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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 8, 2024

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Don't get why people assuming this is a positive Trump moment. Obviously gonna pivot to Gun Control chat & Trump's base already loves him

There was concerns and coverage when the famous "mugshot" was released a couple of months ago that it gave Trump streetcred in the "hood", with some circumstantial evidence that it did sway some.

There's a lot more people that are convinced by a simplistic appeal to strength and power than the people on a website like this one would like to imagine.

Betting/prediction markets look slightly up for Trump, like +6%-7% or so.

But yeah, lots of room for Democrats to play a reverse uno card upon the Republicans, along the lines of a LeopardAlmostAteYourFace or a NearHermanCainAward. Gun control would be an obvious pathway.

Especially if the shooter ends up being a white male, then the drum can be banged with regard to White Male Fragility and the supposed epidemic of white male shooters (despite… what FBI crime statistics may state). Regardless of his politics. All the better if he’s an explicit rightist, but even a centrist griller, a compass-scattered schizo, or a non-explicitly ardent, vocal progressive would do.

Betting/prediction markets look slightly up for Trump, like +6%-7% or so.

I just don't really see which extra votes this is getting for them. Biden's probably the biggest beneficiary directly as he's moved out of the media focus now.

I just don't really see which extra votes this is getting for them.

People who were disengaged deciding to vote. Also, this gave Elon the cover to officially endorse Trump, so that's probably going to help sway some grey tribe members in the tech sector

And Ackman in the finance sector.

I mean he looks tough. He looks like a fighter. He looks like a leader in every way Biden can’t— calm, strong, and in command of the situation.

Black shootings don't happen ever and all black deaths are at the hands of police or a racist state that leaves them without opportunities so of course they have no choice but to shoot themselves. To posit otherwise is showing your bigotry and proof of why we must implement reparations to counter Project 2025.

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Democrats / media playing that card would only sound convincing to the people they already convinced long ago, and it would be extremely off-putting to everyone else. They might not be able to help themselves but do it, as the alternative, doing the right thing (and the thing that wouldn't immediately disgust anyone who could be a swing voter) means giving Trump a couple of days at least of deferential, respectful coverage (in the case of the media) and unqualified wishes for a speedy recovery to Trump and complete unconditional condemnation of the assassin (for Democrat politicians).

Democrats / media playing that card would only sound convincing to the people they already convinced long ago, and it would be extremely off-putting to everyone else.

Prettymuch all Trump can do as well, though. Who does this really galvanize towards being pro-Trump? Trump's base loves him already

Cross pressured voters are real. There's people out there who don't like abortion bans but also don't like inflation, or people who don't want immigration but also don't like rich people getting tax cuts, etc, etc. You add another thing into the mix and sometimes it can make one of these people with mixed feelings flip.