Kamala Harris gets it. Yes, we should fear Trump—but we should also mock him mercilessly, because it drives him nuts.
Kamala Harris gets it. Yes, we should fear Trump—but we should also mock him mercilessly, because it drives him nuts.
Donald Trump is in free-fall. Read this description from Sunday’s Washington Post of how the GOP nominee spent last week: “[A]ides did not want a situation where he was watching the convention every night, getting angry, and then just golfing all day and stewing, according to people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private interactions. Trump also had grown annoyed with the news coverage that depicted him as not working as hard as his opponent, one person who talked to him said.”
If you didn’t know that the article was about Trump and you just read it cold without knowledge of the context, you might think it was a description of parents trying to figure out how to handle an ungovernable four-year-old. So they convinced Trump to get out of Bedminster and hit the road, trading suck-ups with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In the past, Trump has called Kennedy the “dumbest member” of the Kennedy family and a “radical left lunatic.” Kennedy has calledTrump a “terrible human being” and “probably a sociopath.”
It took them 8 years to realize what Thomas Jefferson found out in 1816
"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions."
Bullies don't like when you hit back because they base their power on the fact that they think you're going to play by the rules while they're free to break them. You so much as look like youre bending a rule and they'll cry foul. Look at how Trump responded to Biden dropping out.
I have taken to using my a quote of my own with people recently, on both sides in different situations.
Quote: "Those who neither ascribe to nor participate in the social contract of tolerance are not afforded the protection it brings."
I say it to the right when they complain about me calling them out on their BS or making it known that they are generally shit human beings.
I say it to the left when they try to call me out for saying that literal Nazis holding signs on the side of the road should have beverages thrown at them by passing cars at the tamest. I would prefer throwing much heavier objects, but the law protects them. The Law, not the social contract of tolerance. Within the confines of the law, people like that should not be tolerated and should be informed with as much force as possible.
I believe the zero tolerance rules do help bullies, they're the ones who've made a habit of playing jussst outside the rules but with enough deniability that they can feign ignorance. Zero tolerance is great at catching people who don't make a habit of breaking rules though. Teachers always seem to notice when the quiet one does something, but a bully being a bully is just another day for them. Been a long time since I was in school though so grains of salt and what not.
I mean, back in my country, I used to beat the shit out of the fuckers and they straighten up after that. Doesn't work that way in the USA unfortunately. Lol
Trump has been ridiculed the whole time. The only people who treat him as a serious candidate are his supporters and the media. That was true in 2015, that's true today.
That is not the impression I got as someone not from the US. I mostly saw scared and angry from democrats, and scared, angry or reverence from the news media. And that seems to be what he thrives on.
Ridicule came from stuff like the tv comedians and internet sources like YouTube.. but these are easy enough to ignore.
Now that the ridicule is coming from the actual establishment, it cannot be ignored.
I find it very cool that the vile hatred, fearmongering and general dispicable behavior can be countered with joy, ridicule and a general cheerful demeanor.
Just the other day one of the GOP ghouls came out and actually said there is no joy.. ROFL.. they're melting..
Yeah, while there was mockery it didn't come from 'official' sources. They called him serious names and didn't ridicule him. They made it clear he was dangerous, but they also gave him respect like a serious candidate, contender, opponent, rival.
It probably would have worked from the beginning to just laugh at him, IF it was coming from the actual political establishment. If Clinton had essentially based her entire campaign around 'hahah...oh wait you're serious? Let me laugh harder.' there's a good chance he would've crashed and burned before ever getting off the ground, I think.
You're right. He has been mocked the whole time, and mockery isn't the determining factor.
He has simply played out his power arc. The same mockery that didn't land before now lands, because he's on the downside.
Populism depends on emotional support from the people, but if you don't have a framework that actually meets the peoples' needs (or is effective at controlling them) you just rise as the restless populace tries you, then fall as they toss you aside.
Toxic masculinity always hates being laughed at. It’s that Margaret Atwood quote all over again. Too applicable when you consider complete abortion bans and project 2025.
“She often described the mechanics behind it to friends: an absolutely clean pate—a contained island after scalp-reduction surgery—surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the center and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray.”
She often described the mechanics behind it to friends
I’m gonna choose to believe that was a misattributed source. Description of the hair? Not an expert but doesn’t sound wrong. Her daughter frequently describing the hair? Uhhhh
This is not his Achilles heel. His Achilles heel is doubt. Populism depends on belief, and is inherently unstable.
He started doubting. His people stated doubting. He is now going down, and the ridicule he always dishes out now also lands for him.
The mockery of him has been constant from day one.
Very good point. #TrumpIsACoward was trending on his "Truth Social" at the start of this month-- I'm assuming they've all been vocal "yes men" up to this point. I can see it rattling him and causing doubt.
That and the sinking sensation he no doubt got after the "JD Vance was a mistake" articles.
