Break time at the factory. Except for the lectern, the event had no placards or banners. Applause was polite. The company offered ice cream afterwards. Vance didn’t stay.
GOP’s Eau Claire counter-event was brief
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – A couple dozen employees at a small Eau Claire factory took a break for a campaign visit by GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance and prospective second lady Usha Vance. Vance’s comments were at the Wollard plant, which manufactures airport ground equipment. The company, which has 60 employees. treated participating employees to ice cream to after Vance departed. To the group, Vane called it a disgrace that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has shielded herself from reporters for two weeks. (Fact check: Although Harris has not had extended sit-down sessions with reporters in recent days, she has taken questions on the fly.) Vance called Haris too liberal for America. “We’ve got to throw Kamala Harris out of office, not give her a promotion,” he said. Vance tackled the word “weird” that Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, had applied to the Republican team of Donald Trump and Vance and which has picked up traction. The moniker has become the most potent campaign line of 2024 so far. “If those people want to call me weird, I call it a badge of honor,” Vance told the Wollard workers. “Whatever Tim Walz calls me — I mean talk about weird with Tim Walz. I don’t know if you guys saw the rally yesterday, but afterwards his wife comes up to him and Tim Walz does what any normal, Midwestern guy would do seeing his beautiful wife onstage after a speech. He gives her a firm handshake. Right, that’s pretty weird. That’s pretty weird. When I see my wife after a speech, I give her a hug and a kiss because I’m excited to see her and she’s my wife. These people have no leg to stand on.”
Earlier: Airport stunt: Vance in tarmac stride