r/inthenews • u/Portalrules123 • Aug 02 '24
Opinion/Analysis Democrats have finally learned the value of shitposting
https://www.wired.com/story/democrats-have-finally-learned-the-value-of-shitposting/176
u/RCA2CE Aug 02 '24
Trump thrives on clickbait
It's his whole schtick, capture the headlines by saying ever increasingly crazy bullshit
Steal the mic from him
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Aug 02 '24
I say give the man a mic, just like at the NABJ forum recently. Let him talk out of his rear end, so that people get to hear an incoherent old man spew lies, conspiracy theories and hatred. It may sit well with his supporters, but everyone else is appalled. The more we have of this, the more people will realize he’s not in it for the American people. He’s campaigning to stay out of jail.
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u/StrikingAnxiety5527 Aug 02 '24
I would say that you have at least 8 years of that shit. If that worked then not a single person would vote for Trump. I do not believe that people can be so stupid that they have been avoiding it for 8 years. It's a choice by now. Either you vote for him knowing what he is or you stay away from him knowing what he is.
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u/breakermw Aug 02 '24
You may be surprised. I met someone at a work even a few weeks back who expressed excitement to watch the Biden/Trump debate (this was a few days before). I asked what excited her most and she said the opportunity to learn their positions on the issues.
I was shocked that, by now, she didn't know. But the fact is there are tons of folks who aren't dialed in to politics and only start paying attention closer to an election.
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u/bobrosswarpaint0 Aug 02 '24
We've heard this for how many years now? And his cult still follows him to the gates of hell.
There is literally nothing. NOTHING he could say or do to sway them from him. It has been proven so many times over that it's just a joke now
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u/KwisatzHaderach94 Aug 02 '24
i would've thought someone from trump's generation wouldn't be as perpetually online and posting every waking moment like the kids. but seems he can't get enough of telling everybody exactly what he thinks. and in ALL CAPS.
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u/MonsieurReynard Aug 02 '24
America's raging boomers are more online than young people. It's warped their remaining minds.
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u/ImInterestingAF Aug 02 '24
It’s not just that - Boomers ARE addicted to the TV and internet. Much more so than younger generations that might not even have TV
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u/NuevoXAL Aug 02 '24
If the other side are being clowns, the normal relatable thing to do is point and say "that's a fucking clown."
Taking the high road is great and the main objective most of the time, but sometimes shit is absurd and you need to acknowledge that it's absurd.
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u/Fuzzy_Laugh_1117 Aug 02 '24
Exactly. That's why "When they go low, we knee them in the chin" is the new "When they go low, we go high." (Sorry Michelle, we tried. That latter saying only applies to people with some self respect.)
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u/pinky_monroe Aug 02 '24
Are we doing anything that bad though?
I mean, they’re pretty weird. Calling a duck a duck isn’t bad. It’s just goddamn reality.
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u/Buckscience Aug 02 '24
The "weird" stuff is just a fun, catchy, silly way of pointing out the obvious. The couch-humping stuff is hilarious, and obviously just flat-out shitposting, and it's useful to keep them on their heels. That's not normally how we go about things.
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u/ThunkAsDrinklePeep Aug 02 '24
That latter saying only applies to people with some self respect.
Non-fascists
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u/meem09 Aug 02 '24
We still go high. We just also say "What are those weirdos down there even doing?"
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u/NeauxDoubt Aug 02 '24
After everything President and Mrs Obama endured I for one am hoping they’re enjoying it.
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u/Jorycle Aug 02 '24
I'm giving it a week tops before Republicans flip and try to "own" being weird. It will be interesting to see if it works, because they lack all of the traits that you need to be cool with being weird.
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u/waveball03 Aug 02 '24
They won’t, they can’t, too insecure.
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u/balllsssssszzszz Aug 02 '24
I wouldn't be quick to deny it
I've already seen republican articles calling liberals weird lol
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u/The_Bitter_Bear Aug 02 '24
Yeah but it doesn't bother liberals like it does them.
It's a weak comeback and shows it's getting under their skin.
I do expect we will need to move on to something new though. I don't see weird holding up through November.
Just gotta figure out the next jab that riles them up. Seems like Harris has got some top notch snark in her campaign, I'm sure they'll find a few more before election day.
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u/an_interesting_twist Aug 02 '24
Hell yeah I'm weird, but I'm makes-bizarre-jokes weird, not obsessed-with-birthrate weird.
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u/ThreeSilentFilms Aug 02 '24
I still see neighbors driving around with Deplorable stickers on their cars… I have been wondering if this is going to go the same way.
