It's getting weird: Simple insult is Democrats' latest talking point. Can it stick?

The word of the political moment seems to be "weird."

It may have been unprecedented that President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race about 100 days from the election, but that isn't what has Democrats and Republicans sparring over the word "weird."

Rather, since Vice President Kamala Harris, a younger, more meme-friendly candidate has stepped in as the Democratic candidate, a host of her surrogates have started labeling her opponents Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance as weirdos.

It appears that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, also reportedly under consideration for Harris' running mate, may have started this wave of attacks.

Here is what we know about how things got weird:

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'These are weird people on the other side'

Days after Biden dropped out of the race, Walz shared a clip from an interview with MSNBC on X.

"These are weird people on the other side," Walz says in the interview. "They wanna take books away, they wanna be in your exam room, that's what it comes down to and don't, you know, get sugar-coating this, these are weird ideas. Listen to them speak, listen to how they talk about things."

The following day, the Harris campaign posted an edited video of Vance's viral remarks about Diet Mountain Dew and racism, with the caption "It's getting weird...". Since then, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and others in the Democratic Party have mirrored the message in news interviews.

Walz explained why he uses "weird" to attack Republicans in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday:

"Listen to the guy, he's talking about Hannibal Lecter, and shocking sharks, and just whatever crazy thing pops into his mind, and I thought we just give him way too much credit," referring to some of the alarm bells Democrats have raised on Trump's threats to democracy. "When you just ratchet down some of the, you know the scariness or whatever, and just name it what it is...my observation on this is, have you ever seen the guy laugh?"

Republicans fight back weird allegations

Vance has weighed in on the weird comments, posting a video of Harris introducing herself with her pronouns, with the caption "JD Vance is weird."

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz also shared a video on X of Walz calling the Republican nominees weird, with the caption, "The party of gender blockers and drag shows for kids is calling us weird? Ok."

Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy posted on X calling the argument from Democrats "dumb & juvenile."

"This is a presidential election, not a high school prom queen contest," the post states. "It’s also a tad ironic coming from the party that preaches 'diversity & inclusion.' Win on policy if you can, but cut the crap please."

Expert weighs in: Weird as in 'extreme, and out of step'

Political scientist and Northeastern University professor Costas Panagopoulos said labeling Republicans as weird feeds into Democrats' message that their opponents are out of touch with everyday Americans.

"When you say someone is weird, you're also reinforcing that message that they're not like you in some way, right?" Panagopoulos told USA TODAY in an interview. "It's not just their backgrounds, it's that their policy positions and views are extreme, out of step with the average person in America, and therefore different."

He also said it may have caught on so quickly because it is a simple word that people use in their everyday lives, a tactic Trump has used in his attacks against opponents.

Panagopoulos said relying on "weird" as an attack word could come across as "petty and unsophisticated," but it also could lose its punch quickly.

"The shine of this terminology could start to fade if both sides are using the same word to, you know, attack each other," he said. "That suggests that, while it might be effective right now, that its effectiveness could deteriorate over the course of a campaign, and perhaps even quite quickly."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democrats use 'weird' to attack Donald Trump and JD Vance