Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance has hit back at a “bizarre” attack by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, saying the Democratic vice presidential nominee proves he’s the real maverick.
Sen. Vance (R-Ohio, 40) recalled seeing footage of the 60-year-old Waltz greeting his wife with a “Midwestern handshake” during an awkward moment onstage at a rally where Kamala Harris introduced Waltz as her running mate.
“I remember when I was first selected as the vice presidential nominee, I gave a big speech, met my wife, hugged her and kissed her because I love her,” Vance said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” that aired Sunday. “I think that’s what a normal person would do.”
“Tim Waltz shook hands with his wife in a firm Midwestern style and then awkwardly tried to straighten it out,” he added.
He said he believes this “weirdness” is because Walz and Harris are “uncomfortable with their policy positions and not comfortable with themselves.”
Vance also argued that it was really “bizarre” that Walz and Harris would “speak badmouthing instead of telling the American people how they would improve their lives.”
Donald Trump Jr., a longtime friend of Vance, released a video of the handshake following an interview with Vance that aired on CNN on Sunday.
At one point, CNN host Dana Bash asked Vance about former President Donald Trump’s response to “bizarre” attacks on the Trump-Vance campaign, to which Trump responded, “It’s not me. They’re talking about JD.”
Vance laughed in response.
“They’ve certainly leveled that blame at me more than anyone else, but I think it brings to light how they’re trying to distract from the failure of their own policies,” Vance responded. “This is essentially what happened in schools.”
Both Walz and Vance come from Midwestern states and say their upbringings are evidence that they are in line with middle-class thinking, while accusing the other side of being outdated.
Vance has emerged as something of an attack dog for Trump, making increased media appearances and criticizing Harris for rarely taking formal questions from the press, but that began to change over the weekend.
Late last month, President Trump sparked a fierce debate at a rally of black journalists in Chicago when he said Harris once identified as Indian-American but then “just happened to be black.”
He later added, “I respect both women, but she clearly does not.” Harris is of Jamaican-American father and Indian-American mother.
Vance insisted that Trump did not attack Harris that day because of her “racial identity,” and did not answer questions about her racial identity.
“I believe Kamala Harris is who she says she is,” Vance said when asked if he thought she was black, “but the key is that I believe President Trump is right, she’s a chameleon.”
“She pretends to be one thing in front of one audience and another thing in front of another audience,” he said.
“She’s not running a political campaign. She’s doing a movie. She’s speaking to voters behind a teleprompter. It’s all scripted.”
The Republican vice presidential nominee also spoke to CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, during which he defended Trump’s praise of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I think President Trump gets along well with world leaders,” Vance argued, “and there’s nothing wrong with praising them as people if it makes them more effective diplomatically.”
“Let’s not forget that Democrats, including Kamala Harris, attacked Donald Trump for having a good relationship with Vladimir Putin,” he continued. “When Donald Trump was president, Vladimir Putin didn’t invade other countries. When Kamala Harris was vice president, he did. So maybe Democrats should take a lesson from what Trump does.”
Earlier in the interview, Vance spoke about some of the attacks against his wife, Usha, who is Indian-American.
“This is the reality of American public life, and it’s shameful. I love my wife. I’m very proud of her. I’m very lucky to have met her and had the opportunity to build a life with her,” he said.
“[If] “If people want to attack me, if they want to attack my policy views, they’re welcome to do so. I’m on board with it. My wife isn’t, and by the way, she’s far less competent than the people she’s attacking. So I wish they’d just shut up or at least focus on me,” he continued.
“It pisses me off sometimes.”
The Buckeye State Republican also defended himself over a resurfaced 2021 interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in which he said the country was being run by “childless, cat-loving women.”
Specifically, Vance complained that the country is “run by childless, catty-cat women who are miserable about their lives and the choices they’ve made, and they’re out to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
In the exchange, he named Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has two stepchildren and who later adopted twins with his husband, Chasten.
Since then, Democrats have slammed his comments and he has faced backlash. In an interview that aired on Sunday, Vance claimed his words had been misrepresented.
“But there’s a policy position behind my belief that the country should value families more, right? One of the things I’ve learned as a father is … I’ve had out-of-network care options during the most stressful time imaginable, and I’ve ended up with crazy bills from hospitals,” Vance told ABC’s “This Week.”
“Frankly, it’s shameful that the Harris administration lied about what I actually said. Sometimes family relationships don’t work out, and that’s OK. But I believe Kamala Harris herself has advanced an anti-family agenda, which is problematic and something we should be against,” he added.
