Audio Excerpt – JD Vance:

“My fellow Americans my fellow Republicans my name is JD Vance from the great state of Ohio.”

DANIEL:

In the weeks since he was announced as Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance has had some of his past remarks resurface and has been at the centre of a number of bizarre rumours and jokes.

Audio Excerpt – Newsreporter:

“Quote. Can't say for sure, but he might be the first VP pick to have admitted in a New York Times bestseller to effing an inside out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions.”

DANIEL:

They’ve been picked up by some Democrats, who are labelling the two men on the republican ticket as “weird”. In contrast, the man that Kamala Harris has chosen to join her on the Democratic Ticket – Tim Walz — has been described as aggressively normal.

Audio Excerpt –Tim Walz:

Hi Minnesota, Walz family here - it’s Saturday night, thought we would share what we’re reading.

DANIEL:

So is being ordinary enough to win over the average American voter? And how are Republicans combating it?

Audio Excerpt – Donald Trump:

I'm a lot of things, but weird I'm not, and I'm up front and he's not either. I will tell you JD is not at all - they are.

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DANIEL:

From Schwartz Media, I'm Daniel James, this is 7am.

Today, senior researcher at The Australia Institute, Dr Emma Shortis, on the tactics of the two Vice Presidential candidates and what their nominations say about their parties.

It's Thursday, August 8.

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DANIEL:

So Emma, After a series of what's being called chemistry tests with potential VP candidates, Kamala Harris has officially chosen Governor Tim Walz from Minnesota as a running mate. So what do we know about him and what makes him a good option?

EMMA:

I think Walz cuts a really interesting figure, and you can totally see why he would have passed that chemistry test with Harris. I've seen a number of profiles that have described him as the kind of, Midwestern loving dad that everybody likes. So he grew up in Nebraska. He joined the National Guard at the age of, I think, about 17. He went on to be a teacher and a football coach before being elected to Congress and then becoming the governor of Minnesota.

Audio Excerpt – Tim Walz:

“Hey, Minnesota Governor Walz here out at the state fair with my daughter. Hope. Every year we as a family do something old and something new.”

EMMA:

…and he's super popular. And I think that's partly because it's like, it sounds so weird to say, but he embodies this kind of big dad energy.

Audio Excerpt –Tim Walz:

“But then we're going to go get some food. Corn dog.”

Audio Excerpt – Hope Walz:

“I'm vegetarian”

Audio Excerpt –Tim Walz:

“Turkey then”.

Audio Excerpt – Hope Walz:

“Turkeys meat”

Audio Excerpt –Tim Walz:

“Not in Minnesota. Turkeys special. “

EMMA:

And I think like, partly because of that, because he's kind of, and totally unembarrassed by his, like, normal dad energy. He's also a really effective communicator.

Audio Excerpt – Tim Walz:

“We do not like what has happened where we can't even go to Thanksgiving dinner with our uncle, because you end up in some weird fight that is unnecessary.”

EMMA:

So he's actually the one who first coined Republicans, particularly JD Vance being super weird.

Audio Excerpt – Tim Walz:

“Well, it's true, these guys are just weird and you know, they're running for “He-Man Women-Haters Club” or something. That's what they got. That's not what people are interested in.”

EMMA:

And he's kind of continued since on that frame of, of using dad jokes. So in his first rally appearance with Harris in Pennsylvania.

Audio Excerpt – Tim Walz:

“I gotta tell you I can’t wait to debate the guy.”

EMMA:

Walz talked about whether they would have a debate and made a joke about whether Vance would get off the couch.

Audio Excerpt – Tim Walz:

“That is if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.”

EMMA:

Which for listeners who aren't like, as perennially online as we are, is a reference to this totally untrue rumour about JD Vance doing things to a couch, which are pretty gross, and I will just let listeners kind of pursue on their own time. But, you know, he made this joke and he followed up with the line.

Audio Excerpt – Tim Walz:

"See what I did there?"

EMMA:

So he's really leaning into this like big dad energy. And for the moment at least, it seems to be playing super well.

DANIEL:

There seems to be an assumption that Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvanian governor, was going to be the pick. So what does it say that Harris has gone with Walz instead?

EMMA:

I think it says a lot, actually, about the campaign and the Democratic Party more broadly, because you're right that there was this assumption that Shapiro was the obvious choice, you know, as the governor of Pennsylvania, which is a critical swing state. You know, he was going to bring Pennsylvania along. There's this sense that he appealed to the, quote unquote, centre of American politics because he's particularly popular with Republicans in Pennsylvania. And so the logic all seemed to suggest that it was going to beat this guy like Barack Obama had, you know, unofficially endorsed him.

