Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance implored a group of reporters not to call him and former President Donald Trump "weird," arguing they were "normal guys."At an event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Vance was asked how Republicans would stop voters from referring to them as "weird" after Dem...
It’s because it gets at a core aspect of their identity. They want so badly to turn back the clock to an imaginary perfect 1950’s (or 1850’s), and since that’s how they think the world ought to be, they behave and live like it is that way. They want doing that to be normal, and it is… but only within the context of their imaginary reality.
Calling out how weird they are makes that reality fall apart. It makes them see actual reality, with all its complications and messiness, and in that context… they’re fucking grade-A weirdos.
There was research done on people who tend to support authoritarians, and one of the big commonalities was the need to see their authoritarianism as normal, as something that most people support and that it’s only a vocal minority that oppose it. This “weird” narrative is proving to be so effective, I think, because it’s shattering that image.
There are, I think 2 ways to counter being called weird:
Lean into it
Be normal and mock those calling you weird
They can’t do number 1 because so much of their rhetoric depends on people believing their positions are popular.
They can’t do 2 because they’ve fallen into the same media silo as their constituents, and are so insular that they’ve detached from what most people see as normal.
So instead, they’ve chosen to stand there and say “no, I’m not weird, I’m normal” which is not something someone normal does.
In the same way that publicly announcing “No, I did not fuck that couch” doesn’t lead people to think “oh, this guy doesn’t fuck couches”
Hahahahahaha! This is what’s making me laugh so hard about this whole weird campaign.
“NO NO We’re not weird! See?”
Does something weird anyway.
It’s great that this very simple campaign about calling them something as basic as “weird” is shaming them so fucking much.
It’s because it gets at a core aspect of their identity. They want so badly to turn back the clock to an imaginary perfect 1950’s (or 1850’s), and since that’s how they think the world ought to be, they behave and live like it is that way. They want doing that to be normal, and it is… but only within the context of their imaginary reality.
Calling out how weird they are makes that reality fall apart. It makes them see actual reality, with all its complications and messiness, and in that context… they’re fucking grade-A weirdos.
That’s an excellent explanation.
There was research done on people who tend to support authoritarians, and one of the big commonalities was the need to see their authoritarianism as normal, as something that most people support and that it’s only a vocal minority that oppose it. This “weird” narrative is proving to be so effective, I think, because it’s shattering that image.
There are, I think 2 ways to counter being called weird:
They can’t do number 1 because so much of their rhetoric depends on people believing their positions are popular.
They can’t do 2 because they’ve fallen into the same media silo as their constituents, and are so insular that they’ve detached from what most people see as normal.
So instead, they’ve chosen to stand there and say “no, I’m not weird, I’m normal” which is not something someone normal does.
In the same way that publicly announcing “No, I did not fuck that couch” doesn’t lead people to think “oh, this guy doesn’t fuck couches”