In Kamala Harris’ California, ‘weird’ is the ultimate insult

There’s been a lot of talk lately about Kamala Harris’ campaign’s effective use of the word “weird” to define Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

It seems obvious to me this has gotten under the skin of both Trump and his running mate.

Nonetheless, some people think it misses the mark. I think actor Wendell Pierce, for example, made a great argument that Democrats ought to call out right-wing racism and misogyny for what they are, rather than use a term that’s far more mild in comparison. Indeed, for someone with Trump’s history, “weird” can seem like a serious understatement.

But at the same time, I’m a millennial raised on the West Coast and I know that the term has a slightly different connotation than some may associate with it, which I think speaks to its effectiveness.

In Harris’ home state of California, for example, “weird” — for many young nonwhite people — doesn’t just mean quirky or unique, it’s used as an insult. That’s why there’s a genre of TikToks featuring young Californians talking about how being called “weird” — or its variant, “a weirdo” — is an offense that basically amounts to fighting words.

Cali-based rapper YG’s song “Weird” explains — more crassly — the resonance the term has, while fellow California rapper Kendrick Lamar has used “weird” and “weirdo” on some of his diss tracks aimed at Drake, such as “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us.”

So, despite some understandable critique from fellow liberals, Harris and her campaign have settled on a term that appears to have cross-generational and cross-geographical appeal. “Weird” is a simple, straightforward term that voters of all ages can use, as my MSNBC colleague Ryan Teague Beckwith wrote, to describe Republicans whose “echo chambers and gerrymandered House districts” have led to ideas that are “increasingly extreme.” At the same time, the term is a familiar one to young voters of color — a constituency Harris will need to win in November.