US Democrats have spent recent days trying out a relatively new attack line on Donald Trump: that he is weird. The tactic is almost certainly calibrated to resonate with young and independent voters who, polls show, are moving from marked disinterest in the now-dropped matchup between Joe Biden and his presidential predecessor to engagement in the 100-day contest between Trump and Kamala Harris.
In a press release Thursday, vice-president and presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris issued a list of the main takeaways of what Trump had given the American people. “Is Donald Trump OK?” the X message said. The seventh of nine entries was: “Trump is old and quite weird?”
At a fundraising event in Massachusetts on Saturday, Harris tried out the line again, describing what Trump and running mate JD Vance had been saying about her as “just plain weird”.
“I mean that’s the box you put that in,” Harris said after Trump had called her “a bum” the previous day and Vance disparaged her in 2021 as a “childless cat (lady)”.
I really don’t get this tactic. I mean even ignoring the obvious that we shouldn’t downplay his literal dangers to our entire society which this kind of language seems to do, I don’t like it cuz weird isn’t even bad to me. I like weird. I’m weird. That’s not going to have the effect they think it is. They don’t need to say he’s weird. They need to say he’s a deranged lunatic who wants to destroy your country and put the lives of the people you love in danger. Cuz that’s the reality.
It’s more effective because it’s lower stakes. Voters are sick of hearing about the end of democracy and most just treat it like hyperbole one side is throwing at the other. Meanwhile, othering is a time-tested and results-proven tactic. It’s more relatable and it makes voting for the ticket provoke a common, undesirable, visceral feel.
Calling Trump weird is a bit like belittling him. Maga shitheads like to see him as this untouchable guy, who says what’s on his mind. Harris calling him weird kind of makes him seem small.
It’s kind like calling Putin a raging homosexual. I have nothing against homosexual people, but Putin and his bootlickers do. If that’s a problem for them, all the better.
It reminds me of Clinton’s “deplorables” comment in that it just came off as cringy and didn’t really gain any traction. Trump is an expert level shit talker so you gotta bring your A game. I think they should take from his own playbook and keep harping on about how old he is and how nonsensical his statements are.
His insults are on par with my kid’s playground
And yet the typical stuff coming out of the DNC pales in comparison. You can’t out troll a troll but you can turn their shit right back around on them.
Calling him ‘weird’ just doesn’t have any sticking power. You need meme and bumper sticker phrases that are catchy and easy to remember.