Trump Is ‘Weird,’ Vance Is ‘Creepy.’ Finally, the Democrats Start Name-Calling
Trump Is ‘Weird,’ Vance Is ‘Creepy.’ Finally, the Democrats Start Name-Calling
The insults are delightfully petty and supremely satisfying.
Snowflakes. Groomers. Cucks.
For years the MAGA movement has approached politics the way a bully would approach a schoolyard, sparring with labels so nasty, they seemed expressly chosen to appeal to the kind of people who stuffed nerds in lockers in sixth grade. And for years Democrats, abiding by the mantra to go high, not low, have responded by trying to be the adults in the room: defending themselves with facts, with context, with earnest explanations that nobody remembers (if they defend themselves at all).
The problem is that taking the high road only works if politics is a sport played mainly by people who act like grown-ups, which it is not. And also: Facts and context don’t make for particularly sticky messaging.
Enter: Weird.
Over the past two weeks, as “Brat” and coconut memes have taken over the internet and Kamala Harris inches closer to Donald Trump in the polls, the Democrats have finally gone low, deploying a bit of verbal jujitsu so delightfully petty it might just work.
i find weird and creepy to be less name calling and more fact pointing
Let's keep up the "name calling" facts
Matt Gatez creepily traffics children
Gym Jordan is, at best, a creepy enabler of pedophiles
Mike Johnson weirdly discusses individual porn movies with his children
(I'm not trying to stick to a theme here)
Lauren Boebert seems to weirdly enjoy public indecencyyes! they key is to use factual words that these very simple, emotionally driven people understand.
(I'm not trying to stick to a theme here)
Sometimes a creepy pattern just emerges from the data. :shrug:
Republicans ain't like us.
Party of family values 🙄
MTG literally feeling-up a cardboard cutout of TFG is SUPER weird. what in the sugar frosted fuck was that??? Southern republicans were fucking weird 20 years ago but god damn
Also way less offensive than what they deserve.
For Heaven's sake, someone make this person a Lemmy Mod
Unfortunately, fact pointing doesn't work.
If you want name-calling, these work:
Back when Michelle Obama said when they go low, we go high--I told my wife "I really wish that worked in American politics, I really do....but it simply doesn't". My wife disagreed. Because my wife is a mature, kind-hearted Democrat. She thinks you can bring an informational brochure to a bar fight.
Maybe there is a way to de-escalate things and return to more civil "statesmanship" style in our politics. But my guess is that these things follow some kind of up-and-down cycle, and you don't want to be on the side that's lagging.
I saw an article that summarizes people like your wife as those living in a West Wing (TV show) fantasy. I wish we lived in such a world too, but we definitely do not.
I do not mean offense to your wife. I envy people that still have that type of faith.
It's not just one or the other.
You can't ignore it, you can't pick it apart and expect people to listen. Even if they listen, now you're spending all your time explaining.
What you is dismiss them quickly and broadly, then talk about what you would do.
They won't waste time trying to talk policy, so they're reduced to making the same insults and getting the same dismissals.
It makes them look "weak" and the more they fight back the crazier shit they have to make up. It's a feedback loop.
Biden tried to do it, he just couldn't string together enough words. Kamala can, but it's not some master strategy, just the common sense response to the situation
Sure, I hear you and what you're saying, and it all makes sense. I think it depends on the time, the place, and the audience. I would say in general there has been a sea change here in the Trump post-truth world. And in general, things are much, much nastier as far as the tone and style goes. Things were very nasty when it came to policy and actual backroom deals back when Reagan took over. But at least the evil old bastard was charming and liked most Americans in his own goofy / phony way. He did pit us against each other but more in the grandpa wants to watch the kids wrestle kind of way compared to Trump's "let's destroy democracy" kind of way.
I also think it's very important that the Democrats continue to be for some things and not just 100% against things like the Republicans are.
Meeting in the middle and taking the high ground has worked a LOT in the past. In about 12 years, though some would argue since 2002, things changed. We can return to a more reasonable time, though I am of the opinion that the modern Republican Party needs to be gutted and replaced before we can do that. They are so far right that they've done a complete circle and have ended up with various heads in far too many asses.
