You're listening to Civics 101. I'm Nick Cappadice. I'm Hannah McCarthy. And today we're talking about something that's a little weird.

Democrats have kind of organically settled on a new attack line against Donald Trump and J.D. Vans. Basically, these guys are just plain weird.

Well, it's true. These guys are just weird. And they're running for he-man women

haters club or something. It's not just a weird style that he brings. It's that this leads to

weird policies. Do you know what I'm talking about here, McCarthy? I think I do. This was

the quote-unquote GOP is weird talking point slash strategy, I guess, that the Harris-Waltz campaign started to use in the 2024 election.

It was.

And while I will be talking about how that word was used in the campaign a little bit later, that is not what this episode is about.

But when it started happening, I thought, wow, this is a bit later. That is not what this episode is about. But when it started happening, I thought,

wow, this is a bit odd. It's kind of a unique attack. And then like that, it's gone.

And it got me thinking, Hannah, who decided that?

Did the so-called weird thing come out unprompted from Governor Tim Walts's mouth?

Does that even happen in politics anymore?

And who decided to stop saying it?

And come to think of it, who decides anything in political campaigns?

Who decides we're going to have two town halls, 90 second opens,

but the moderators can't fact check and the candidate should wear a blue tie and tell at least

one story about hearing their parents talk about money at the kitchen table. At kitchen tables across

our country, there is a concern about our economic future. Somewhere in America, a mother sits

at her kitchen table. As a kitchen table, I learned a lot of basic lessons.

Yeah, like, who was the first person to say that a candidate had to slow down, right, at the end of their sentence?

To make everyone applaud.

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