Donald Trump, JD Vance, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. step into the Republican Party and take charge.

That’s the punchline.

A presidential pairing that’s tried hard to shed the “weird” tag became approximately 17 billion times more bizarre last week when Trump welcomed Kennedy’s endorsement, shaking hands onstage at a rally in Arizona and aligning the GOP with a notorious conspiracy theorist, dangerous anti-vaccine advocate, and infamous for hauling dead bear cub carcasses.

The “these guys are weird” memes, coined by Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz for Trump and Vance, are dwarfed by the Republican Party’s new cast of oddballs.

Finding a word for Trump, Vance, and RFK Jr. goes beyond ‘weird’

What term encapsulates the Trump/Vance/RFK Jr. alliance? Oddballs? Nutcases? Crackpots? Eccentrics?

As we consider the headaches this group is causing reasonable individuals left in the aftermath of a Trump-altered Republican Party, let’s analyze this peculiar mix.

Leading this unorthodox trio is Trump, whose reputation for nuttiness is well-known. He still believes he won the election he lost, insists his crowd sizes are historically unmatched, and frequently mentions the nonexistent “late, great Hannibal Lecter”. I could elaborate, but we don’t have the space for that. He’s certainly missing at least 19 McNuggets from a 20-piece set.

Kennedy’s dangers extend beyond just anti-vaccine theories

We’ll skip discussing Vance for now ‒ clearly, that’s Trump’s preference ‒ and focus on RFK Jr., the Kennedy even his family distances themselves from. He concluded his absurd presidential campaign and endorsed Trump last Friday, a move that aligns perfectly if one is a blatant opportunist with terrible decision-making skills.

Kennedy has long been a prominent anti-vaccine activist, which is undeniably reckless and hazardous. He’s claimed that journalists are pawns of the CIA, supposedly part of a program called “Operation Mockingbird.”

He has also accused the government of staging COVID-19 during a podcast in 2022, as summarized by Mother Jones: “A global elite led by the CIA had been scheming for years to leverage a pandemic to dismantle democracy and impose totalitarianism worldwide.”

Trump’s already bizarre campaign just got an extra dose of craziness with RFK Jr.

If this particular Kennedy walked into a bar and started speaking, even the tipsy guy at the end would likely say, “Whoa, buddy, you need a ride home. You’re not making any sense.”

When Trump introduced Kennedy as his newest supporter at a rally in Glendale, Arizona, he claimed the conspiracist has “brought to light critical issues that have been ignored for far too long in this country.”

Wow! We’re definitely going to need a massive container to hold all this additional craziness.

Republicans are now tied to RFK Jr. and his conspiratorial beliefs

Trump’s alliance with RFK Jr. binds the GOP to years of Kennedy’s nonsensical claims. The Trump campaign might try to navigate this by claiming the two don’t see eye to eye on everything, but good luck with that.

The Associated Press reported last week: “Kennedy’s potential running mate, Nicole Shanahan floated the idea that Kennedy could serve in Trump’s administration as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.”

Get ready for a possible resurgence of measles and polio, America, thanks to this Trump/(Vance)/Kennedy ticket!

JD Vance is struggling with doughnuts  and people  and everything else

On the topic of Vance, though many would prefer to avoid it, he’s not helping diminish the strangeness of the “Trump shouting about falsehoods while embracing a conspiracy theorist with questionable sanity” atmosphere.

Last week, a video went viral featuring a politician attempting—and failing—to act like a regular customer at a doughnut shop in Georgia. He seemed confused about the basics of ordering doughnuts and struggled to interact with the employees, awkwardly asking questions and displaying little interest in their responses. It was an uncomfortable moment that resonated widely.

Following this incident, he gave an interview on “Meet the Press” where he learned that his “childless cat ladies” comment had offended some people. When asked if he regretted making that remark, instead of taking the opportunity to deliver a solid political comeback, he waffled and tried to divert the conversation, finally stating: “I have a lot of regrets but making a joke three years ago is not at the top (of) the list.”

Well done, oddball! He also remarked, “I think that it’s much more important for me to just be a normal human being,” which is both amusing and utterly unconvincing.

The GOP is now represented by a trio of oddballs

As summer 2024 comes to a close, just a few months before the presidential election, the Republican Party seems to be represented by an unusual trio: a deceitful ex-president, a senator who struggles with ordering doughnuts, and a Kennedy the rest of the family might rather not associate with at Thanksgiving.

Great job, GOP.

Now, the country needs a more fitting term for “weird.”

Follow YSL News columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk