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
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.
Also, we've been calling conservatives weird for years now, it's just that mainstream democrats are finally taking the opening that republicans have been giving them.
Throughout the Obama years and through the 2016 election, democrats kept casting the increasing extremism of the republicans as an aberration and often openly pleaded that the "fever" would "break." But the fever never broke, the republicans have only gotten more and more right, in ways that are increasingly alien to mainstream society. It was only a matter of time before democrats changed their tune and finally harped on the obvious.
Republicans ultimately have no one to blame but themselves. They embraced Trump, who is deeply weird. They talk about children's genitals all the time and accuse their opponents of being satanic pedophiles. They got rid of Roe. They've nominated JD Vance. They got so locked in to their conservative media bubble and their little mental conservative world that they lost touch with normality.
Absolutely. The same people seizing on this right now were screaming at us for not treating The Threat To Democracy with the decorum it deserved just a month ago. Most leftists have been on the "these guys are weird little freaks" train for years now.