"Old and quite weird": Democrats finally discover new effective attack — and Republicans hate it
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 find it quite strange that "old and weird" seems to work better than "corrupt and criminal".
Probably for 2 reasons:
quote "all politicians are corrupt and criminal" so this tactic doesn't land (look at the dem senator from NJ)
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.
Some were weirdos but they were the creative types of weirdos, not old pervert and couch fucker type of weirdos.
I feel old for remembering the cheese touch... that book was out in elementary school
It's also a plausible way out. Someone can convince themself that Trump was not as old and weird 10 years ago, so they did not make a mistake voting for him then
The one that we're forcing out, yes. Not as fast as we got rid of Anthony Weiner, but they're out.
The worst Dems have at the federal level might be Pelosi making stock trades. You know, like half of congress, but for some reason only she (rightly) gets attention for it. Maybe we should include more people than just Pelosi in that conversation.
Yeah, the nj guy is getting replaced with andy kim who is infinitely better.
Yes, that's probably how it is - pretty sad tho.
A decent number of people also know people who got railroaded into bullshit legal problems.
I think it's because for so long they've relied on Democrats/people on the left (I say that because it's not just in the US, it's become the right-wing tactic all over the place) being serious and arguing in good faith, IE: they'll just say the wildest shit that's blatantly untrue, and people on the left tend to bust out the facts and links to long explanations of why that's false, and they just counter it with more nonsense until their opponents get tired and quit, then they proclaim victory. But if you just go "you're weird, fuck you" and then refuse to follow up on it they kind of don't know what to do with it.
Also, the amount it's pissing them off means it's working, everyone keep doing it!
I specifically remember Trevor Noah having an opening monologue to the Daily Show some time just prior to or after Trump having taken office about this exact topic. Essentially he was saying it allowed Trump to control the narrative. Every time he lied, the left leaning media would be off digging up facts and statistics to come back and says "ah ha ya! Look at this!" But by the time they get back to respond, he's gone off and changed the topic and made another blatantly false condemnation of some group of people. And so the cycle repeats itself.
Noah's proposed solution was the same as a child having a tantrum: ignore them. When things go wrong, make it clear why it's a result of his policies or rhetoric. Stop playing politics like you're playing them with a competent adult. You're not.
Yeah it's a bit like dealing with the school bully I think. They want to make people flustered and upset because it makes them feel big and gets them attention. But if you give them even a little bit of their own medicine they can't handle it at all.
Hmm, I wonder if commenting that in that strange Lemmy place c/conservative would have the same effect lmao
Ugh, what a weird and creepy place that is
Well, if it were that easy, the right would've been beaten a long time ago. If Kamala ever gets a chance to debate Trump (spoiler: he will never debate her) she isn't going to just respond to everything he says with some variation of "you're weird; fuck you".
It's because it's a fascist movement.
Fascism is organized around a strong leader who supposedly embodies the values of the movement. A fascist leader isn't a leader who's thoughtful and fair, they're strong, determined, filled with righteous anger, etc.
Corrupt and criminal can be twisted into those characteristics. It's not "corruption", it's taking advantage of suckers. Something you have to be clever and ruthless to do. It's not "criminal", it's ignoring laws meant for lesser people.
On the other hand, a fascist leader's image isn't compatible with weakness and strangeness. Fascism is all about claiming the national identity is under threat by "others", immigrants, intellectuals, homosexuals, etc. The fascist leader needs to be seen to embody all that's good and right about the true national spirit. But, if they're seen as weak and weird, that's not something anybody wants to associate with.
To add to that I'd like to quote Ian Danskin (aka Inuendo Studios) from his guest lecture about Gamergate at UC Merced:
https://innuendostudios.tumblr.com/post/660337457916706817/i-was-invited-to-give-a-talk-on-gamergate-over
Great quote. It explains why they're especially sensitive to the idea that their position is not normal.
exactly. In the next paragraph Ian even has some examples of how that works in modern day American conservative political culture:
Honestly the whole talk is worth a listen. It's depressing because, well, it's about gamergate but it explains so much (and it's probably one of the parts of his alt right playbook series of video essays getting shared the least on social media
Yeah, that's really interesting. I think on the left there's more acceptance for being weird. In fact, I think that's one of the things the left fights for: the freedom to not be normal. If you're not hurting anybody, then nobody should care what you do.
This is probably what has led to the MAGA people being so deeply weird. The right is used to their neighbours policing them and keeping them from drifting too far from normal. The left generally doesn't care too much about normal. So, when the MAGA movement made the Republican base so weird, their neighbours were caught up in it, so they weren't criticizing the drift away from normal. The democrats didn't really care so much about the lack of "normality", but were instead focused on all the actual bad shit, like refusing to confirm Supreme Court justices, banning muslims from entering the US, etc. So, now pointing out how far from normal they've drifted is really having an effect.
You have to love the irony of the far right considering themselves the “silent” anything.
Its really fascinating. Their image is to embody what is "normal", "natural", "right". They're bullies, claiming they're better than everyone else, and using those differences to push that superiority.
It turns out the most effective method to combat bullies is to.... bully them. Point out how abormal, unnatural, and inferior they are. Its such a core element of their existence that they fall apart without it.
I'm not proud of it. But also, I'm not crying about it.
It's not even necessarily bullying them back, it's more refusing to be bullied.
Beating up a bully can be an effective strategy, but it's risky, you might lose the fight. And, since it's a fight they want it's one they probably think they can win.
Laughing at a bully is attacking them where they're weak. It's defusing the fight by making people not want to back them, and by doing that making them want to retreat.
I see it more as calling out that the emperor wears no clothes. Don't play by their rules. Expose the farce!
The media have been complicit in this. Treating Trump like a serious candidate helped him win the election.