I'm a big picture kind of person and that large magical totally not a portal painting on the wall points to the party being beyond saving.
It’s further back than that. Newt Gingrich in the 90s proved that the “fuck you, I’m gonna break your shit” republican strategy was surprisingly (politically) effective in the context of winning American elections and curbing the (publicly apparent) effectiveness of the Democratic Party. The DNC just took over 30 fucking years to fully understand that, and in the interim, the American public has paid the price.
I sure wouldn't miss them.
Have to fight back against the bullies to get them to stop.
I think it's missing the point. It's not effective for being name-calling. It's just saying what everyone is already thinking. Like in the 2020 debate when Biden said "Will you just shut up, man?" It was relatable because Trump runs his fucking mouth all the time.
This is the same. It's a relatable feeling - Trump is deeply weird and out of touch. Vance is so creepy people didn't even bother to check if he really wrote about fucking a couch.Vance is so creepy people didn't even bother to check if he really wrote about fucking a couch.
Nailed it. Pre-Trump era I would have frantically searched for a source. These days my expectations from the Republicans are so unbelievably low.
Future Presidential debates:
"Shut up you lying little removed"
"Come make me, fuckface!"
...deploying a bit of verbal jujitsu so delightfully petty it might just work
It's not even petty. It's just true. Republicans, with their obsessions over what's going on in everyone's pants and bedrooms, really are weird and creepy.
MAGAs are one trick ponies. Never engage them. Always call them out. It is easy once you know their game.
I was annoyed at that “when they go low, we go high” rhetoric. No you kick them in the teeth. Politics is a pig wrestling competition and you gotta get dirty.
Republicans are disgusting
https://archive.is/JGSPb Because I hit that wall.
Also, holy shit. That's the most mind-blowing article I've read in awhile. Thank you!
My only issue with using weird to refer to them is how much I love Weird Al Yankovic...
Fuck it tho.. if weird works to get under the skin of fascistsI don't think it'll hurt AL in the slightest.
There's good weird and bad weird.
Trump is shit. Vance is stupid. Match made in hell. Wierd just aint cuttin it, comrades
They’re both weird and creepy in their own ways. The GOP is like a Petri dish that someone smeared rabid monkey shit on, and we’re all watching it fester and mutate.
Bout damn time we give up this "We go high" bullshit
This is much, much "higher" than the right.
We'd have to have Joe Biden drop the Hard-R on Mark Robinson to reach anywhere near the lows of the Right
The primary difference being that the Dems are backing up the name calling with actual policies or things they've done.
Trump is weird bc he constantly says off the wall things, does weird shit, and supports unpopular policies (which are weird).
Vance is creepy because he believes and says super weird shit about women. Like how he believes women have to have kids to have value - that is creepy. If somebody said that on a date, there would not be another date. And how he nevertheless has no problem with childless couches - pretty hypocritical and creepy.
And from the repub side:
Schumer is a "member of Hamas" because.... it is inflamatory
Kamala is "laughing kamala" because.... she laughs sometimes. She is also a "radical democrat socialist" because.... she supports mainstream, popular, dem policies
Like how he believes women have to have kids to have value - that is creepy. If somebody said that on a date, there would not be another date.
"Look, what I am saying that I'm looking for a women who knows that their sole purpose is to make babies for me. I am willing to entertain myself with the couch.......Oh, you have to the washroom."
Four hours later
"Psh, women and their bathroom habits."
I think it's less about insulting them, and more a out no longer treating them with the utmost respect. We (and by we I don't just mean lefties) should have called them weird when they called themselves the the tea party, but we handled absolutely insane rhetoric by trying to meet it from a place of thoughtful and respectful academic discussion. It was always the wrong strategy.
That said it could very easily backfire. Going to far would look really childish. I think weird really hits home with how most reasonable people feel about these guys.
