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 
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 
.
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.
The phrase Hillary used was "basket of deplorables", which doesn't sound like human speech. I think that was also something that she got consultants to think about too, and that's what they picked.
Absolutely. It's well outside the bounds of normal discourse. It showed just how out of touch she really was. That isn't to imply that the current dems are "in touch" with reality, but it does seem they're trying to align closer to it this time around.