Why Calling Trump and Vance “Weird” Works

 

 "What makes “weird” such an oddly effective line of criticism?

Most Democratic politicians, talking heads, policy wonks, and voters have known that Trump is weird since at least 2016. But for some reason, Democratic politicians don’t seem to have seriously tested this as a deliberate, sustained message in stump speeches or on cable news appearances. They frequently describe Trump as contemptible, even buffoonish and hapless, but never as simply strange. For eight years, they have been careful not to appear too dismissive and risk repeating their 2016 mistake of underestimating him and thinking the election is in the bag.

But in doing so they have overlooked the risk inherent in taking Trump too seriously: It permits him to set the rhetorical stage and (by extension) frame the subjects up for debate. Instead they compared him to historical dictators and painted him as a threat to democracy. That messaging, as Walz noted in a CNN appearance, gave Trump “too much credit” and “too much power.”"

READ MORE>>

Why Calling Trump and Vance “Weird” Works | The New Republic