After nearly a decade of being forced to take Trump seriously, Democrats increasingly call BS on the whole charade

Sure, Donald Trump is a threat to democracy — a would-be dictator on day one who has called for terminating the U.S. Constitution so he can hold onto power even after losing a free and fair election. But while draped in the rhetoric of populism, Trump and his MAGA movement are not actually popular; the man himself has never won more votes than the person he ran against, a majority of Americans twice rejecting him and his off-putting cult of personality. That he was ever president is more or less because a few thousand swing voters in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania thought it would be fun.

President Joe Biden won in 2020 largely by promising to a return to normalcy and baseline competency. In 2024, Democrats are making a similar argument but more forcibly: They’re pointing, laughing and dismissing Trump and his circus as a total freak show to which we can’t return.

  • shish_mish@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Laughter is a great weapon, as even the Irish Bards of old knew. And the plus point is that it is true, they are old and weird. They want to go round inspecting children’s genitals…definitely weird. They rather mothers die than get medical treatment in an event of a dangerous pregnancy. Likewise, they think child marriages are OK. They think forcing women to have babies is OK but passing laws to help those babies live is not. They want to go back in time and roll back all the progress society has made in being kinder, fairer and more inclusive. They love conspiracies and think they have special secret knowledge . There is so much more,I hope someone turns it all into a catchy song that goes viral.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      There’s two sides to that.

      Some of them are like tucker Carlson or Boris Johnson. They look ridiculous on purpose so that’s what people talk about instead of the horrendous shit they’re advocating for.

      So by all means laugh at them, it hurts their follower count. But don’t outright dismiss them.

      They might be stupid and weird that doesn’t make them less dangerous

      • ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I think the point is that they are all old, weird, and dangerous. Vance isn’t old, but he is weird and dangerous.

        And let’s be clear, this is a different kind of weird. I’m weird, but I’m weird because I like kids shows, make bad jokes, and pick at my fingernails.

        They’re weird because they like to fuck kids and underage teens (a surprisingly large portion, anyway), make decisions that hurt the people they want giving them money and support, and want to pick which immigrants are the “bad” ones.

        • VoterFrog@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          I’d call them weird like you would the ultra fundamentalist Christian old guys that go to college campuses and yell at people. It’s not weird in a good way. It’s just fucking strange. Like something is legitimately wrong with them.

      • shish_mish@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Oh, they are dangerous alright because they consider themselves righteous and having God and “Tradition” on their side. People who consider themselves righteous have no doubts that everything the do ,regardless how vicious, is meant to be by God. So all logic goes out the window. I think not all are like that, but they are a huge useful pool of people who can be used and manipulated with ease. Just like a cult, none of the decisions their leaders make are questioned.

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      All of the creepy weirdos in the donnie cinematic universe are just so vile and disgusting and so ripe for mockery. Let’s see: Bannon, Stone, Gorka, Miller… (and many more I’m forgetting right now) all of them are freaks that no normal person would want to associate with. All of them have designs on America and Americans that are just creepy.

      • EvilBit@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        They’re lucky that the worst thing they’ve been pinned with so far is “this dude looks like he’d fuck a sofa” when most of these people look like they’d happily make a lamp out of you if they liked your pores.

        • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          I hope they go far beyond the couch fuckin’. All of those creepy weirdos around donnie, and that boost donnie, and many that vote for donnie, have very, very creepy and weird ideas about what they want to do to other Americans. They have a very creepy and weird idea of what America stands for - they want an Xtian Caliphate here in America. The couch fuckin’ isn’t even close to the worst of it - what JD did or does in the privacy of his own home with his furniture is no business of mine (even if it it’s hilarious).

          • EvilBit@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            I hate that cushion pushin’ is the only thing that seems to be sticking though. It’s like everyone is saying, “corrupt and criminal” should be enough to disqualify them all forever, but it’s not landing. The only thing that has landed so far is the much less important “this guy looks like he’d seduce the futon” and it’s a fascinating example of the counterintuitive nature of psychology. People are apparently fine with a racist, sexist, criminal dictator as long as he doesn’t sex the sectional, but it just goes to show that while everyone thinks they’re rational beings, every decision - and I do mean every decision - is an emotional one. If it weren’t the case, then surely “fomented an insurrection at the Capitol building” would bear a lot more weight than “misinterpreted the loveseat”.

      • snooggums
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        4 months ago

        The thing is, the Republicans have wanted all of those things for the last four decades and have passed numerous laws and while it is good to see people catching on, what the hell took so long?

        • frezik
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          4 months ago

          Finding just the right language, I guess. Hillary’s “basket of deplorables” was too mean. Republicans can be as mean as they want, but Democrats can’t, and a woman definitely can’t. “Weird” gets the point across without being too mean.

          It’s a bullshit game, but there it is.