The GOP is scrambling to find a line of attack against Kamala Harris’s VP pick — and it’s not going well

Tim Walz has made his debut as Kamala Harris’ running mate, and Republicans are struggling to apply their standard villainization playbook to the Minnesota governor.

Walz has been making waves for weeks now as a good-natured, relatable politician with a particular aptitude for dressing down the Republican agenda in terms that any voter can understand — and the GOP hates it.

Republicans are scrambling to paint the governor-turned-VP candidate as a devilish Marxist hellbent on running the country into the ground — their usual stuff — while leveling a bunch of other really weird attacks. Here are some of their most pathetic attempts to turn voters against Walz.

  • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    49
    ·
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    I don’t think they’ll struggle to attack him, it’s just a question of whether it will stick and how much it will matter since he’s only the VP pick. In some ways it’s useful because it distracted them from Harris.

    The attacks seem pretty obvious: he’s a pedophile, he eats babies, Minneapolis burned under his watch, he retired from the national guard to avoid combat, he supported LGBTQ groups in high schools, he lived in China, he facilitated sending children to China, say China a lot, say Marxist a lot, say communist a lot, highlight Bernie and Hillary’s support of him, etc.

    Remember, they only need to villainize him to people that already think he’s a villain, so nothing needs to be true or especially devastating. It’s like the Fox cut-down that people responded to by being like “the reasons Fox says he’s bad are all the reasons I like him!”

    It’s like, well, yes. Fox isn’t trying to convince you. They’re trying to make sure republican voters don’t stay home.

    Edit: oh, and tampons, I forgot they were attacking him about tampons.

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      5 months ago

      This doesn’t make sense to me. They need to villainize him for those low info voters on the fence of voting. Most Republicans are voting for Trump, not against Kamala.

      • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        13
        ·
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        Their problem is they want to energize their base to vote while not encouraging a wider turnout. That’s the point of attacks, not to change opinions. Unfortunately for them, their attacks end up energizing their opponents base because they’re so fucking stupid or actually pointing out things the opponents base wants.

        “Kamala picks the vp endorsed by Sanders. This Democratic ticket is a horrible vehicle for progressive change that we must stop.” That’s the sort of attack that actually helps your opponent. If they let Kamala’s campaign paint them as both radical and not looking for real change, they’re cooked. And so far that’s what they’re doing.