Continuing this from the thread in !chapotraphouse@hexbear.net Have the Democrats finally hit on a good messaging strategy in calling Trump "weird?"

Original Post by @Philosoraptor@hexbear.net

Inspired by this post and the fact that I'm seeing a lot of regular libs start to coverage on "these guys are weird little freaks" as a messaging policy, which really seems to be bringing out the wojak-nooo in the far right. It's working much better for them than all of Biden's attempts to portray Trump as some kind of existential threat to amerikkka.

This is interesting, and only surprising in the sense that it is surprising to see the Democrats do something kind of effective for once. Fascists thrive on being seen as cool, powerful, and dangerous; those aesthetics are central to the brand. Every time Biden gave a big speech about how the future of democracy was on the line in the election, it played into that aesthetic. Every time CNN calls January 6 a "coup attempt," it plays into that aesthetic.

Calling these people weird little freaks with weird dumb ideas and weird creepy fixations does not play into that aesthetic. It breaks the illusion that all the freaks at the RNC wearing bandages on their ears are actually normal and represent normal people. They aren't, and they don't. This is yet another thing that the left has known for some time now, but that libs seem to maybe be catching on to: taking these idiots seriously empowers them. Actually realizing that and using it is one of the smarter things that the Dems have done in a while.

  • rootsbreadandmakka [he/him]
    ·
    3 months ago

    Ahh @Philosoraptor@hexbear.net I was just typing up a response to you but deleted in when I saw the post had been removed. I was just trying to make the point that I think the best response for Trump would probably be to focus on policy. Kamala does seem more "with it" but she's mostly just running on vibes right now, the reality is that she was second-in-command to the least popular (?) presidential administration in history that was Weekend at Bernie's-ing a dementia patient for four years. 2016 Trump could probably exploit this but I don't know if 2024 Trump has it in him.