several years ago i wrote a blog musing on how to solve the “right-wing kook” problem, lamenting how hard it can be for media to stop giving oxygen to their firey tantrums. 

the past few weeks indicate that the answer to this problem is simple: call them weird. i had no idea this could be right-wing kryptonite but i am stoked to see it. 

the injection of a fresh candidate into the presidential race has obvs been game-changing. the harris campaign is clever and responsive to the news in ways the biden team never would dare. this change amplifies the damage of what is admittedly a light insult. 

weird is not always bad! i am proudly weird. plenty of my friends would classify themselves that way, and it would not be derogatory. but these people are not like us.

the truth is, these people are insecure. this dig hurts. i bet jd vance called people weird back in middle and high school. watching them scramble to refute this claim and sound even worse in the process has been extremely funny. 

the right-wing’s hyperfocus on gender has not helped. most normal people aren’t interested in being bathroom police or harassing gender non-conforming folk. it’s offputting that these people think about others’ genitals so much! 

all these right-wing folks really care about is giving the appearance of strength and power. laughing at them, throwing an insult at them, changes the dynamic. weirdos have no power. that’s a terrifying prospect.

especially for a campaign hoping to sail to victory like in 2016. both trump and vance have an assumptive attitude of success, despite lacking the charisma or outsider status of the last campaign.

objectively looking at these men, we’ve nailed the insult. very weird guys. trump would love to have fucked his daughter and stands like a cartoon character. he thinks asylum seekers come from insane asylums and people can’t be bi-racial. vance? so far it seems like he hates his children, hates where he grew up, and comes off as generally awkward and unlikeable. 

they are desperate to get a counter-insult to stick. calling tim walz “tampon tim” bc he thinks school kids should have access to menstrual products. or trying “twitchy tim” because…he waves too enthusiastically? i don’t think it’s working.

i don’t know how long this power of laughing at them will work (idk if i’ll ever get tired of vance couch memes tho) but i am happy to see democrats making savvy decisions instead of their usual kowtowing tactics.