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PaperclipPerfector  15d ago (text post)   34182 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 28, 2024

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I’ve always thought that “at least he isn’t X” as a particularly good long term strategy. It marginally works when neither candidate is exciting their base well, and the Not-X candidate is at least a competent seeming middle of the road person who will do nothing more than keep going down the path. But if not, then it’s really more of a choice between X but he’s doing thing people like, or Not-X and incompetent.

There’s really nothing in the Kamala campaign that’s telling us she wants to do anything as president. When she makes her campaign stops, she’s talking about how scary and weird the other guys are. Well, after the concert anyway. But after nearly ten years of “he’s terrible, horrible, they’re evil” and him doing very little of evil, terrible, horrible things, it’s not landing anymore. Outside of the breathless true believers, nobody thinks Trump is evil. And now that this is gone, what’s left to scare people to the polls to vote Kamala? They don’t hate her, but what is there, besides the rapidly failing “Orange Man Bad” meme is there to get people to actually choose to stand in line for an hour for Kamala?

But after nearly ten years of “he’s terrible, horrible, they’re evil” and him doing very little of evil, terrible, horrible things

Trump had a serious effect on border policies and overturned roe. To voters who are very concerned about republicans implementing a republican agenda that isn't just tax cuts, these things are a big deal.

Now I doubt that progressive culture warriors are a majority of the electorate. But the idea that making an orange man bad pitch to these people is without basis is itself without basis.

Conversely, if Kamala wins, does that mean you underestimated the power of Orange Man Bad?

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