Welcome to the first posting of “Political Peculiarities; Strange Happenings in Governance.” This is a column dedicated to discussing the strange things that have happened in politics over the last couple of weeks, anything from the election, to foreign policy, or the justice system. Let’s get started. 

01 – Republicans Freak Out About Gus Walz Showing Emotion – Then Freak Out Again

When the Democratic party’s nominee for Vice President, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, was introduced at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 21, his 17-year-old son, Gus, took social media by storm as he exclaimed “That’s my dad!” through a tearful face while watching his father take the stage. 

While most Democrats saw Walz’s display of affection and emotion as a powerful breakdown of stereotypical masculinity, and celebrated him using hashtags like #TeamGus and #ThatsMyDad, Republicans took to social media to criticize him instead. Critics tweeted statements like “Pray every day that your sons grow up to be like Barron Trump and not Gus Walz,” and “Talk about weird…”. The latter tweet, posted by conservative media pundit Ann Coulter, threw the internet into the trenches of the Gus Walz war. 

In the middle of all of this, People Magazine released a statement from the Walz family, explaining that their son had a “non-verbal learning disorder, ADHD and an anxiety disorder.” This news only added fuel to the fire; and members of both parties battled it out on social media.

Regardless, there are two things that have been made explicitly clear in this situation. Republicans are terrified of someone who’s comfortable in his masculinity, and they hate being called out for sending inconsiderate and damaging tweets from the depths of their parent’s basements. Take Coulter’s near immediate removal of her tweet about Walz, for instance.

Republicans, listen up: sending out the attack dogs to destroy a 17-year-old (who is probably having one of the most insane months of his life) will do nothing to support the Republican message of ‘family values’, it will just damage your party’s support even further. 

02 – Donald Trump Declares That He’s A Supporter of Womens’ Rights?

Hello Donald, it’s nine in the morning. 

At 9:39 in the morning on Aug. 26, former president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump decided to share a message on Truth Social, his inherently fake-sounding right-wing social media outlet. He wrote “My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.” End quote. That’s it. 

There are a couple things wrong about this particular statement. Number one, don’t you think it’s a little early in the morning to be spreading factually incorrect statements? I haven’t even had my morning cup of coffee yet. Come on. When Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, Trump’s nominees to the Supreme Court were the ones pushing for it. And when the Trump administration tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2019, they jeopardized women’s ability to receive insurance coverage for abortion, not to mention other medical services, like birth control. 

To make this statement, not only in relation to his track record with women’s reproductive health, but also right after the DNC  hosted a segment that focused specifically on how women had been impacted by abortion bans, is completely distasteful. Multiple women at the DNC spoke about how their lives had been uprooted because of a lack of access to healthcare, and Vice President Harris spoke about how victims of sexual assault were having their access to abortion stripped away “because of Donald Trump.”

Let’s be clear. Donald Trump’s administration would not be “great for women and their reproductive rights.” It will be great for those who seek to strip women of their rights, and it will be great for those who seek to benefit from the mistreatment of women. 

03 – Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to Tackle Trump’s Election Interference Case

Now, this piece of news is less of something strange that’s happened in politics, but more of a look into the bewilderment around the entire Trump case. After running the case that led to the indictment of former President Donald J. Trump, U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Judge Tanya S. Chutkan is set to now handle the case that will convict him on these charges. 

You might ask, “well why should I care?” Well, the answer is simple – this conviction case could have some serious consequences regarding presidential immunity in the United States. There are multiple ways that Judge Chutkan could have to wrangle this case, all leading to very different outcomes. Here they are:

• Donald Trump wins the presidency in November

If Americans vote Trump back into office on November 5th, it’s likely that he will direct the Justice Department to remove the case against him from the system, or at least delay it until 2028. However, Judge Chutkan has appeared unconcerned with the possibility of this happening, claiming that Trump’s election campaign was just his “day job.” When asked by a Trump lawyer if she would push back the date of the trial due to the election, Judge Chutkan stated that “This trial will not yield to the election cycle.

• Donald Trump is beaten by Kamala Harris in November

If the white house remains blue in November, Trump will likely face more serious legal challenges as part of this election interference case. If Judge Chutkan does indeed convict Trump for election interference, his path to any sort of punishment might be blocked by the Supreme Court. The Court will likely look into the validity of any decision made by Judge Chutkan based on their immunity ruling from over the summer.