It was creepy how many times they said the words "strong" and "strength" during the Republican convention. They worship strength. Might makes right.
i think corrupt and criminal works in messaging toward independents; old and weird works against republicans.
Yeah, the whole thing about a coup attempt and trying to overthrow our democracy wasn't landing... but "old and weird" is somehow catching on?
I think at least some of it is because republicans already call democrats corrupt and criminal. When the dems come back and make the same accusations it just looks like bickering. Ideally the substance of such claims would matter but current political discourse in the US prioritizes sound bites and quips
And they’re not even being real about it.
I actually felt a strange sort of relief when I opened this article and saw the headline. But after reading it…that’s it? Why can’t they come out and talk like real-ass people? We get it, you’re professional politicians that are soooo smart. But level with people, for fucks sake.
Just in the middle of a typical dem speech, even if it’s scripted, go “off script” like:
Democrats have just decided that “decorum” and appearances are still somehow the way to go. Be fuckin real with people. Don’t give us the form letter politician shit. That is obviously where we’re at as a country. The sooner they learn that the better chance they’ll have.
The whole schtick the right wing is selling is trying to claim that they are the normal Americans.
When you point out that it is weird as hell to worship a reality TV star while wearing diapers and fake ear bandages, they are forced to look in a mirror and realize that actually, no, they are not the normal ones.
We need David Tenant to go on some social media platform and say to the world, "Doesn't Ex-President Trump look tired?"
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.
That might be part of it, but the Republicans tried a similar attack against Biden and it mostly didn't land. It only works when it's true in the sense that the average person genuinely finds the position or behavior in question disturbing.
queue up the Faith No More song Kindergarten
Eggs. They're not weird.
https://youtu.be/wl8QCFqawEc
Laughter is a great weapon, as even the Irish Bards of old knew. And the plus point is that it is true, they are old and weird. They want to go round inspecting children's genitals.....definitely weird. They rather mothers die than get medical treatment in an event of a dangerous pregnancy. Likewise, they think child marriages are OK. They think forcing women to have babies is OK but passing laws to help those babies live is not. They want to go back in time and roll back all the progress society has made in being kinder, fairer and more inclusive. They love conspiracies and think they have special secret knowledge . There is so much more,I hope someone turns it all into a catchy song that goes viral.
There's two sides to that.
Some of them are like tucker Carlson or Boris Johnson. They look ridiculous on purpose so that's what people talk about instead of the horrendous shit they're advocating for.
So by all means laugh at them, it hurts their follower count. But don't outright dismiss them.
They might be stupid and weird that doesn't make them less dangerous
I think the point is that they are all old, weird, and dangerous. Vance isn't old, but he is weird and dangerous.
And let's be clear, this is a different kind of weird. I'm weird, but I'm weird because I like kids shows, make bad jokes, and pick at my fingernails.
They're weird because they like to fuck kids and underage teens (a surprisingly large portion, anyway), make decisions that hurt the people they want giving them money and support, and want to pick which immigrants are the "bad" ones.
I'd call them weird like you would the ultra fundamentalist Christian old guys that go to college campuses and yell at people. It's not weird in a good way. It's just fucking strange. Like something is legitimately wrong with them.
Oh, they are dangerous alright because they consider themselves righteous and having God and "Tradition" on their side. People who consider themselves righteous have no doubts that everything the do ,regardless how vicious, is meant to be by God. So all logic goes out the window. I think not all are like that, but they are a huge useful pool of people who can be used and manipulated with ease. Just like a cult, none of the decisions their leaders make are questioned.
Boris really mastered that technique. That hair of his.
All of the creepy weirdos in the donnie cinematic universe are just so vile and disgusting and so ripe for mockery. Let's see: Bannon, Stone, Gorka, Miller... (and many more I'm forgetting right now) all of them are freaks that no normal person would want to associate with. All of them have designs on America and Americans that are just creepy.
They’re lucky that the worst thing they’ve been pinned with so far is “this dude looks like he’d fuck a sofa” when most of these people look like they’d happily make a lamp out of you if they liked your pores.
I hope they go far beyond the couch fuckin'. All of those creepy weirdos around donnie, and that boost donnie, and many that vote for donnie, have very, very creepy and weird ideas about what they want to do to other Americans. They have a very creepy and weird idea of what America stands for - they want an Xtian Caliphate here in America. The couch fuckin' isn't even close to the worst of it - what JD did or does in the privacy of his own home with his furniture is no business of mine (even if it it's hilarious).
I hate that cushion pushin’ is the only thing that seems to be sticking though. It’s like everyone is saying, “corrupt and criminal” should be enough to disqualify them all forever, but it’s not landing. The only thing that has landed so far is the much less important “this guy looks like he’d seduce the futon” and it’s a fascinating example of the counterintuitive nature of psychology. People are apparently fine with a racist, sexist, criminal dictator as long as he doesn’t sex the sectional, but it just goes to show that while everyone thinks they’re rational beings, every decision - and I do mean every decision - is an emotional one. If it weren’t the case, then surely “fomented an insurrection at the Capitol building” would bear a lot more weight than “misinterpreted the loveseat”.
Don't forget the Mooch!
Its nice reading someone else see's things the same
The thing is, the Republicans have wanted all of those things for the last four decades and have passed numerous laws and while it is good to see people catching on, what the hell took so long?
Finding just the right language, I guess. Hillary's "basket of deplorables" was too mean. Republicans can be as mean as they want, but Democrats can't, and a woman definitely can't. "Weird" gets the point across without being too mean.
It's a bullshit game, but there it is.
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.
Don't forget the part where all the Republicans pretend they never really supported him in the first place.
This.
