The “he’s weird” messaging was legitimately working well and the Trump campaign even knew it. Look how they hid Vance away from the public as soon as people started realizing he was a freak (derogatory)
And it makes sense that the “he’s weird” messaging would work when targeting the Dems main goal of white suburban moderates. Tell a wine mom to imagine trying to have a real conversation with Trump or Vance and they’ll immediately be able to tell that these are not Normal People™ and theyll be much less enthusiastic to vote for them