And so the fact that Harris didn't go with Shapiro, I think, suggests that, firstly, that her calculations are really quite different, that maybe she's not focused, you know, she's focussed on winning as many votes as possible, of course, but she's not focused on winning over the kind of mythical swing voter at the expense of mobilising the base. There was this kind of movement in the lead up to this decision from progressive Democrats, pushing Harris not to pick Shapiro, particularly because of his positions on Israel and on student protesters in the United States. He's been particularly aggressive, I suppose, in his condemnation of those protests as anti-Semitic and progressive Democrats called on Harris not to pick him because, you know, he would potentially shatter the unity that had emerged after Biden had stepped aside. And the fact that Harris has picked Walz, who has been quite supportive of protesters and quite consistent in his position there, really suggests a kind of power shift, I think, within the Democratic Party and a change in strategy alongside of that.

DANIEL:

He seems to have captured the moment. And as you said, he's got a record as being a progressive. What do we know about his time in office?

EMMA:

He has been a very effective governor. So he's done things like expand gun control in the aftermath of the Parkland massacre. He's expanded things like family and medical leave, and has instituted things like universal free school meals. So, you know, free breakfast and lunch for kids in Minnesotan schools. And a lot of that aligns with Harris's kind of stated priorities around, you know, lifting up the middle class. And so his credentials there are really quite strong. And again, that's why he's quite an interesting figure, becauseI think Walz is able to kind of flip the narrative around, particularly white American masculinity in a way that almost no one else could. You know, that Harris isn't able to do. And so I certainly think Walz could broaden Harris's appeal and the Democratic Democratic Party's appeal, in a really effective way, again you know, remains to be seen. This is a long time to go. But initially at least, he seems to be having that effect.

DANIEL:

What's been the reaction from Donald Trump and the Republicans to this pick?

EMMA:

They're not taking any of it well, you know they're not, they're not responding particularly effectively. Trump has been posting, about Walz in particular and saying that this is the most radical duo, you know, that the Democrats have, put up, which is, I'd like not entirely wrong to to be perfectly frank. You know, this is quite a progressive ticket in contrast to, you know, what is one of the most conservative tickets of the last several decades of American politics. So he's trying out that attack line, which he would have done anyway. You know, that always going to call their democratic opponents communists, regardless of how out of touch that is with reality. But it seems like they really don't quite know how to react to the Walz accusation of being weird.

Audio Excerpt – Donald Trump:

“Well, they're the weird ones. And if you've ever seen her with the laugh and everything else, that's a weird deal going on there, too. They're the weird ones, and nobody's ever called me weird. I'm a lot of things, but weird I'm not.”

EMMA:

Trump is used to setting the narrative, and framing a conversation. And so he's been taken by surprise. I think that he's not doing that at the moment. But also I think, you know, he and his surrogates are used to being described as dangerous and frightening, and that makes them feel powerful. And being described as weird is deeply unsettling. And I think that's partly about how much of their political identity is framed around a kind of hyper masculinity and being described as weird, particularly now by women and women of colour, is a kind of worst nightmare scenario for these kind of men and they just don't know how to respond. And I think completely taken aback by how effective it has been as well.

DANIEL:

After the break - Two men with similar origins, but radically different visions, after the same voters.

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Audio Excerpt – JD Vance:

“I grew up in Middletown, Ohio. A small town where people spoke their minds, built with their hands and loved their God, their family, their community and their country with their whole hearts.”

DANIEL:

So Emma, JD Vance is Trump’s running mate. And you’ve actually seen him speak in person and thought he would be a good pick for Vice President. What made you think that?

EMMA:

So I did see him speaking in Washington, D.C., a few months before he was announced as the pick. And I thought that because he was an extraordinarily slick operator. You know, he speaks with such clarity, and has this extraordinary ability to say incredibly radical things and make them sound like normal and and like common sense. And in the room that I was in, which was a foreign policy conference with a very conservative audience. You know, he had people eating out of his hands, and kind of following him around, like he had this whole kind of brigade going with him.

And so it was, I think, fairly obvious why Trump would pick him because he represents the kind of next generation of the MAGA movement.

Audio Excerpt – JD Vance:

“When I was in the fourth grade, a career politician by the name of Joe Biden supported NAFTA, a bad trade deal that sent countless good jobs to Mexico.”

EMMA:

He suggests that it is bigger than Trump in a way that's not threatening to Trump personally.

Audio Excerpt – JD Vance:

“At each step of the way, in small towns like mine in Ohio or next door in Pennsylvania or Michigan and states all across our country, jobs were sent overseas…”

EMMA:

And so in that sense, he was an obvious pick, especially in that kind of moment of hubris after the assassination attempt while Biden was still the nominee. And while everyone, pretty much everyone, myself included, was pretty convinced that it was now Trump's to lose. So I think in that context, Vance was the obvious pick for Trump. He hasn't handled his elevation particularly well, I don't think. There's there's clear indications that he may not have appeal outside of that right wing bubble, but I don't think we should write him off necessarily. He's a political chameleon and very good at seeking out power. So this may also just be a stumble and he may find his feet with Trump.

DANIEL:

Why do you have doubts about his ability to speak beyond Trump’s base? You saw him in the flesh, he had the crowd united almost at fever pitch… is it a case that the longer the campaign goes, the more he may isolate voters beyond that group?