Never let anyone who identifies as or admits to voting republican get away with this. Always remind them they had a convicted criminal rapist pussy grabber who stole from from a kids cancer charity running the show. Not just a candidate, he ran the whole clown show.
Doesn't matter if it's an uncle, dad, mom, grandpa or grandma; always be relentless with this message and have no room for sympathy or forgiveness. Be the bigger person? Time to 'heal'? No, no, no. These people wanted to destroy America and you have to throw that into their face relentlessly.
Sure, have a family dinner or some party with family and friends but the moment politics comes up, you hammer this message home and tell them the discussion on politics is over because they have been proven not to be trusted at all when politics is involved. Uncle Bob want to talk fishing lures? Sure, no problem. Uncle Bob wants to talk politics in any way, shape or form? Be very, very fucking brutal in cutting the traitors of and shut them down. They have lost any and all admission to discuss (or, in my opinion, be part of) politics.
Uh, no. It's not popular to admit this, but being nice is much more persuasive with people who already like you. If you go nuts on them, they will just think you are crazy.
If you say "I think trump is too old and crazy / weird" they will listen. If they ask "Do you like trump?" just say "no" and laugh at the very idea of voting for him. That's why "He's weird" is working.
Yep. I look forward to that day, but we need to remind them of the truth when they try to pull that.
Just like the origins of the "tea party", just like how they called themselves "teabaggers" (no matter how much they insist now that it never happened), just like they swooned over both W and Romney, but pretended they "didn't know her" when W's war on Iraq was obvious to even the lowest of low-info that it was a clusterfuck, and when Romney lost to the Blah guy.
Yep. Gonna be big “I was part of the civilian resistance” post-WW2 vibes in the aftermath of all this.
I’m prepared to remind every smug boomer I know until the day they die, and I relish in the opportunity.
The Republican Party eagerly embraced him. They wanted this.
This needs to be repeated over and over. Remind everyone when Trump is gone. He isn't the threat people, he is a threat.
The seeds of his "movement" were planted by 4chan and other terminally online far right trolls long before he ever took the reins. It's been brewing since the mid-to-late-2000s but was mostly contained to their own corners of the net. Until one day it wasn't. Some people recognized it as just controversial bigoted/racist humor (such as the "Hitler did nothing wrong"-flavored Mountain Dew), others took it seriously and turned it into a lifestyle, and gave birth to the alt right.
It's the political manifestation of every troll board you've ever heard of, 4chan, 8chan, somethingawful, etc. I'm a 'chan veteran myself, I saw it all start.
My impression is that Something Awful was largely filled by people who saw the problems with 4chan "humor" and wanted nothing to do with it. But I could be misremembering.
When reactionaries tell you to stop something it's because it is effective.
If they cry and foam at the mouth you should go even harder.
They're a minority of weirdos and should be reminded of such at every opportunity.
I might even go as far as calling them dumb.
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?
I like to also add "gross" to Trump and Vance's descriptions. Really helps to complete the picture in my mind.
Eh, adds to it but there are so many words you are missing for completion here.
They both have a real “would you fuck me? I’d fuck me” vibe.
"Gross" seems a lot more fitting than "weird". But what do I know? I'm not a political strategist.
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.
Is wooosh a thing on lemmy yet?
I'm gonna do my own research and get back to you
It’s only as proven as the leftist theory that you shouldn’t smoke cigars.
That's like wearing a suit of armor during a thunderstorm because you're afraid of being hit by lightning.
Breath of the Wild taught me this is a bad idea.
Animals are good judges of character. No wonder they hate him.
I did not know about the eagle bit but I think that's a bit poetic. It didn't actually get him on the nose, did it? Because that would just be too many metaphors.
Trump eats his steak well done with ketchup.
That sounds like the most un-american thing i've heard all day. Very weird.
I cracked up during the Jan 6th hearings when his aide said she came into a room and saw a broken plate and ketchup splattered on the wall.
The helmet kissing thing at the RNC was insane and hilarious too. Weird dude
Well he lost my vote
Yes, but doesn't he look tired?
ok, i'm eating crow now, for criticizing the "he's weird" strategy. #happyiwaswrong
they really are mentally 5 years old
“When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same. The temperament is not that different.” -Donald Trump https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/04/opinions/president-trump-six-year-old-with-nuclear-weapons-dantonio/index.html
Omg... I hadn't heard of this before. Parody dies in the wake of Trumps giant fucking stupid diapered ass
That's why I added the link. I thought anyone reading who wasn't already familiar with the quote would just assume it was a joke, I know I would.
It makes sense. You can't reason with it, you can't use descriptive accurate language because they might not understand, or fail to understand why it applies to them.
Weird - to them - means "non-conforming" and that is a terrible, terrible thing for a conservative.
More than just non-conforming generally too. They super quickly embraced that non-conformist image when it came to the masks.
But it feels like just calling them weird triggers a primal fear within them that they're not really part of the "in-group" after all. It works where other insults don't because they can't easily write it off as their enemies simply being jealous of how cool they are basically.
I think it is really, really effective when women are calling Republican men creepy weirdos. I don't know if it would work to have Biden call the likes of MTG and Bobo creepy weirdos (even though it's obviously true), though.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/question-keeping-trump-loving-men-night-why-won-t-women-ncna1273594
I think I just saw a viral type post pushed on reddit r/TwoXChromosomes with the subject of, paraphrasing "If you support Project 2025 by voting for donnie, I'm cutting you out of my life. No exceptions."
GOOD
i actually had to go back to reddit to check that out. here it is for anyone interested
Some folks don't grow up they just get bigger
Look, I'm sorry I didn't vote in 2016 but I've voted every time since then and started paying attention to local politics. Now I have a protected bike lane next to my neighborhood and the roads aren't full of holes
Good job. That's all we should ask of you. You made a mistake, learned from it, and vow not to do it again. As long as you uphold that, you'll be an outstanding citizen, and that's all we should ask for.