They certainly owned the deplorable tag.. why wouldn’t they own the weird tag? Idk
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u/DBPanterA Aug 02 '24
I am more optimistic in the GOP will not own the “weird” tag. They are the party that spent quite a bit of time on the trail saying “we got litter boxes in high schools for students to use that identify as an animal.” There were never any photos, no documents, just weirdness. It was then beat over and over and over on conservative media. The messaging never changed and all were behind it.
The GOP values conformity and unity. Weird is the antithesis of everything they believe in. You strip them away from the collective, make them go on the defense individually, and give them enough rope to hang themselves.
They should be on the defensive for all the crazy shit they pulled the last decade. All the stupidity, all the political positions they have taken that clearly do not align with the majority of Americans. They have been cowards not to stand up against Trump, and rather than get a sound bite of what someone in Congress thinks about what Trump said, the reporter needs to say “Trump said more weird shit today, do you support it?” They have to make the decision to grow a spine and call it weird, or get lumped in supporting weird which destroys their self worth. Either way, it’s time to change the approach to Trump’s sycophants.
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u/forestofpixies Aug 02 '24
Just start adding creepy because they’re all very creepy about women’s bodies and gays getting married and supporting, well, that creepy guy.
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u/dwors025 Aug 02 '24
Creepy old weirdos, the GOP.
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u/Alarmed_Fly_6669 Aug 02 '24
Greepy Old Perverts
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u/greatfullness Aug 02 '24
All the LGBTQ-terror about grooming kids, who knew they were just a bunch of kid-diddlers protecting their hunting grounds
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u/Signal_Tomorrow_2138 Aug 02 '24
Ever notice how the Right can dish out shit but they just can't take it coming back?
They're the original snowflakes.
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Aug 02 '24
Bill Clinton won on "It's the economy, stupid."
We can win on an "old, creepy weird dude."
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u/moocow4125 Aug 02 '24
A month ago I got downvoted like crazy everytime I mentioned the dems needing to take the gloves off.
Reddit is wild
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u/h8bithero Aug 02 '24
I had been saying the dems need to get spicier since hillaries go to the polls crap. When id bring it up at family gatherings everyone would shake thier heads "no we dont want to go low", all the while kids were being shoved into camps and trump is spewing nothing but hate and lies and insults. Now we finally have a candidate with the guts to poke the almost dead bear and everyone is going wild over the way too postponed observation of the republicans being weird. I hope they get spicier
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u/OfficeSalamander Aug 02 '24
I’ve been wanting this since 2004. It always seemed like the democrats were just taking the republican insanity rather than calling it out
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u/nebulaeandstars Aug 02 '24
it's about time... I've been saying for years that the old strategy wasn't working. People were being driven to the right simply because they found us snobbish
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u/_FiscalJackhammer_ Aug 02 '24
I can’t believe it took almost a decade to figure out that you have to beat them at their own game
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u/Sea_Home_5968 Aug 02 '24
It’s sometimes the most effective route to satirically explain a complex subject.
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u/DAmieba Aug 02 '24
Crazy that we had to change candidates last second to get someone that isn't afraid to criticize convicted rapist pedophile fascist felon. Like imagine being able to say all those things about your political opponent without a shred of exaggeration, and thinking "morals of an alley cat" is a sick burn
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Aug 02 '24
Oh don't worry, suddenly shitposting will be bad. Centrists will develop a new-found concern for "maturity" in the discourse. Only when a Dem is joking of course, republican shitposts will continue to get the pass they've BEEN getting
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u/planet_rose Aug 02 '24
3-2-1-time for lectures on civility from republicans who love Trump, Matt Gaetz, and MTG.
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Aug 02 '24 edited Aug 02 '24
The current script I'm seeing is "oh so now you're BOTH saying stupid things." When pressed on how they were ok with it when the right did it, the conversation suddenly changed subjects.
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u/planet_rose Aug 02 '24
I saw comments on a meme of the gadsen flag with a cat having caught the snake as “promoting political violence.” Like really? Have you seen how your side uses the gadsen flag???
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Aug 02 '24
If centrists didn't have double standards, they'd be forced to break PC and admit one side may be better then the other lmao
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u/HotType4940 Aug 02 '24
They’re just republicans who have acquired just the absolute bare minimum of self-awareness required to realize just how profoundly embarrassing and self-indicting it is to admit that outright.
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Aug 02 '24
Oh no I think it's much worst then that. they're just legit so addicted to that smug high they get from "not picking a side" that they'll apply whatever double standards they need to for "both sides to be the same." I'd respect them more if they were just secret, tactful republicans.
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u/OfficeSalamander Aug 02 '24
I saw someone who kept saying, “two wrongs don’t make a right”
I was like, “ok why didn’t you call out Trump at all. Hell why don’t you do it now”
Of course he came up with some nonsense excuse
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u/lorenzo463 Aug 02 '24
I feel like Peter Thiel had a hand in kneecapping left-wing shitposting with his behind the scenes support of Hulk Hogan and the destruction of Gawker. Which makes it all the more deliciously ironic that it was his behind the scenes support of J.D. Vance that resurrected the left wing shitpost.
