Democrats Get Weird: Revenge of the Nerds

Telling it like it is goes both ways

Weird (adj): strange; odd; bizarre; not functioning properly or as expected; unstable; broken.

Creeped out (verb phrase): to cause to experience uneasiness or disgust

Friend, some delightful – and unexpected – things are happening: the successful reframing of the MAGA movement by distilling it down to its most basic element: weird. And Democrats rightly taking their place as the protagonists – and heroes – in the story of this election.

Credit should probably go to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a former schoolteacher and high school football coach, who started describing Trump and MAGA Republicans as “just weird” on national television last week.

He’s doubled (and tripled) down on the plain-spoken branding since, explaining:

"We're not afraid of weird people. We're a little creeped out, but we're not afraid." @Tim_Walz

The Harris campaign almost immediately grabbed the “weird” brand and used it in a bullet-pointed campaign press release: “Donald Trump is old and quite weird?” In that quick line, they made a statement – but also asked the honest question that Americans have been wondering: why on earth is this man so strange, and why is nobody talking about it?

Photo by Dan Parlante on Unsplash

As Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans know, sometimes just naming something – giving folks a frame into which to put their emotions – is rocket fuel. For once, “telling it like it is” benefits Democrats.

And let’s face it – using the adjective “weird” to describe Republicans really is telling it like it is. Frankly, it’s hard to even catalog all of the weirdness that surrounds Trump and MAGA Republican leaders.

For heaven’s sake – just last week, delegates at the Republican National Convention taped gauze to their ear to mimic their leader’s ear injury.

At his campaign rallies, Trump talks about the fictional character and cannibal Hannibal Lecter like he’s a real person – and one to be impressed by – and weighs the risks of shark attack vs. electrocution by boat battery. He goes on rants about water pressure and hair products. Last week he told “beautiful Christians” that they really just needed to vote this one last time (he’ll fix it so they don’t have to vote again, *wink wink*), has a very creepy vibe with his biological daughter, and has been known to crash weddings at his Palm Beach resort to rail on about the Big Lie like a narcissistic drunk uncle.

Also, remember this?

(Trump embraces and kisses the flag at CPAC 2020, reprising his embrace of the flag at CPAC 2019. Yes, he did this twice.)

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Republican Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance is no less bizarre. Video resurfaced of him telling Tucker Carlson that Democrats like Kamala Harris are miserable, anti-family “childless cat ladies.” (Fact check: Kamala is step-mom to her husband’s two children and appears to be anything but miserable.) Cue the cat-voting memes.

Vance tried to fix his comments by saying “Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment. I’ve got nothing against cats.”

(No word yet from the world’s most popular childless cat lady, who has 248 million Instagram followers.)

Vance’s public speeches have been cringeworthy affairs, but what he lacks in charisma he makes up for in eyeliner. He supports assigning extra votes and lower tax rates based on the number of children you have, a national abortion ban, and called no-fault divorce “one of the great tricks … the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace.” He also opposed a rule that would keep states from accessing women’s health records (to keep them from prosecuting women who need to flee their red state to get healthcare).

I could go on, but you’ve seen it with your own two eyes. These are weird people, with weird views that are not shared by a majority of Americans. We are right to call them out on it.

That’s not being a bully. It’s telling it like it is.

If it wasn’t already obvious that the “they’re weird” label was both landing with real Americans and digging at Republicans, Vivek Ramaswamy cleared that up by Tweeting: This whole “they’re weird” argument from the Democrats is dumb & juvenile. This is a presidential election, not a high school prom queen contest. It’s also a tad ironic coming from the party that preaches “diversity & inclusion.” Win on policy if you can, but cut the crap please.

As we say in the midwest, a stuck pig will squeal.

When a Republican is telling you to stop saying what you’re saying and go back to making campaign speeches about your 10-point policy plan… you know you’re winning.

We’ve tried a number of labels intended to impress upon people the seriousness of the danger Trump and these MAGA Republicans pose. Extremist. Autocrat. Dictator. Felon. Fascist. Insurrectionist. Christian Nationalist. Even “bat sh*t crazy,” which is still preferred by veteran Democratic pollster Simon Rosenberg.

And all too often, they’ve shrugged – or even embraced the terms we’ve given them – as Missouri Senator Josh Hawley did when he agreed that, yes, he’s a Christian Nationalist. They wear the label “extreme” like a badge of honor. Nobody really understands what a fascist is, and it sounds hyperbolic even if it’s true. Trump openly praises dictators.