I like protected bike lanes and roads without holes in them too!
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
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-says-immigrants-are-poisoning-blood-country-biden-campaign-liken-rcna130141
Pretty much a direct parallel
Maybe not overtly, but there are TONS of *wink wink, nudge nudge* rhetoric about the Aryan race, they just couch it in dog whistles and have for decades. Here's the famous Atwater quote from 84 where he admits it:
I would agree that it's a lot of nudge, nudge, wink, wink, underlying white supremacist ideology.
I don't even think it's a secret. They just refuse to say it overtly because of the social impact of it. A portion of people who voted, and will vote for Trump, might have a problem with them being very obviously racist/Nazis.
I don't think that's a majority, but those that now or less stay out of politics, and are just habitual Republican voters (maybe they're subscribed to the party or something? A "card carrying Republican" type thing), would see the overt racist/Nazi themes and reconsider their position instead of blindly doing what they've always done.
Instead it's about making things "great", an overly broad and obtuse term to use as a focus of your political goals. With vague and ultimately meaningless talk about what that means, without any actual hard statements.
They're avoiding any commitments to do a specific thing or achieve a specific goal, and it's all a smokescreen. Anyone paying attention knows that you can't have your cake and eat it too, which is essentially what they've promised at every turn. The horrible fuckery of the medicare system comes to mind. They were going to make it "great" and affordable..... How? Nobody knows. They didn't even know. What did they deliver? Not that. It's not great. Affordable? That is debatable. It's not just Medicare. It's everything.
They only other time I've seen this phenomenon is at work. Sales people will sometimes promise clients that a product will do everything for them. Well beyond the abilities of that product. I'm not in sales. I'm a technical support/implementation person. I have to give the end user/client the bucket of cold water to say, no, it doesn't do that, and it's not able to do that. When I approach management about it, the response is inevitably "make it work", aka, find a solution, and don't bother me about it. I tend to quit jobs that put me in that kind of a position, so it's rare that I end up in it.
What Trump, and a lot of what I've heard from his party lately, does is entirely the same. He's acting like a shady sales person, telling you everything that he thinks that you want to hear, then foisting the task of actually accomplishing any of his wild statements onto implementation people who basically tell him that his promises and statements about what we can do, or will do, cannot be achieved. They're told to "make it work" and they do their best, but it ends up making things fucking suck. I don't blame anyone except the sales person telling me that they can do something that I later find out, cannot be done.
My main problem is that, this isn't just his own business that's going to suffer and fail as a result of his insane ramblings. We're talking about the country of the United States of America which will suffer immense damage if he is allowed to continue this circus.
I don't believe anything he says.
I generally don't believe politicians. I also don't believe most sales people. As for a politician with the approximate credibility (or lack thereof), of a sales person? You do the math.
The argument I have heard from the Republican voters is some derivative of “we need to bring this country together and be united!” After a few questions is always under their ideology.
They want everyone to change to worship their fascist, racist, and regressive ideology rather than pull their heads out of the sand and realize everything they stand for is absolute trash.
Most of them don’t understand why we don’t worship Trump like they do. It’s so confusing to them that we don’t worship Biden or Harris like they worship Trump. To be a Republican is to lack all empathy.
EIN VOLK, EIN REICH, EIN FÜHRER!
I think he tries to be Americanized version of Putin. And Putin tries to be Russian version of Hitler
Putin is just the Putin version of Putin. He is nothing like Hitler and not trying to be either.
At least in propoganda he tries to. In reality obviously authoritarism is different from totalitarism.
I think he tries to be Americanized version of Putin. And Putin tries to be Russian version of Hitler
So my buddy and I were bored in the car yesterday and I made up a game called “let’s bet how many minutes it will take me to scan through AM radio and hear that the immigrants are invading.” I was really sad when I won in, I shit you not, less than 3 minutes. But before he got to that when I first tuned in he was going on a whole rant about being butthurt that the orange one was being called a weirdo. It really upset the guy which was just absolutely hilarious. Oh and he managed to slip a transphobic pronoun joke in the middle of the rant. Remember all of this happened within less than 3 minutes of me starting at the bottom of the AM dial.
I love in the south and the radio is a fucked up place. It's mostly all Christian or Republican talk radio. They tell people how they should think. like some random dude on the radio has all the answers.
My experience driving thru Indiana has been about the same. And that was some 10 years ago
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.
Hah. The squares are the weird ones now.
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
I wonder what the fail whale would think of Elon
I feel that my guy
still don't understand what's wrong with being weird. republicans just hate it because their bigoted mind associate it with being different and they hate that.
The message isn't for democrats. You insult people based on what they find insulting.
yeah that's what i meant; they're the ones turning it into a negative attack. the dems are just planting the seeds.
I think there's different meanings in different contexts. You don't want to be the "creepy weirdo" kind of weird, but then there are people who are into weird art or have weird kinks and they are great
... and this attack will be turned on us next.
Bro they've been calling us weird (and way worse) for decades.
I think the term "creepy" would also be effective.
For sure, and it is absolutely true.
I just like "weird" because it only works one way. For people who value individuality and diversity, it doesn't necessarily have a negative connotation. For people who value conformity, it's a devastating insult. Apparently Ben Shapiro went on Megyn Kelly's show to cry about it, which is great.
Keep $City Weird is a classic embrace of the term.
"keep $city weird" would go hard on a cap (no cap)
Yes. Honestly, what's wrong with being weird? maga weird == creepy
This makes a lot more sense than weird. Old and weird is something one could put on a T-shirt or on a lemmy nbio and enjoy displaying it. It's basically a Weird Al Yankovic T-shirt.