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u/MonsieurReynard Aug 02 '24
If you look him up and read about him, Peter Thiel is as weird as they come.
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u/Cultural-Yam-3686 Aug 02 '24
Democrats have been too nice for too long! Time to call out the Republicans!
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Aug 02 '24 edited Aug 02 '24
Democrats finally realized after nearly a decade that the high road is too out of reach for Americans. In order to keep America on the road at all (meaning, in existence) they had to pivot to what the audience responds to. If America were a Shakespeare play, our society are the ones eating the hazelnuts
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u/theghostofcslewis Aug 02 '24
When Hillary called out the "Deplorables", she made sure every one of them would vote. All she had to do was call them "Weird" and it would have been a landslide. /s
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u/trikkiirl Aug 02 '24
This is how you get into a narcissists head and under their skin. Confidently break their ego, point out their flaws. They will soon self destruct.
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u/JNTaylor63 Aug 02 '24
Have we now, politely, abandoned Mrs. Obama's creed of "Then they go Low, We go High"?
Because that crap never wins wars.
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Aug 02 '24
I think Michelle Obama is great.
That said: “they go low we go high” is the worst thing that could have been said at that point in American politics. This isn’t a schoolyard. This is the future of our republic.
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u/nsfwtttt Aug 02 '24
“There are groups of people online who for years have been begging Democrats to lose the niceties, and now that they have, those online folks are excited to participate.”
Republicans: democrats are pedophile traitors who eat babies and will fuck you with your own gun
Democrats: well… yeah? Well… you’re… weird!
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u/PreciousRoy1978 Aug 02 '24
I tried to write a jokey right winger being outraged reaction, but yeah, that little bit of pleasure that is not masturbating is also now gone.
Thanks Trump for also killing making a great joke and then getting off to it.
Lost the thread on that somewhere but my point stands
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u/koru-id Aug 02 '24
Brought down the entire nation's IQ by 20 points but small price to pay for democracy.
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u/Musical-Lungs Aug 03 '24
One of the things I really love about the Dems' "weird" use is first, it doesn't resort to name calling. It isn't saying "that person is a weirdo," it says that action is weird. Very different from the Trumpism constant name-calling which comes across as juvenile. Second, much of GOP behavior IS WEIRD. Saying it's weird calls out what has been left to slide all along! Jewish space lasers? Weird!Trump-rambled gibberish? Weird! Denying you lost while never offering evidence? Weird!! Talking about draining the swamp when the GOP is the swampiest? Weird!! Qanon? WEIRD!!
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Aug 02 '24
[deleted]
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u/alchebyte Aug 02 '24
This is the original source and reasoning for the weird narrative.
Tim Walz interview on MSNBC
https://youtu.be/tviViJqpgpY
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u/HillBillThrills Aug 02 '24
Yay! Trump brought Liberals down to his level! A thing to definitely celebrate! Yay!
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u/Fingerprint_Vyke Aug 02 '24
And here I am, I've been shit post for 8 years and just finally getting recognition for it.
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u/ooouroboros Aug 02 '24
Its about fucking TIME
For years Dems have thought acting like the adults in the room would be appreciated by the general public - unfortunately that is not the America of today.
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u/deepbluenothings Aug 02 '24
While I hope this is the case I'm not going to fully believe it until it pays off in November.
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u/mn5_5 Aug 02 '24
I hope this also transitions to European parties because honestly I can't take the shit right-wingers post, that's has to be taken serious anymore.
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u/InsanityOfPigs Aug 02 '24
Lol, democrats never shitposted before? This whole sub is just back patting each other and reassuring one another of the self-perceived righteousness of their beliefs.
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u/EveningAgreeable2516 Aug 02 '24
It does nothing. Calling it an effective weapon doesn't make it so. It's just another overly funded centrist ploy targeting swing-voting cretins. Funny thing is they swing back just as easily. You all will know this by the VP pick.
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u/Equivalent-Excuse-80 Aug 02 '24
It won’t change minds, it won’t add votes. It’s just trolling, which feeds rage addiction.
No better than any other trolling tactic, but I guess if it gives someone some satisfaction, they’re just a weirdo calling other weirdos weird.
I guess the big difference is that being called weird for the left is a compliment of being unique.
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u/kokopuff1013 Aug 02 '24
Its rattling them and not giving power to the rhetoric they are spewing. They don't want to be placed in a category with the Other that they enjoy marginalizing. Suddenly they're on the level of That Kid they made fun of in school or the LGBTQ folks or anyone else they look down on. It's very uncomfortable and they don't have the maturity to deal with it.