I've been saying this for years. Trump is a LOSER, both literally and figuratively. His businesses hemorrhage money, he has lost in two presidential elections so far and in the one he won, he lost the popular vote, which is practically unheard of for a Republican nominee. He wears lifts in his shoes to fix his weird posture that he got from a life of physical inactivity, he sprays himself in orange to look like some bizarre version of tan to cover up his hideous pasty skin. His hair has always been bizarre. He is a born loser, who only "succeeded" because he was literally born rich and has skated on his daddy's money ever since.
Call him what he is: a sad, ugly, weird little loser who people only tolerate in hopes they might pick up a few hundred dollar bills after he's done wiping his ass with them.
and every reasonable, somewhat aware person has known these things since the 80s or 90s. Prior to 2016, the idea of Trump being president would've made anyone who has read a newspaper or magazine laugh their ass off.
Because they assumed that the moral high ground would net them more voters than joining in the mud-slinging. "They go low, we go high" is a quite noble sentiment that should appeal to decent people to vote for them, if for no other reason than to keep the rude man-child out of office. They hoped that even the apathetic non-voters would be moved to cast a vote against the Temper-Tantrump.
It didn't work, as we know now, but I can't fault them for remembering the times when class and dignity mattered and hoping to extend those times.
Harris' team seems to have learned that lesson. Here's to hoping this actually works better.
Because the establishment ones are old as fuck and refuse to learn. Judging from the recent dnc, they're letting young and progressive faces do some work which is fantastic. Maybe they learned, maybe Pelosi wants to focus on insider trading. Either way 🤷
Because their plan at the time was to allow (or assist) him to be propped up under the belief Clinton would then be a shoo-in. Which is a completely moronic strategy because if you lose you're absolutely fucked.
They probably never want to actually keep him from being a candidate because it means their candidates just need to meet the barest of minimums to be viable.
It was something on the Vikings' radar. They often used to settle differences with a slagging match. I think they also had guys who would mock the enemy prior to battle to affect morale.
You’re right!
And also some of us gen xers did too, & never voted republican. & lots of boomers never turned their backs on their morals either. We didn’t get houses or careers or generational wealth..
It’s just really easy to pretend old people who aren’t rich don’t exist 🤷♂️But we sure fuckin vote . It’s the only power we have
& yeah we’ve been mocking this poopy pants Richie rich the whole time
Seth Meyers and Obama scorched him long before all that. And even way back, SPY magazine was triggering him. That magazine was probably run by boomers.
They don't even have to ridicule him. All they have to do is take every single thing he has ever boasted about and one-up him. That's it. Get someone better at golf that Trump to play Mar-A-Lago and beat Trumps score. Get that person speaking at Harris's rallies and talk shit about the course and how they got the best score ever recorded there. Never even mention Trump by name but rest assured he'll hear about it and freak out.
That was no secret. He is acutely insecure and copes by keeping himself wrapped in a shell of mental gymnastics and denial about all of his shortcomings and inadequacies as a political leader and a grown adult instead of working at correcting them. Insecure people hate to have their insecurities exposed and mocked.
We should be paying far more attention to picking candidates who are able to attack and defend themselves. We focus on their history and what they say about what they're going to do which of course never actually happens not holy their own fault though. We need to pick our candidates more like picking lawyers.
Mockery is a bad thing except maybe against actual totalitarian dictators (but then maybe their danger should be shown honestly, not mocked). Mocking people overrides rational arguments.
Also they mock whole nations when those are under threat. A lot of Nazi propaganda was mockery. A lot of Azeri propaganda is mockery of Armenians (when it's Azeri-bought Russian and Ukrainian media, direct Azeri propaganda is more about threats and gloating than mockery).
A two-edged sword. In a situation where Trump can't win an election, maybe they shouldn't use such poisonous means.
Trump's output is just sewage, which makes it less harmful than something which is interpreted and repeated by rather intelligent people.
Let's please remember that the Republican party was responsible for a pole of actually valid ideologies (something like "RFK minus mental impairment"), the worst effect they have is that those ideologies are not represented by anyone practically electable. What they replace them with is the second worst effect.
Mockery by its essence may very easily spill at those ideas.
Discourse in politics should be respectful. Even if it's not that now. That's not touching upon the possibility of degrading into a single-party system, seeing how GOP is sinking.
They still haven't figured it out, ridicule still keeps his name in the news which feeds his ego. The best way to fight narcissists is to STOP talking about them. But to Democrats he's a boogeyman gold mine that helps keep the duopoly in power.
I disagree. There is no ignoring Trump between now and the election. If the Dems stop now, then the only messaging out there will be GOP messaging which can put a spin on his hissy fits and work to salve his ego.
He's a weirdo and we shouldn't let anyone forget it (until it's time to forget him).
That only works if you can get everyone to stop talking about them. Unfortunately, he has a large enough cult that someone will always be talking about him positively, so the only reasonable counter is to flood the conversation with mockery. Against a more well balanced candidate that would just rankle, but it's really got under his skin, and under the skin of those who support him, so it's proving to be a worthwhile tactic.