And the meaning of brat really hasn't changed except in some limited social circles, just like the close association between coconuts, monkeys, and primitive tribal connotations. It's as if someone was leading the Democratic marketing campaign by selling it within the bubble but in such a way that it is ultimately ineffective and easily twisted, and it's giving me serious 2016 vibes. I really hope I'm wrong and just out of touch.
The only problem I have is I'm weird and I think weird is cool, I like weird people and I love towns that have a motto that is like keep Portland weird. I celebrate weird, but I guess it's time to normalize the weird I've been supporting and ostracize the truly weird
Weird is neutral on it's own, it's context and tone and stuff that gives it positive and negative weight
Weird as in countercultural is cool. Weird as in talking about wanting to date your daughter is not so cool.
That's disgusting, not "weird".
It's also weird. Normal people don't want to date their daughter.
No, it's not "also weird". Use a more descriptive word. We can't have one word be equally applicable to people that are slightly awkward and people that want to groom their children. Blindly grouping them together normalizes the latter and demonizes the former.
Also, "Normal" is a term used to make people feel othered. Consider what normal has excluded in the past (race, sexuality, gender, etc) and how disgusting we see that was now. Again, there are better words to use that don't contribute (intentionally or not) to binding truly vile behavior to benign characteristics.
It is also weird. Weird is a pretty broad and neutral term. It encompasses quirky and creepy.
I find it so odd you're strongly against the concept of normal while so gung ho about keeping weird as a thing. Weird is used just as much for othering.
I'm aware as you use it repeatedly for exactly that. I'm also aware that many people embrace their weirdness to take the power back from bullies and bigots. They should get to keep that without worrying about the term becoming a synonym for pedophile or fascist.
It already is a synonym for creepy, grotesque, and ghastly. This isn't a new use. When I pull out my paper thesaurus, that's what's there. It isn't becoming that; it is that.
It's also a synonym for funky and eccentric and quirky and kooky. It's not a word with an inherent judgement unless you think "different" is inherently good or bad.
What a comfort that your dictionary backs you up. That definitely mitigates the harm you're supporting.
I'm sorry you identify so strongly with your bullies taunts that you have trouble dealing with the reality that there is good weird and bad weird.
Ah, another traditional bully line - "You're too emotional!"
I'm starting to see why you don't think any of this is problematic.
Weird is a loaded phrase. It was a gamble to see if it can track but in this way, against Trump, its working. I agree it was always my preference to be weird then be cool when I was young but this isn't that kind of weird.
To someone who is conformist being "weird" is the worst thing. If you aren't being weird is a badge of honor and people wear it proudly. This is why it works so well right now.
The kind of weird you embrace isn't the kind of weird he is. He'd hate it even worse if we said he was your kind of weird. When he's gone we can make weird great again.
"Don't worry, we're only gonna do this shitty thing for a little bit, we swear!" That's not a reassurance, it's just an excuse.
Calling out the weirdness of an objectively weird (and creepy, and megalomaniac, and venal, and abusive and dangerous) old man, who's weird by choice and despite all his privileges, isn't shitty.
It's the hope that his brand of weirdness becomes irrelevant and forgotten that I was referring to, not saying there would ever be a time to stop naming it what it is, or feeling obliged to make excuses for it.
It absolutely is shitty. You're not "calling out" trump & co. for some objective characteristic - you're lumping everyone that's ever been derided for being "weird", bullied, and generally othered in with them for cheap political points. Your excuse that it's only temporary is a hollow promise I expect even you don't believe. The damage is to more than just one person, and that doesn't get undone as soon as you decide you've had your fun and go home.
You are overthinking this and make it about you. This is meant to get under their skin because they are weird and cannot handle the phrase.
We expect you to not be so easily irked and intelligent enough to realize wat the spiel is here...
I don't know if Republicans hate it as much as we just love it.
I tested it on the chuds in my fantasy football chat, and they lost their minds. It works.
Keep up the good work
I wonder why? I don't think Kamala supporters would freak out if you called her "weird".
Because fundamentally right wingers a build their identity around the idea that they are normal.
Progressives? We're generally pretty OK with being weird. Being different. Being unusual. But right wingers are pathologically obsessed with the idea of being normal. The idea of being weird scares then more than anything else.
They absolutely baller move right now would be to STOP saying it.
Let it sit there and don't say it again. Move on to something else for a bit.
Let them get all frothed about it but never refer to it again.
Otherwise they're going to regroup and have a response.. stopping now means they waste their energy
Lol, found trumps account.
Haha.. oh man. You MONSTER ..
Nah
Glad it is working.
Y'all know the story of Hitler coming into power? Right?
This is exactly what most German people thought about Hitler, and why they thought he could never come to power. Fascism is weird, but also weirdly appealing to a very determined and violent subset of people, and they'll do what it takes to coerce others to go along. You're right we shouldn't be too confident that sanity will naturally win.
I mean, I bring up Hitler, but this is also exactly what people thought about Trump first time around too.
Some people crave a King. They want to be ruled. That's the structure that makes sense to their brain.
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.
Im glad they finally found something that sticks but sometimes I wish Kendrick just came out one time to call Trump a certified pedophile. Id laugh so hard I'd piss myself and possibly even someone else.
"they not like us" [photo of Trump and Clinton with Epstein]
Well then maybe they should stop being such weirdos.
This is also the tactic employed in major hiphop feud Kdot v. Drake
How'd it work out for the weird guy with rumors of pedophilia who is hated by the majority of people who worked with him?
Here's the thing. Biden hails from an era of politics where one would absolutely get lit up by the media for breaking decorum.