Agreed. There are certain positions so out there that they do not deserve any kind of respectful discourse. Republicans have been far past that since Bush II. I don't see a path to getting back there while they're still one of the two major parties. They need to either die off, or we fix the systemic issues that prevent third parties from being viable. Both works, too.
Every friggin' (R) are weird and creepy POS.
Can we make a meme referencing the MyPillow guy with Vance's sofa smashing? After that all we'll need is Trump embracing the Turks to get the Ottoman reference in there somehow and we'll have a completely furnished set!
Poetic justice for the "fuck your feelings " crowd.
Besides, I've heard that Trump smells kinda yucky.
(If this is more effective to steer away the followers than guilt on 34 points, rape and hush money, then let's roll with it.)
Supposedly has for decades, this is not an age issue
looks like what a faint, unclean clogged garbage disposal would smell like.
Apparently the only way to put Republicans in check is to strategically sink to their own inate level.
Only verbally to them. The goals are totally different. Republicans want ownership to women's and children's bodies and to make people feel guilty if they disagree.
fuck us politics.
Non of them ever adress the actual issues.
The declining middle class.
That you are just an industrial war machine that has to constantly be in war.
That you are ruled by wall street.
Bernie Sanders...
like they will ever let him run. He is anti Israel, guess which lobby doesn't like him ?
Name calling like that should work well with the youth vote. Smart. Politics is just a shit throwing contest. The other side will probably follow suit with terms that fit the demonized adjectives popular among the demographics of their base.
Contrary to the prevailing view that youth are rebellious, they always obey the patriarchy behind the scenes, the merchants of "the cool" dictating the popular image to them. Pretty hard to get milage out of calling a non-white woman creepy or weird. On the other hand, it is kind of a reflexive acceptance when those negative predicates are applied to any male over 20. Agreed. I think dicks of any age are weird and gross myself.
But will their POLICIES improve our lives?
People say a lot of really mean things to people. Sometimes it is primal and cuts to the core. But then they return with a how dare or act like the enmity is only one way. Strange. There should be more rational dialogue and less personal invective. I wonder why people like to focus on the ad hominem because I find the actual game plans (analysis and practice) more interesting. Why did we all get so caught up in identity? Rather than hiding behind identity, we should lead by revealing with positive action.
Adjectives are not nouns.
Seeing that thumbnail for the first time had me thinking "Who's the B movie token Russian guy?"
Democrats have become so right wing they're finally allowed to do name calling.
I fear this is Harris stalling on detailing her platform. Please, don't just bank on your age difference; even though Trump is a weirdo. Will someone run an actual campaign or am I just out of touch here?
Kamala is talking a lot about what she wants to accomplish.
This is the newest I could find. Uses quotes from 2019; even though the article is a few days old. It also contains alot of speculation.
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Beep boop. This action was performed automatically. If you dont like me then please block me.💔
If you have any questions or comments about me, you can make a post to LW Support lemmy community.I'm still in the group of... This is childish behavior.
The walk around while holding on to your ankles group?
No the, "politics should remain professional" group.
McCain Defending Obama: https://youtu.be/JIjenjANqAk&t=30s
Finally?
It's all they have been doing for 10 years, this is just the latest programming as the others have all been disproven to the masses.
More of this bullshit? My god is this weak. No Republican gives a shit about this, nor does anyone not an already solid democrate.
The Republican reaction disagrees with you. It's oddly put them I'm quite the tailspin, which I personally do think will have an effect on turning off some Republican voters. I don't think it will pick up many voters, but it may indirectly dissuade some.
Regulatory agencies have been captured, scotus is corrupt, women's rights have been taken, the largest industries are enriching a miniscule handful of Americans, fascism is increasingly coming into style and our noble democrats have only just started a new grand strategy of.... name calling?
Forget about getting people fed, using the new immunity ruling, stacking courts, or any serious material change for Americans. We are fucked.
A doomer .ml account. How original.
Seriously. Doomerism and defeatism are just pathetic and detrimental. When has giving up and rolling over in the face of opposition ever led to anything good? Especially when so much is at stake and worth fighting for every step of the way.