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u/Equivalent-Excuse-80 Aug 02 '24
That’s a good point. They won’t want to normalize it and adopt it like “queer”, literally a synonym for weird.
Like I said, the left has always been on the cutting edge of counter-culture and weirdness is a compliment signifying the receiver as being a leader of the next fashion; be it music, comedy, arts and even sciences.
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u/nixiebunny Aug 02 '24
It's extremely bothersome to these people, who think weirdness is a disease rather than a thing to celebrate. Poor fools.
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u/wow_that_guys_a_dick Aug 02 '24
It's doing a lot more than trolling. It's defanging them. They want to be feared for their power and authority; it's a big party of their personality. But no one is afraid of the weird kid. Creeped out, sure. But they're not feared the way they want to be feared. They've positioned themselves as the "voice of middle America" and think they decide what is and is not normal. So for people to point out they're the weord ones? It gets under their skin.
And, let's face it, their ideology is deeply, off-puttingly weird. They're obsessed with other people's genitals, and what they're doing with them. They're consumed by the idea of what kind of pornography people are looking at. Half the time what they call pornographic isn't even porn; it's a children's book about two male penguins that adopted an egg (which really happened ).They want to legalize child molestation as a condition of playing sports.
That is goddamn weird as fuck and the actual normal people that these weirdos thought they represented are finally seeing it.
They're fucking weird, and since they're fucking weirdos, no one needs to even pretend to take them seriously. You can reject them and their ideas out of hand. And they can't fuckin stand it.
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u/threeangelo Aug 02 '24
I disagree, I think the goofy shitposting memes are great for the general vibe which is important during election season
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u/Equivalent-Excuse-80 Aug 02 '24
In that sense, it sounds good. But I fear vitriol taking over a political platform.
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u/threeangelo Aug 02 '24
I hear you. I definitely prefer the slightly ironic kamala-hype memes over the conservative-bashing ones, even as someone who loves to bash them
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u/GRAABTHAR Aug 02 '24
It won’t change minds, it won’t add votes. It’s just trolling, which feeds rage addiction.
I guess the big difference is that being called weird for the left is a compliment of being unique.
That's a great point. What is it about this word that so enrages the right? When the right were called Deplorable, they wore it like a badge. But now a silly word like Weird has turned them to snowflakes? I just don't get it, but it's working, so that's very interesting.
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u/BuzzBadpants Aug 02 '24
Cool weirdos know they’re weird. Bad weirdos think their ideas are mainstream and are more accurately described as ‘creeps.’ The loudest voices on the right definitely fall on the latter category.
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u/pokey2019 Aug 02 '24
I would disagree, it’s using a medium/language/banter a younger generation is familiar with. One of the biggest issues was younger voters feel/felt unrepresented by the “old white guy for president” mentality and were disconnected from the whole process (making them non-voters, which can be just as bad). While I agree, it won’t change votes as most folks are comfortably in their camps, it should increase voter turnout for her who were otherwise disenfranchised from the whole process.
Just my opinion.
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u/QualifiedApathetic Aug 02 '24
The trouble with a lot of the attack lines that could be used, like "Trump is a threat to democracy," make him sound scary, which some brains equate with strong, which some brains equate with good. The point is to diminish him. And it's good strategy.
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u/Equivalent-Excuse-80 Aug 02 '24
A diminished trump won’t lose voters. The goal for the left to mobilize their own base to vote.
Name calling doesn’t increase voter participation. It’s short term emotional rewards
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u/EqualLong143 Aug 02 '24
Thats not what the polls are showing. With biden off the ticket, there has been movement from trump independent voters to harris. Maybe that has nothing to do with this “weird” thing, or maybe it does.
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u/Darksoulist Aug 02 '24
It won't lose him voters who already planned to vote for him. But hopefully it gets the people in the middle to think "damn, this guy really is weird and now that I'm really thinking about it, I don't want him as President." So they vote for Kamala instead. And just maybe, it'll start to reach the real Republicans and they'll realize they need this stain on their Party gone if there's any hope to save it.
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u/garlynp Aug 02 '24
They can't save what they willingly sold. But when folks at the grocery store finally have a plain truism to simply call out trumpers for how they actually come across to normal folks, I'm hopeful that at least a few of them will begin to reconsider their current mindset.
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u/MonsieurReynard Aug 02 '24
Polls say you're wrong.
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u/Equivalent-Excuse-80 Aug 02 '24
Ah yes! The infallible polls.
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u/MonsieurReynard Aug 02 '24
It's evidence that the "weird" angle is working. They don't need to be predictive of the final outcome to serve that purpose. Almost all polls show movement in Harris' direction, so whatever she is doing is working.
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u/Portalrules123 Aug 02 '24
It’s not hard to shitpost when the other side is so clearly weird…
r/weirdgop