The GOP needs to convince voters that Donald Trump and JD Vance are regular guys, and, manifestly, they are not.
It would be strange for Democrats to attack the Republican presidential ticket for being “weird” if it weren’t true. But those men are getting weirder by the day.
Former president Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (Ohio), is off to a wobbly start. A Harris 2024 campaign email sent on Friday was headlined, “JD Vance Is a Creep (Who Wants to Ban Abortion Nationwide).” The statement continued, “JD Vance is weird. Voters know it – Vance is the most unpopular VP pick in decades.”
It was bad enough when footage resurfaced of a 2021 interview in which Vance called Democrats “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.” Things got worse last week when Vance offered a non-apology, blaming “people” for “focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance of what I actually said.”
Uh, okay, but that doesn’t help at all. The substance — which Vance said he stands by — is asserting that adults without children do not deserve an equal say in the nation’s affairs. Another unearthed clip of Vance showed him arguing that parents, when they vote, should be able to cast an extra ballot for each child in their family who is under voting age. He didn’t take that back, either, going only so far as to claim it was a “thought experiment” and not a firm policy position.
It’s quite easy to explain. Republicans have retreated into their own media bubble, where they can mold their own reality based on “alternative facts”. Their end goal is to project their reality onto the world and give it substance. In this bubble world, Donald Trump is the Alpha Male, and JD Vance is the everyman who speaks for the people.
Outside this bubble, though, Trump is a narcissist and criminal, and JD Vance is severely out of touch. The only way to penetrate this bubble is to shove the truth through it until it pops. Sometimes, calling things as they are doesn’t get through the bubble, because it immediately puts people on the defensive about their choices. But call them weird? They might agree something a little weird is going on, and that might be just the opening to stick the truth in there.
I think this is why the Republicans seem weirdly upset by this line of attack. Call them fascists, they don’t bat an eye. It’s too complicated for their base to comprehend anyway, even if the would have had a problem with it. But call them out for being weird, and suddenly their base might stop for a moment and actually think: “Yeah, writing about fucking a sofa in your memoirs is a bit odd, isn’t it?”
Exactly. For the longest time Democrats have suffered from the “bumper sticker gap.” Liberal and leftist positions are generally more complex, nuanced and tend to require a broader intellectual background than conservative positions. This means they aren’t easily captured by sound bites, and that makes it much easier for conservatives to capture and control media narratives.
“Republicans are weird” closes that gap, and carries a whole lot of deeper context in the form of the obvious response - “why are Republicans weird?” Suddenly there’s an inroad to engage with deeper policy conversations. And better yet, Republicans can’t engage with the topic at all without having the same conversation - “we aren’t weird because…”
You’re aware this never happened right?
The AP couldn’t prove he didn’t fuck a couch. So you sound a little too confident to me.
Yes it’s so funny that it’s fully worth sinking to their level to make so shit up and then never shut up about it ever /s
Damn dude, touch grass.
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Did you delete this because you realized you’re wrong or lying wasn’t worth it?
Wrong guy. Surprised anyone saw it, I deleted it within seconds.
Yeah I’ve never been outside before because I think the left should be better than this shit. I probably have never seen a woman naked too or something right
The right should be better than this shit, too, but here we are. Until the truth matters to them again, you have to attack them in ways that will actually work.
This joke is the best thing to happen to Ohio in decades. Might get us another Democrat in the senate
…how do you figure that?
He’s increasingly unpopular here
I’m not sure how much of that is the joke or how much Lemmy gives us a glimpse of Ohioans’ attitudes. I visited Ohio recently and I came away thinking “good God this is basically Northern Florida!”
Edit: oh maybe you meant in Ohio by “here”. If so, I’m wondering if you’re in a city in Ohio.
Correction: He didn’t write about it in his book, but why if he has never made sweet love to a couch, has he not come forward to deny these sofa-fucking allegations?
Curious…
He didn’t fuck his recliner or his box spring and mattress either, but no one is talking about that.
But how can we be sure?
You must be joking but I’ll say it: it’s too stupid to address
Ah shoot, you’re right, I didn’t fact check properly.
Still a massive weirdo though.
Still, people are saying he did.
Trump supporters just have small minds; it’s why they have been conned by trump to begin with. Concepts such as “liberty” and “civil rights” are too complex to explain and champion to them. Instead they understand only primitive things, like “weird” and “ugly”.
“Don’t you think he looks tired?”
This Doctor Who reference is exactly what I have been thinking!
One of my favorite things to watch is to see Jordan Klepper or someone from TYT doing their man on the street thing and asking some of the more radical elements some rather basic, but pointed, questions.
These people are a product of that bubble you reference and you get to see the bubble popped in real time, although I don’t think they are fully aware of what is happening.