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.
Its really fascinating. Their image is to embody what is “normal”, “natural”, “right”. They’re bullies, claiming they’re better than everyone else, and using those differences to push that superiority.
It turns out the most effective method to combat bullies is to… bully them. Point out how abormal, unnatural, and inferior they are. Its such a core element of their existence that they fall apart without it.
I’m not proud of it. But also, I’m not crying about it.
It’s not even necessarily bullying them back, it’s more refusing to be bullied.
Beating up a bully can be an effective strategy, but it’s risky, you might lose the fight. And, since it’s a fight they want it’s one they probably think they can win.
Laughing at a bully is attacking them where they’re weak. It’s defusing the fight by making people not want to back them, and by doing that making them want to retreat.
I see it more as calling out that the emperor wears no clothes. Don’t play by their rules. Expose the farce!
The media have been complicit in this. Treating Trump like a serious candidate helped him win the election.