All of that exposes the larger problem with the labels we’ve used to describe their movement: up until now, Trump and the MAGA Republican leadership have enjoyed the sort of reverence and respect we give to classic movie villains. As the bullies, they imagine themselves to be tough and cool and severe. They want to be the bad guys. The Scut Farkuses. The Biffs. The Steffs.

They want to reek of power – specifically, the power that’s bestowed upon villains by the fear of those they would oppress.

Unfortunately, by correctly pointing out the very real danger they pose, we’ve unintentionally given them what they wanted.

And that’s another reason I think Democrats are particularly jubilant right now. Whereas the Donald Trumps and the Mike Johnsons and the Matt Gaetzes and the Marjorie Taylor Greens have fashioned themselves as the classic movie villains, Democrats have all too often taken their place as the classic movie nerds.

The bookish, overeager, often bumbling nerds who speak in paragraphs and delight in talking about policy. We’re the Nerds in Revenge of the Nerds, the George McFlies, the bespectacled Ralphies – the heroes in waiting.

And now that the inevitable invincibility of the classic villain has been pierced, we’re feeling the thrill of righteousness – coupled with the satisfaction that our story seems to be coming full circle.

But, perhaps most poignantly, we are feeling the upwell of hope and spirit that comes when you watch the storybook hero finally come into their own power.

You feel it when George McFly comes to his future wife’s defense. You feel it when Ralphie gathers himself and throws the first punch at Scut Farkus, sending him flying into a snowbank. And we’re feeling it now as we land rhetorical blows and send would be autocrats stumbling back to their Mar-A-Lago suites, where they try in vain to find a way to explain their behavior as anything but weird … and respond to what has become a cultural and political phenomenon.

That Democrats are now the protagonists in this hero’s journey – and that the simple labeling of weird behavior as weird behavior is what has launched them – does feel a bit like a movie plot.

Truth, as they often say, can be stranger than fiction.

But this story’s not over yet. And, as with all good plots, there will be wild twists and weird turns. It will be up to us to ensure that the conclusion in November is the one we all want to see.

I for one, am embracing our storyline.

Alright, fellow nerds. Let’s get to work.

Small Deeds to Do for the Week of July 30, 2024

Here’s the part where – if you are so inclined – we roll up our sleeves and engage in what I like to call Action Therapy. Each Tuesday I share a few “small things” – usually a Small Thing to Read, a Small Event to Attend, and a Small Call to Make or Action to Take. You can tuck these actions into your week with ease – and know that you’re doing something today to make tomorrow better.

Small Event to Attend TONIGHT: Organizing Call With Harris!

Tonight, Vice President Harris’s team is going to have a national organizing call at 7:15 pm eastern. From the event description: Join Vice President Harris and thousands of supporters across the country for a National Organizing Call after the Vice President steps off the stage in Georgia and the biggest campaign event this year. Hear directly from the Vice President about what’s at stake, the freedoms we’re fighting for, and how you can help us win the next 98 days.

You can register here: https://events.democrats.org/event/655276/

Small Action to Take: Join the Team Harris Content Creator Team

Calling all designers, videographers, meme-ers, artists, and internet users - the Harris campaign is building a team of volunteer content creators to help support Team Harris with digital content. As a part of this volunteer-run team, you'll be able to create graphics, videos, and all other types of visual content to be shared with volunteer supporters.

Once you fill out this form, you will receive instructions on how to apply to join the team! https://events.democrats.org/event/637836/

Small Thing(s) to Read: Biden’s WaPo OpEd and Summary of JD Vance’s Weird Views on Women and Children

First, if you’ve not yet read it, here’s Biden’s Opinion piece in the Washington Post about Supreme Court reform. Read it here. Note that in the OpEd, he points to how this Court’s behavior deviates from the norm – it’s another instance where the “weird” branding is working!

Second, if you, like me, have found it hard to keep up with all of JD Vance’s missteps, then I have a great resource for you. Judd Legum, who writes Popular Information here on Substack, has written a comprehensive guide on the topic. It’s a good one to bookmark!

A comprehensive guide to J.D. Vance's views on women and children

And, if you have not yet seen it, here is a gift link to an expose in New York Times that’s ostensibly about Vance’s friendship with a transgender law school classmate and how it went sour – but actually does a great job depicting just how willing he has been to morph himself into … whatever people in power want him to be. (Gift article link here.)

Thanks for reading, friend – I’m glad to see you here! I sure hope you subscribe and share with your network. And if you like what I do and you want to support it, consider becoming a paid subscriber. It means a lot.