After nearly a decade of being forced to take Trump seriously, Democrats increasingly call BS on the whole charade
Sure, Donald Trump is a threat to democracy — a would-be dictator on day one who has called for terminating the U.S. Constitution so he can hold onto power even after losing a free and fair election. But while draped in the rhetoric of populism, Trump and his MAGA movement are not actually popular; the man himself has never won more votes than the person he ran against, a majority of Americans twice rejecting him and his off-putting cult of personality. That he was ever president is more or less because a few thousand swing voters in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania thought it would be fun.
President Joe Biden won in 2020 largely by promising to a return to normalcy and baseline competency. In 2024, Democrats are making a similar argument but more forcibly: They’re pointing, laughing and dismissing Trump and his circus as a total freak show to which we can’t return.
I’m weird as shit. My life is a freak show and a fail whale working together to make a fail-ipolis.
And I’m fucking goofy.
Though I’m not trying to lead a nation with it. So I take no offense with this.
Being ok with being weird is not a common trait among conservatives.
It would be weird to get offended on that guy’s behalf.
First they came for sociopaths, then powerhungry hypocrites
And I did not speak out because fuck those guys
The reason it works is because there is no refuting it other than, “Nah uh!” It’s almost the equivalent to repeating someone’s argument back to them in a tone to sound stupid. HOWEVER, this tactic works when arguing with a kindergartner, so it works here too.
Get out of my brain.
I was literally just wondering why it’s so effective and I think it’s this.
Most liberal “insults” are draped in facts and figures, to the point that Republicans just close their ears and say AlTeRnAtIvE fAcTs.
I think the simplicity, and it’s fact-less insult cuts through their reasoning brains (which there wasn’t much of) and hits them in the emotional centers.
I mean…it took Democrats 6 years to figure this out?
Better late than never but happy we’re finally hitting below the belt.
Democrats finally learn how stupid undecided voters are
Democrats need to meet people where they are. Most people want to be manipulated and told what to think and do.
Honestly, that’s how are brains are wired. The group is more important than the truth.
There is no reasoning, it’s just emotion and identity. This hits both.
It’s also a primal fear for narcissistic men to be called ‘weird’ or ‘creepy’ by attractive women.
Actually narcissistic people don’t care about that, because narcissistic people aren’t sexually attracted to anyone. Narcissus rejected everyone who made moves on him. That’s why, at 16, he was put to death by the gods for not loving anyone.
Narcissism is not a sexual orientation. You can be a narcissistic asexual. But being a narcissist does not mean you dont experience sexual attraction in the colloquial form of the word.
I think they read the story of Narcissis and assumed that narcissism is a one to one translation of meaning.
Not that I’m an expert but sexuality is independent. Also, narcissists understand power dynamics and need to be on the top in every regard.
Hey look it’s misinformation spread by someone who’s scared of people who are different
Yes, but doesn’t he look tired?
Republicans are so old… and just soo weird.
And trump doesn’t laugh or have a dog?
There’s a lot of other very bad things going on, but they are also just… They’re just so fucking weird?
Does he have a cat? If you have the resources to have people take care of all the minor annoyances of having a loving furry friend (dog or cat) that you can call your own and still simply choose not to - you are fucking weird.
He doesn’t like animals. Remember when he was almost eaten by a bald eagle? And he’s strangely phobic of sharks.
Doesn’t like animals, doesn’t drink due to dead alcoholic brother (Fair enough.), only eats fast food due to a fear of poisoning
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38651623
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-loves-mcdonalds-afraid-of-being-poisoned-2018-1
Doesn’t exercise because he thinks people are powered by batteries
https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/15/politics/donald-trump-exercise/index.html
TbF, the science on exercise is pretty limited at best. Nobody seems to agree if it’s a good or a bad idea. There’s lots of open room for speculation on this. 🙄 It’s really just like that argument the dems tried to make about cigarettes being bad for you or there not being dragons at the edge of the earth.
There’s no argument on whether exercise is good for you, it unequivocally is. Exactly how much you really need, and what kinds, and what specific benefits it has are somewhat debated, but the mere fact of it being beneficial is not in question.
Yep. Watching the Republican cult of personality be exposed this way has given me genuine hope for the future.
It’s been ten years since that freak started remaking the Republican party in his own image. Ten years since his face and voice started dominating the news cycle for no good reason (and lots of bad ones). Ten years of his clown show.
But now, at long last, I have hope that it will finally end. That the name “Donald Trump” will fade from our political vocabulary, and be spoken in shame and disgust when spoken at all.
That the name “Donald Trump” will fade from our political vocabulary, and be spoken in shame and disgust when spoken at all.
Don’t forget the part where all the Republicans pretend they never really supported him in the first place.
I find it quite strange that “old and weird” seems to work better than “corrupt and criminal”.
Probably for 2 reasons:
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quote “all politicians are corrupt and criminal” so this tactic doesn’t land (look at the dem senator from NJ)
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few people know convicted felons but they do know “old and weird” people, so they can better draw personal parallels
I think the “weird” attribution has a way of infecting his supporters as well.
If you support a criminal, that doesn’t necessarily make you a criminal. If you support a corrupt politician, that doesn’t make you a corrupt politician.
But if you support somebody weird? Well that makes you weird. Trump’s weirdness infects you. It’s the cheese touch of politics.
For a decade now there has been a certain crowd who considers Trump’s criminality and general disregard for truth to be cool in a “gangster” way. Gangsters are leaders.
Weirdos, not so much.
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should be worth noting that the only people who said “weird” was a pejorative were republicans, though.
Yeah, that’s why “no you” doesn’t work here. I know I’m a weirdo. I like being a weirdo and hanging out with other weirdos. You call me a weirdo and I’m like, “Yeah, cool.”
But group identity is everything to a conservative. Conservatism, as it has been said, depends on an in-group and an out-group. “Weird” could only ever be a pejorative to the conservative who really needs to conform and not be weird. A person who accepts the diversity of humanity doesn’t need everyone to be the same, so weirdness isn’t really all that weird. When the in-group is weird, it’s not an insult.
Serious question. Why do we need “attacks” at the ready? We don’t need to stoop to their level
Did you read the article? It explains this.
By taking a buffoon seriously, you help legitimize their buffoonery. Eventually, somebody has to say “Look, this is ridiculous! The emperor wears no clothes!”
We don’t need to stoop to their level
It depends. When Republicans steal elections, Democrats shouldn’t stoop to stealing elections, too.
When somebody’s slinging mud at you, though, it’s appropriate to sling mud back. You can’t just stand there and say “My, what an astonishing lack of decorum!” as the mud slides off your face and onto your shirt. That was Biden’s way, and it wasn’t working. It made him look like a wimp.
At this point can we consider that MAGA is the “new” and Americanized version of the Nazi party, and that Trump is trying to become a somehow worse version of Hitler?
Sure, there’s no rhetoric about the Arian race in the public literature, but the ideals and concepts are pretty similar. Instead of considering anyone who is non-white, non-blonde, non-blue eyed, to be less than, it’s instead about “God loving Christians” and basically the concept of, if you’re not with us then you are not an American.
Transpose some conceptual groups for fairly equal in size/scope groups, and it’s essentially the same playbook.
Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. C’mon America… You were a big factor in defeating the Nazis… DON’T BECOME THEM
no rhetoric about the Arian race
Pretty much a direct parallel
