Theories
- Its literally just because Hillary Clinton sucks so hard and people didnt want to hear that shit from her
- Deplorables is too much of a vocabulary word, weird is a word everyone knows. So deplorable just comes off more elitist, from a woman who is already seen that way. To quote a friend I asked "I think deplorable has a negative connotation that speaks to core personhood, in a way that comes off as both mean spirited and elitist"
- The GOP hadnt gotten unhinged enough yet, so America wasnt ready for a campaign that is dismissive of them and still expected bipartisan respect and shit, but are now because the "weird" shit is so out there all the time
- "Weird" is simply a more effective word to describe the situation at hand
- Deplorables would have worked fine with the young people who can vote now but couldnt in 2008.
- Kamala and especially Walz are better representations of "not weird" than Hillary was a representation of "not deplorable".
- "Weird" hits them harder, insults them worse, and thus makes them spiral more in a way deplorable didnt
- Deplorable would have worked fine if it wasnt just a one off comment but a sustained campaign message (this one im thinking probably not)
- The Vance effect, he's just that weird.
- People who are tired of Democrats being respectful like weird a lot
Instead of "this is a sign of the rising tide of fascism" or "a threat to our democracy" or whatever, "weird" is a more general thing that speaks to whatever the listener is attuned to but generally understands as the off-putting wrongness of these Republican ghouls. It helps that Democrats have finally (by virtue of sidestepping any sort of primary election for their candidate) put Blank Slate Generic Candidate at the top of their Presidential ticket.
Also nobody was interested in hearing Hillary Dang Clinton talking down about any part of the electorate. It reinforced her elitist image in a way that all the attack ads in the world could only wish to do