It's been a slow decline for some time, but the Republicans along with
their propaganda outletFox News have slowly changed the country's thermostat on this over the last few decades. Much like wearing a winter parka in the summer heat, maintaining complete and total political decorum in this climate is no longer a boon, it's a handicap. We all saw Biden take one heck of a beating while taking the high road and never really taking the (rage) bait to hit back in quite the same way. But while that approach is performing on virtue, the optics are one of a punching bag in the eyes of many crucial voters.So tactics have been changed, and boy have they ever.
What I appreciate about this approach is that it's actually very light-handed, considering all that could be done. It also looks downright polite compared to how much right-wing media has run with hyperbole and even outright fabrication. Yet running on the rather casual sounding observation of "old and weird" is generating actual results. It's also refreshing to loudly point out what we were all baffled about from the get-go: "Don't they know? I mean, they're seeing the same stuff we are, right?"
I welcome this new shift to "bless your heart" politics.
This is the equivalent of pointing out grammatical errors in an otherwise logically sound argument. This is not a positive development, it is a sign that things are continuing to get worse.
Not even a little. Trump is wrong about what the problems are, and proposes "solutions" to the non-problems that we know will make them worse.
Plus, he's old and weird, and he running mate might be young-ish, but double-weird instead.
Let me rephrase this.
This is like pointing out grammatical errors in both a logical/illogical argument.
You are either the person going 'neener neener you misspelled a word' to a person with a sound argument, or you're stooping to the level of an idiot to defeat an idiot.
If you cannot recognize why both are bad, I am not going to explain it to you.
Problem is you are pretending like the illogical argument didnt sit in office for 4 years.
No, I'm not, you're reading into what I've said and think you've got me because you don't understand what I'm (and by association, you're) talking about.
I'm sorry if you cant recognize the ridiculous strawman argument you put up, I'm not going to explain it to you.
Not a strawman lil guy, you just can't read. Actually, the only strawman placed is the one you propped up.
Hey cool, I unlocked the 'attempt to win an argument by attacking the other person because i have no real standing' part of the strawman. I wonder what happens next?
You suggested I propped up a strawman. I told you I didn't, and insulted you because this is how you want discourse to occur. Why exactly is it wrong here and not there?
Edit: two hours and I'm still waiting for an answer, I guess the hypocrisy of their words finally dawned on them. Good for them, even if it did take a little bit of coercing.
lol, remember just yesterday, when you complained about online discourse, while attacking people because you don't like what they said? this you?
or are we going to go with "disagreeing with me is insulting me"? I can flip to that page ahead of time if you like.
Sorry I don't live on fucking lemmy to respond to some troll throwing insults at a moments notice lmao.
I responded within minutes showcasing to you why what you're arguing for is wrong. You have, twice now, responded like a child.
Your opinion is not valuable on this topic, thank you for contributing.
Fascists don't get civil debate. They get mocked, beaten, and ignored. If you don't understand why I call people that are involved with Project 2025 "weird", I'm not going to explain it to you, again.
The death of civil discourse, ladies and gentleman. Propagated by people who think they're doing the right thing. The same people who are responsible for the complete lack of civil discourse online, who would have thought?
It is, in fact, not at all the equivalent of that. Get your lab equipment tested.
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Yeah, trying to overthrow the government and create a theocratic dictatorship, run by a probable amoral atheist felon who is functionally illiterate is pretty weird. Life in general has just been weird for the past 10 years now, but I feel like a large part of it is caused by Republicans in general enabling weird shit to happen.
Not sure it's all that new - I've heard bluegal on The Professional Left call many, many, many Republicans creepy weirdos for years and years.
Because they are very, very weird and quite creepy when you actually learn what they want to do to America and to Americans.
Great! Now do all of the GOP congress and senate.
Republicans hate this one weird trick.
I've always prided myself on being weird....how can 'weird' be such an insult? I'm going to have to test this out on a couple conservatives before I believe this.
There's "wear an animal costume to the nightclub" weird and there's "have 23 kids, homeschooled all of them, and cover up the oldest son's molestation accusations all while being the most self righteous bigots in Arkansas" weird. Now, Trump doesn't have nearly that many kids, but he's definitely closer to the latter than the former.
You said it at the end there. Conservative means status quo. Which is not weird.
That's the dictionary definition perhaps, but not what they're pushing for. Conservatives talk about small government etc, but really it's about rewarding the ingroups and punishing the outgroups.
They want to revert reproductive rights, with the government tracking periods and investigating women's bodies. That's weird af. They love the police state and mass surveillance, recording people's messages and web activities is hugely creepy. It's weird if a person snoops on you like that, and it's weird if the government does it. They care way too much about what's between your legs and which gender you sleep with, again, weird.
Edit: also just to add there is good weird and bad weird. Good weird is being yourself despite what the mainstream does, bad weird is forcing your viewpoints on others
These folks are against the status quo. Roe v. Wade was the status quo. Having a peaceful transfer of power after you've lost an election is the status quo.
Positively tame. Some people like weirdos yknow
Not those kind
Fox & Friends host Brian Killamead is trying to spin it as, "aren't we all a little weird? What's normal anyway?"
don't be orange
don't not be not orange
Weird tack for people who are against (checks notes) anybody who isn't white, straight, and Christian.
Yeah thats why i say hes not weird just mean and nasty
I hate this messaging because I’m proudly weird. It’s a rhetorical step towards ostracizing and othering those who are different. I think this is a really bad move that can and will backfire, especially when the opponent is fascism.
Weird is just anything you aren’t used to. Kamala is “weird” to trump supporters who aren’t used to seeing women or POCs in positions of power. Compared to every president before her, she stands out as a lot weirder than Trump.
“You’re weird!” Is a really bad strategy. Queer and weird were once synonyms, and mostly still are. Don’t disenfranchise your base.
There are subtleties of language that depend on context. I think most people understand that this line of attack refers to malignant weirdness as opposed to quirky or outside-the-mainstream weirdness.