EMMA:

So I think I have doubts about that because Vance has been so focussed on mobilising his own base and kind of stoking his own credentials with the kind of MAGA republican movement. And so it's been pretty, extraordinary and funny as well to see the kind of coverage of Vance frame, you know, comments he's made throughout his career as like being uncovered or like having new videos of him saying weird stuff about women leaked.

Audio Excerpt – JD Vance:

“If you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the democrats is controlled by people without children.”

EMMA:

The most prominent one at the moment is his comment about, single, childless cat ladies running the Democratic Party.

Audio Excerpt – JD Vance:

“We’re effectively run in this country via the Democrats via the corporate oligarchs by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they’ve made and want to make the rest of the country miserable too.”

EMMA:

He said that because he was kind of thirsty for attention within the base. So they knew all of this about Vance and presumably saw it as a positive because he would theoretically be able to mobilise the base, kind of reassure them that this is to generate continuing generational projects, get them out to vote on the issues they care about, you know, particularly abortion. And so the calculation there, I think, was logical from within the right wing universe. The problem is the inability to anticipate how people will react outside of that. And you can say that with both the surprise at the reception that Vance is getting, but also Harris's popularity, you know, within that right wing bubble, it's just not occurred to people that a vaguely left wing black woman might be actually appealing to Americans.

Audio Excerpt – Jeff Bridges:

“I’m white I’m a dude and I’m for Harris.”

Audio Excerpt – News Reporter:

“Tens of thousands of self proclaimed white dudes for Harris joined a zoom call to rally support for her. Even featured a cameo from the dude himself.“

Audio Excerpt – Jeff Bridges:

“Kamala is just so certainly our girl.”

EMMA:

So I'm kind of saying yes to both of your questions, I think Daniel. To say that, you know, Vance, I think, can mobilise the base. He may get enough of them out in places like Pennsylvania to win those states. But also his appeal doesn't really extend beyond that.

DANIEL:

Both of these two men, JD Vance, and Tim Walz have quite radically different visions. But ultimately, as you just alluded to, both are speaking to the working class. So who's message and vision do you think will resonate more with Americans?

EMMA:

Kind of an impossible question to answer, isn't it? Until about the 6th of November? But I think you're right. You know, they are speaking to very similar audiences. So Vance will often talk about his working class origins. He wrote a whole memoir about them. But a lot of his appeal to the working class, I think, has a kind of quite thinly disguised contempt, particularly white working class people who haven't been able to drag themselves out of the working class in a way that he understands he did. Whereas, you know, you contrast that, I think with Walz and his appeal is to kind of a sense of family and community, and, and support and a kind of unconditional love. You know, even for your weird uncle, he just kind of wish would be less weird and a bit more understanding.

Audio Excerpt – Tim Walz:

“What I know is that people like JD Vance know nothing about small town America. My town had 400 people in it, 24 kids in my graduating class, 12 were cousins. And he gets it all wrong. It's not about hate. It's not about collapsing in. The golden rule there is mind your own damn business.”

EMMA:

Again, that contrast is, is pretty extreme. And I think certainly the reception to Harris and now Walz at least initially indicates that there is a real appetite for that kind of message, you know, for it for a different kind of vision of the future, for a bit of joy and a bit of humanity in politics. But again, I think we can’t underestimate some of the despair and the apathy, particularly in the Midwest, that Vance and Trump are appealing to. And we know that Trump has been particularly effective at appealing to that sense of victimhood. So it's always so easy to get carried away by the momentum of politics, but the contrast between those two tickets is so stark now, you know, to go from having two old white dudes who could only distinguish themselves by kind of not being each other to such a vastly different politics, but also a vision for the future of America. You know, Democrats all of a sudden have this kind of clear air and so they're able to kind of lean into that joy and the slight weirdness of their own campaign in a way that's been really energising. But the fundamentals of the electoral map haven't actually changed. The campaign has changed dramatically. But it's still true that, you know, the road to the white House, the Harris lie through probably Pennsylvania and Georgia. And winning those two states is going to be pretty critical. I think it's really important that we don't kind of get carried away and assume that this is how it's going to play out, because we know, you know, things can change in an instant.

DANIEL:

Emma, I think it's safe to say American politics can never be categorised as normal. Thanks for your time.

EMMA:

Any time thanks for having me.

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DANIEL:

Also in the news today,

Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds has told the WA Supreme court that she felt like a punching clown on the fairground by critical social media posts from Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz. Senator Reynolds is suing Ms Higgins over posts she claims damaged her reputation and were part of a planned conspiracy to harm her, that were published after Ms Higgins alleged rape in parliament house.

And…

At age 14, Skateboarder Arisa Trew has become Australia’s youngest Olympic gold medallist. After winning the women’s park skateboard event and capturing Australia’s 14th gold medal of the Paris Games. Trew described the moment as “insane”.

That’s all for today. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend. It helps a lot.

I’m Daniel James, this is 7am - Thanks for listening.

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