Trump supporters are feeling about all this.
SAM DINGMAN: A lot of people have been using the word “weird” to talk about JD Vance. Have you seen those stories?
STUART: I have saw that. I don’t understand it. I don’t know why somebody would think he was weird. Maybe they’re weird.
KATHLEEN: I’m a little weird — people think I’m weird, they think maybe I’m gay because I’ve never been married. It’s because I’ve never found the right man so I’ve never had children. Weird is good — I don’t know why they’re doing it.
BONNIE: I think everybody’s weird. Like who cares? Do you think I’m weird 'cause I have pink pants on? Maybe I think you’re weird 'cause you have pants on at all. I don’t know, whatever!
To be clear: I wasn’t really expecting anyone who would attend a Vance rally to buy into a Democratic line of attack. But I did wonder if anyone would be worried. Most people agree that this is going to be a really close election. Maybe Trump voters were seeing the headlines and thinking Vance had become a liability.
But they weren’t. They don’t think JD Vance is weird at all. In fact, they find him relatable.
STUART: I think he’s a good ol’ boy. Talks about his Meemaw. I kinda like that — I think he’s down to earth.
KATHIE: He was poor, he was raised by a grandma, he put himself through college.
SHEPHERD GUY: We all need good shepherds in our lives. And by the grace of God, I think Mamaw was probably the one key for him. She held it together at a critical time in his life. I get inspired to be the best shepherd I can be for other people.
ANGELA: The way he grew up, and what he was able to overcome and do with it. I’m always a big one for the underdog. People who are facing insurmountable odds in their lives — they have that grit and that determination. That’s what I appreciate about him, and it gives me a good feeling.
That’s a far cry from the cringey, awkward version of Vance being pushed by Democrats on social media. Instead, it’s a vision of JD Vance created by Vance himself in his memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," which was adapted into a film.
"Hillbilly Elegy" tells the story of Vance as a young boy growing up with an abusive mom who struggles with addiction.
As a teenager, Vance seems destined for a similar fate, until his foul-mouthed, gun-toting grandmother, who he calls Mamaw, pulls Vance out of his mother’s house and sets him on the straight and narrow.
With Mamaw’s help, Vance gets out of small town Ohio, becomes a Marine and then a student at Yale law school. At a fancy dinner with a bunch of refined Ivy League types, he haltingly tells the story of his humble beginnings.
As Vance speaks, he watches everyone else at the table avert their eyes, staring down at their plates. He can tell: they think he’s weird.
Towards the end of the movie, Vance’s mom suffers a drug relapse, but she refuses to go to rehab. Vance drives10 hours from New Haven to Ohio and checks her into a hotel, but he only has a few hours before he has to turn around and drive back to Yale for an interview at a prestigious law firm. He and his mom sit quietly together on the hotel bed.
Back in real life, Vance takes the stage in Glendale.
[Crowd chants “JD!”]
VANCE: Please, please, thank you all, it is so fantastic to be in Arizona …
Much of his speech is standard Republican fare, resulting in polite applause.
VANCE: The Democrat party bosses they decided to install Kamala Harris as their new nominee, but think about this: she has not received a single vote for president of the United States. [muted clapping]
But when Vance pivots to his own story? He finds his voice. And the room gets loud.
VANCE: Now people ask: why did it work out for you? And a little bit of it’s luck — but a little of it is because I had a tough old bird, my grandma, I called her Mamaw, who stood by me every step of the way. Now I …
[Crowd loudly chants “MAMAW!”]
After the rally, I meet a woman named Tammy in the parking lot. She’s grinning ear to ear.
DINGMAN: So can you describe your shirt for me?
TAMMY: My shirt says “Badass Hilbilly 2024.”
DINGMAN: And is that a reference to Sen. Vance?
TAMMY: It is. It is. And I relate a lot, because I have family from Kentucky, my dad’s a hillbilly, and I’m a little bit — I’m out of recovery, so I’m a lot like JD Vance’s mother. So seeing his movie was cool because it showed me the side of what my kids went through. You know what I mean? So of course I’m through, and I have two years almost sober, but it was nice to see, and it was nice to see somebody comes from people like us.
