Crooked Media - Brave new weird

Tuesday, July 30, 2024 BY CROOKED MEDIA

- Fred Trump III on his uncle, former President Trump.

Democrats are reveling in a new attack line on disgraced former President Trump and his allies: they’re just “weird.” MAGAworld is trying to deny the charge — but keeps handing Dems fresh material.

Democrats are gleefully slapping the “weird” label on Trump and his new sidekick, GOP veep candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), at every chance they get. The phrase has generated a wave of memes on social media, and put Republicans on defense in the messaging wars as they attempt the incredibly awkward task of convincing everyone that, no, of course they’re not weird — despite all the vivid evidence to the contrary. (Just think of the QAnon Shaman ransacking the Capitol, or, say, any given interview with Trump’s hyperactive failson, Don Jr.)

One reason the message is resonating: it’s so hard to rebuff. “I don’t know who came up with the message, but I salute them,” David Karpf, a strategic communication professor at George Washington University, told the Associated Press. “It frustrates opponents, leading them to further amplify it through off-balance responses.”

The Harris campaign blasted out a news release last week with the subject line, “Statement on a 78-Year-Old Criminal’s Fox News Appearance,” listing nine takeaways from a recent Trump interview. At No. 7: “Trump is old and quite weird?” Harris doubled-down at a Massachusetts fundraising event two days later, characterizing Trump and Vance’s criticisms as “just plain weird.”

Other Dems quickly jumped on the “weird” train, especially Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), a potential Harris veep pick, who latched onto Trump’s fixation with fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter. “He’s talking about Hannibal Lecter, and shocking sharks, and just whatever crazy thing pops into his mind,” the Minnesota Gov. told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

Vance, in particular, has struggled under an avalanche of news stories raising all the weird things he said before Trump handed him the veep nom — and a few he said afterwards.

Democrats have particularly applied the “weird” label to Vance over his attacks on people without children, whom he referred to derisively as “childless cat ladies” with “no direct stake” in American Democracy. Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) dismissed Vance’s cat-lady premise as “a super weird idea,” in a joint video posted on X. Vance has also helped Democrats with awkward video appearances involving, for some reason, on multiple occasions, Diet Mountain Dew.

Republicans are pushing back, as well as they can. One-time GOP Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy posted on social media: “This whole ‘they’re weird’ argument from the Democrats is dumb & juvenile.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) retorted: “Being obsessed with repressing women is goofy. Trying to watch what LGBTQ+ people do all the time is abnormal. Punishing people who don’t have biological offspring is creepy.”

“It’s an incel platform, dude,” AOC wrote. “It’s SUPER weird. And people need to know.”

The Supreme Court might be on break, but the conservative agenda is still going full-steam ahead. Project 2025 is a 900-page far-right wish list that lays out a hyper-specific and bone-chillingly fascist roadmap for a second Trump administration. Over at Strict Scrutiny, Crooked's favorite trio of badass constitutional law professors is breaking down the full 900 yards in a 4-part series within your Monday episodes. Melissa, Leah, and Kate scoured all the fine print for you, because lawyers are sick freaks who love that shit. Stay informed about the far-right agenda, and its real-life implications for tens of millions of Americans as we head into this election cycle by listening to Strict Scrutiny wherever you podcast, or on YouTube!

Paul Dans, the director of the right-wing blueprint to dramatically overhaul the federal government known as Project 2025, stepped down on Tuesday amid an unrelenting wave of scrutiny.

Trump has attempted to distance himself from the controversial plan that was helmed by rightwing think tank, the Heritage Foundation, even though the document was written by some of Trump’s closest allies. Dans’ resignation came on the same day reporters obtained a copy of a forward Vance wrote for a book by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, showing just how tightly Trump’s team is tied to the D.C. think tank.

“The Heritage Foundation isn’t some random outpost on Capitol Hill; it is and has been the most influential engine of ideas for Republicans from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump,” JD Vance wrote, according to the AP. Quoting Roberts, Vance wrote: Quoting “We are now all realizing that it’s time to circle the wagons and load the muskets. In the fights that lay ahead, these ideas are an essential weapon.”

Israel said its strike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut killed the top military commander of the militant group Hezbollah, whom Israel accused of orchestrating Saturday’s deadly attack on the Israel-occupied Golan Heights. The attack further ratchets up tensions between the two countries, at a moment when the U.S. is pushing for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Vice President Kamala Harris may announce her running mate as soon as this Monday before heading out on a battleground tour, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with her plans. Names under consideration include Govs. Andy Beshear (D-KY), Josh Shapiro (D-PA) and Tim Walz (D-MN), along with Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. So many liberal white guys from battleground states, so little time!

Texas reached a record-breaking $1.4 billion settlement with Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, over allegations that the company violated the Lone Star state’s privacy laws by illegally collecting facial recognition data without users’ consent. Very rare that we’re rooting for Texas, but these are strange times we’re living in.

Trump and JD Vance will campaign in Georgia on Saturday on the heels of a Harris visit Tuesday, as both parties look to the battleground state to expand their electoral maps.

The Supreme Court’s approval rating plummeted to a record low of just 43% in a new Gallup survey, amid swirling controversy over recent rulings and accusations of ethics violations. Turns out you can’t take away rights from tens of millions of Americans while doing corruption on yachts with billionaires without it affecting public opinion.

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Kamala Harris is leading Trump by slight margins nationally in four separate new polls.A separate poll also found Harris leading Trump in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania by 4 percentage points. No comment yet from Gritty on whether he is behind the PA blue wave.

A simple blood test can outperform more complicated, more expensive exams to identify whether patients’ memory problems are a consequence of Alzheimers, according to a new study. Researchers say it can be used to accurately diagnose the disease in 90% of cases.

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