For example, the GOP’s obsession with micromanaging women’s bodies is fucking weird. From context, you can probably see that I mean it is sinister, strange, and gross.
Gross! Now that's a good second word. Creepy is another.
Trump and MAGAs are weird, creepy, and gross.
Then call him malignant. Weird is a word that has mostly positive connotations and it sounds like she’s complimenting him when quotes are taken out of context and put into a headline.
"Weird" is incredibly effective in this context because thinking of themselves as "Normal" is really, really important to right wingers, and especially to the MAGA cult. Just look at how often they use terms like "silent majority". Being the norm, the baseline, the average, that's essential to their understanding of who they are. Meanwhile the liberals and leftists and Democrats are the kookie weirdo freaks who want to destroy their decent, simple, God fearing way of life. That normality is exactly what they think conservatives are conserving. So the idea that their "Normal" is a myth undercuts their entire way of thinking.
Interesting perspective. My exposure to MAGA folks has tended to be from edgelords who take pride that they aren’t “normies” and that they are different from the mass of “sheeple”.
I suppose it depends on whether you associate MAGA with the alt-right or with traditional conservatives. Both are important voting blocks for trump. I don’t know many traditional conservatives that haven’t jumped on the centrist neoliberal bandwagon.
I associate a desire for “normalcy” and a rejection of those who have “weird” opinions with the aging neoliberals in my life. They often use attacks on the “weird” to resist progressive and inclusive actions that don’t fit within their neoliberal boomer mindset. The non-centrists reject normality and embrace weird and unusual ways of approaching the problems in our country, at least in my social exposure. It’s one of the ways that I’ve seen both extremes differ from the center. The difference between the left and right extremes are just the brand and direction of deviation from the crumbling and untenable centrist positions. One side celebrates weirdness and diversity, the other celebrates what they think makes them superior to normal, and therefore worthy of surviving the genocide they advocate for.
Too clinical. Sorry, but “weird” hits harder for a bigger portion of the electorate.
Not to everyone, and not in every context.
It's also a word stupid people are going to have to look up, and it's easily disregarded as just being against them because they're republicans (how they feel about Democrats) and not because their beliefs are fucking weird and creepy.
I like the weird messaging as a weird dude, because it's pretty clear it's being used because it makes them feel like they're not in the in-group anymore. You can see by how badly they react how effective the message is, and changing messaging just when something starts working just makes you look incompetent or like you're trying to sabotage your own message. The Democrats already have enough of that kind of baggage, they don't need to shoot themselves in the foot right now.....
Maybe I’m out of the loop, but I’m not really seeing much evidence of them reacting badly or the messaging being effective. The article claims it, but then mostly just talks about what Pete Buttigieg and MSNBC have to say about it.
You're weird. I'm weird. We both know that weird is where it's at, and the worst thing either of us could aspire to be is "normal".
This strategy is about rattling folks whose identity is still external rather than internal. Introspection surrounding the idea of "weirdness" is the goal.
The expectation to conform to a set of principles foisted upon you by superiors is the idea that we're fighting against. The people who support that way of thinking want wealth consolidation, conformity, and all others in cages. Weird is a dang battle cry in the face of something so oppressively ordinary.
I think it's part of a larger reframing of the conversation. You're right, it used to be that queer and weird were synonymous, but why should it be?
Queer should be normal. Trans should be normal. Black and Brown and Asian and Native should all be normal. Fucked up right wing ideologies should not be normal.
And the only way we get there is by acting like we already are. You reframe the narrative. You move "normal" to where it should be instead of where it is. You bring all the people who used to be the "weirdos" and outsiders into the tent, and you leave the bigoted xenophobes standing outside in the rain.
Queer is the new normal. Bigot is the new weird. That's a world I'm down for living in.
This I can almost get behind, except that “weird” has a lot of queer and diverse and non-white connotations/baggage that can’t be ignored.
A white-on-the-inside coconut may not see it immediately if she was raised in a California context. That word didn’t just fall out of a tree, and it exists within the context of all the uses that came before hers.
Sure, we can reframe what behavior is acceptable vs not, but “weird” does not mean and has never meant “unacceptable”. Weird Al is generally considered to be acceptable. “That’s weird” is usually quoted as the fundamental driving statement of advances in science. Rejecting weirdness is fundamentally antithetical to progress, and carries with it baggage of rejecting solid portions of the democratic party’s base.
I think there's more than enough specific context to how the term is being used here that I feel confident in saying the risks you're imagining don't really exist.
I'm openly bisexual and married to a trans woman, and also a massive nerd, and I really don't feel threatened by this. Words can have different meanings depending on their context. Gay can mean homosexual, and gay can also mean happy. Idiot can be a term of abuse or a term of affection. Weird can be cool, or it can be creepy. Language is just like that.
Yes, "creepy" would have been way more accurate to describe these guys anyway.
I can get behind that. Total creeps.
Hey! Some of us proudly identify as creepy over here!
Sorry, I forgot about Radiohead.
They're going for laughter, not disgust. Authoritarians hate being laughed at.
Sorry but linking it to "queer" is just completely ridiculous. Nobody is calling them queer and nobody is hearing them being called weird as being called queer.
Weird and queer are clear synonyms.
No matter what, it’s making fun of someone for being different and diverse.
It’s functionally extremely similar, the only difference is that some parts of the lgbt community have claimed queer as their own.
Language matters.
If you think calling those freaks weird is somehow an insult to gay people, that's your problem because that's fucking idiotic. Sorry but there's really nothing else to say.
