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.

  • AnIndefiniteArticle
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    4 months ago

    It’s not about taking the moral high ground against them, it’s about not disenfranchising and alienating large portions of her base so she can win, and it’s about not using an attack that frankly is more applicable to her candidacy than to his.

    She’s the weird one! That’s why I’m voting for her! Trump is just more of the dark side of America that has always been present. Nothing weird about him. Plenty weird and unique and novel and different about Kamala. I’m voting for the weird candidate.

    • zarkanian
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      4 months ago

      She’s the weird one!

      Is she really, though? I think she’s refreshingly normal. She only seems weird because we’re used to politicians who don’t laugh, who aren’t relatable. Her views are majoritarian views. Her views are views that the majority supports.

      I guess it’s all relative. It’s a sad indictment of our political system that it’s “weird” to have a presidential candidate who’s a likable human being with ideas that most people can get behind.

    • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Trump is just more of the dark side of America that has always been present. Nothing weird about him.

      Are you fucking kidding me? Dude walked into beauty pageant dressing rooms while they were changing - that’s fucking weird

      Dude wants to roll back rights for large segments of the population - that’s fucking weird

      Dude talked about wanting to have sex with his daughter - that’s really fucking weird.

      I could go on, but don’t pretend the demented diaper shitting fucknugget is “normal”. There’s a reason trump was so effective in 2016, because he was fucking weird and fired up a lot of the weird ass cracks of the internet without exposing his weirdness to the population at large.

      America may have had a dark side, but there’s a reason it’s called ‘the dark sode’ - they’re fucking weird.

      • AnIndefiniteArticle
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        4 months ago

        All of that behavior is problematic, but not “weird” in the context of people in power throughout American/world history.

        It frankly is normal. That’s why he has such a large base. That’s why he’s dangerous. That’s why our whole country needs to face its alarmingly common dark tendencies.

        • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          It’s not normal though, and his base only seems large because close to half of the country is disaffected and chooses to not participate. The base is “large” in that it’s a significant portion of the voting public, but that’s still less than 30-35% overall at most. The rest of the country knows this shit is weird, and that’s why you’re seeing a strong response now that there’s someone younger than the crypt keeper running.

          Don’t let their control of the media make you think this is normal, that’s what they want. They want you thinking this is normal because you’re less likely to fight against it and instead do what you’re doing and continue propagating the lie they’re putting out that they’re the normal group, you’re literally doing what they want.