Let’s enter our invisible time machine and visit a meeting in the Harris campaign headquarters that simply had to take place just after naming Tim Walz as the VP nominee: “Hey, y’all – listen up, I have an idea. Instead of bashing our heads trying to come up with white hot zingers that prove how clever we are, maybe we should just strip it down, throw up our hands and call Trump and Vance just plain ‘weird.’ Thoughts?”
It worked. Damn, did it ever work. It is actually getting in the heads of of both the campaign and Trump supporters in the media who are paid to be impervious to any attempt to embarrass or shame, normally it would be easier to shame a ham.
They don’t know how to respond.
Oh, they’re trying, be sure – they are trying too hard. But it’s not working and it makes them look desperate. And nothing, nothing, poisons a candidate with such comprehensive devastation like an air of desperation. This is especially true when right-wing media functions as an unpaid extension of the campaign itself.
As noted by the ever-vigilant folks over at Rawstory, Margaret Sullivan of The Guardian comes with cutting example. Sullivan writes, about Jesse Watters’ hapless attempt at the tired “Alpha male” trope:
Jesse Watters, for example, recently said of Walz, “Women love masculinity, and women do not like Tim Walz.” But the attack fell flat, according to Sullivan, because Walz is “a famously regular guy” who comes across as “America’s dad.”
On the hunt for the all-important independent votes from suburban women, coming across as dependable as “dad” is nearly as effective as calling the other side “weird,” which is probably what Dad would say anyway.
Media Matters’ Matt Gertz also contributed to the article by stating that Fox News particularly misses Tucker Carlson – as an aside, Fox surely misses its $775.5 million more, but moving on – Tucker was particularly good at responding to attacks. Gertz nearly pitied the continued attempt to find “the response.”
“Until something hits, we’re going to see a lot of painful tryouts. The alternative, of course, is obvious: just don’t turn it on.”
Don’t turn it on? Yes, the audience is watching. They are also demanding – they want their sustenance, and Fox hosts all want their moment, desperate to please, terrified of screens “x’d-out.”
Back to Sullivan, who writes so well it makes us lesser writers want to smash her keyboard, delivered the most lasting line of the article:
Rightwing pundits, like a lineup of amateur comics, are trying out their new material and hoping it kills. So far, not so much.
Like amateur comics? Or professional wrestlers, as noted once by Rep. Eric Swalwell.
Getting back to the real point, whoever came up with the “weird” meme is a genius, it’s probably Walz himself. Good sign.
In a campaign that desperately seeks the vote from middle America, the “relatable thing” is as important to success as desperation is to failure.
It is possible that someone will eventually find an effective response but these things have staying power, getting stronger by the day, and right now, the hook is set pretty deep.
Kinda “weird” how something so simple can devastate even the most professional provocateurs.
It’s stuck like ‘crooked’ Hillary stuck, after 20 years of Clinton bashing. Hillary didn’t deserve it, but the American Nazi Party, that is the gop, reinforces it everytime they open their mouths. When did Beeker from sesame Street get a gig on faux News? Jesse I wouldn’t throw stones if I were you. Of course, self awareness never was your strong suit.
You can also tell Jesse Waters that a 78 year old half-balding man with a ridiculous combover, who wears a corset, lifts in his shoes, tons of makeup, and Depends, (and whines and stinks), is no longer a woman’s idea of masculinity, even if he once was in his youth. Harris is going to win this in a landslide, if we don’t get lazy. GOTV! Save democracy from this demented would-be dictator!
This /\ /\ /\ !
Maybe they didn’t even need a meeting?
In the hallway, on the way to the meeting, somebody read out loud what tRump & Vance had just said.
Tim says, “Man, that’s weird.”
“OK, folks, we’re done here, go out and campaign on that, it fits and it works!”
Actually right after Harris took the reins of the campaign Walz was supporting her, this was before he got the call, and he called Trump/Vance just plain weird!! Coundn’t agree more!
The most pathetic attempt at a telling riposte I’ve heard thus far was “Hey, we’re not weird, they are!”
I just had a flashback. To 2016 and a petulant DonOLD and his ‘no puppet you’re the puppet’ moment:
Methinks they doth protest too much.