I somewhat agree with you, which is why I refer to them as old convicted felon and couch fucker. It doesn't have a great ring to it but seems accurate
"We should choose the moral high ground against people who would exploit us taking the moral high ground. 🤡
It’s not about taking the moral high ground against them, it’s about not disenfranchising and alienating large portions of her base so she can win, and it’s about not using an attack that frankly is more applicable to her candidacy than to his.
She’s the weird one! That’s why I’m voting for her! Trump is just more of the dark side of America that has always been present. Nothing weird about him. Plenty weird and unique and novel and different about Kamala. I’m voting for the weird candidate.
Is she really, though? I think she's refreshingly normal. She only seems weird because we're used to politicians who don't laugh, who aren't relatable. Her views are majoritarian views. Her views are views that the majority supports.
I guess it's all relative. It's a sad indictment of our political system that it's "weird" to have a presidential candidate who's a likable human being with ideas that most people can get behind.
Are you fucking kidding me? Dude walked into beauty pageant dressing rooms while they were changing - that's fucking weird
Dude wants to roll back rights for large segments of the population - that's fucking weird
Dude talked about wanting to have sex with his daughter - that's really fucking weird.
I could go on, but don't pretend the demented diaper shitting fucknugget is "normal". There's a reason trump was so effective in 2016, because he was fucking weird and fired up a lot of the weird ass cracks of the internet without exposing his weirdness to the population at large.
America may have had a dark side, but there's a reason it's called 'the dark sode' - they're fucking weird.
All of that behavior is problematic, but not “weird” in the context of people in power throughout American/world history.
It frankly is normal. That’s why he has such a large base. That’s why he’s dangerous. That’s why our whole country needs to face its alarmingly common dark tendencies.
It's not normal though, and his base only seems large because close to half of the country is disaffected and chooses to not participate. The base is "large" in that it's a significant portion of the voting public, but that's still less than 30-35% overall at most. The rest of the country knows this shit is weird, and that's why you're seeing a strong response now that there's someone younger than the crypt keeper running.
Don't let their control of the media make you think this is normal, that's what they want. They want you thinking this is normal because you're less likely to fight against it and instead do what you're doing and continue propagating the lie they're putting out that they're the normal group, you're literally doing what they want.
Being weird is not an insult to us, we wear that hat with pride. But our weird behavior falls on one side of the "normalcy range", the quirky, the funny, the confidently different, the queer side.
There is another side of "weird", the side of creepy weird, the side of child predators, the side of tikki-torch nazis, the side of whatever the couch fuck is wrong with J.D. Vance. And they don't wear that hat with pride, they wish they were normal or think of themselves as normal.
To the ones who hate us, who can't stand our confident weirdness, and to the ones who are on the wrong side of weirdness, it's an insult. That's why we can be proudly weird, while they start foaming at the mouth at the mere implication that they might not be "normal". That's why this attack lands, they are the anti-queer, the anti-weird and pointing out that Trump behaves outside the accepted range of "normal" behavior (just in the opposite direction of our weird) is an effective attack.
I'm feeling the same way. Using "weird" to attack anyone is just shallow and mean, and isn't going to resonate well with people that grew up being dismissed as weird. It's a bullying tactic that politicians should be above.
*It's also worth commenting on how this serves to legitimize their own bully tactics. If just saying someone is weird matters now, so does all of the right's attacks on names, looks, disabilities, etc. Emboldening those tactics is a mistake.
Democrats gonna be the party of traditional values i guess.
Yes. The US has always had a disconnect between what they say they believe and what they actually do. So, it's up to progressives to align what the government does to what it professes to believe.
Supporting trans kids and making abortions legal, safe, and accessible both fall in line with "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". The Founders never said anything against abortion or trans kids. You can't even find anything in the Bible about that! Conservatives just took their bigoted ideas and slapped a "traditional values" label on them.
This just comes off as circle jerking. I doubt any Republicans really care what Trump is called.
It’s not just what he is called, it’s what their beliefs are called. And their beliefs are fucking weird.
They think Democrats beliefs are weird in turn, so nothing has changed
They're freaking out about being called weird. It might seem dumb but it's clearly working.
I haven't seen that anywhere yet. Feels fabricated to me.
But they do care what they are called. And when you support a weird, corrupt, philandering pedophile, people will rightfully point it out.
After eight to ten years it's calling him weird that gets under their skin? Lol, I love your optimism.
If you say so. Weird Al Yankovic is a fan favorite of many old people. I can perfectly see people wearing “Old and weird” purposely. There’s no shortage of old people wearing edgy T-shirts, specially in the Trump crowd.
I'm no psychologist, but the irony of praising being called "brat" while touting calling the opposition "weird" makes me feel like I'm back in preschool. These lowered bars, man ... definitely on our way to surpassing Idiocracy.
I don’t know who thinks “weird” is some kind of effective attack. IMO just happens to coincide with the wave of feel-good associated with Biden stepping aside and Harris stepping up. Personally I find it pretty lame. stick with dishing back what the republicans threw at Biden - trump is old, he can’t form coherent sentences, question his health, and show everyone he wants a hereditary dictatorship that subjugates women and fellates the ultra wealthy so the US can be just another shitty kleptocracy.
Serious question. Why do we need "attacks" at the ready? We don't need to stoop to their level
Edit: I'm not trying to be a centrist with this. I just think it (somewhat) encourages more internal strife and I'm a little afraid a civil war (or maybe something less dramatic) is coming. I can tell you I've never had my mind changed by somebody who treated me poorly. I still respect everybody's opinion who disagrees with me, though!
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!"
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.
It's messaging. The GOP has been so much better than the Dems at messaging. "Build the wall" , "lock her up", etc is all easy to understand and convey.
I honestly couldn't tell you what Biden's was?
It's about time the Dems started hitting back with stuff like "old and strange". Taking the high road where it matters but getting in your hits when you can is exactly what the Dems need to be doing.
Because Trump could win