How Long Until They Start Calling Us "Weird?"

Democrats have started calling Republicans weird.

They say it's "working."

They describe it as original, refreshing, novel, brilliant, and deeply unnerving to Republicans. But I'm not so sure it's working as well as they claim. Here's J.D. Vance, already laughing it off:

"I think that it drives home how they're trying to distract from their own policy failures. Look, this is fundamentally schoolyard bully stuff. They can accuse me of whatever they want to accuse me of."

Someone recently told me Vance could easily defang this attack.

Well, consider it defanged.

Nobody likes JD Vance, but he managed to become a Senator.

As for Trump, yes, he got upset at the idea of being called weird. He complained about it. Guess what? Trump complains about everything, and everything always gets under his skin. Lest we forget, his presidential campaign began in earnest the night Barack Obama made fun of him at a press dinner. Making fun of Trump and his allies has always brought us comic relief when we needed it most, but it has never translated into votes.

Harris can probably win just by virtue of being able to finish a sentence. That by itself has everyone deeply excited.

I don't know if calling Republicans weird does anything more than provide amusement for liberals. So, this isn't about strategy.

It's about what happens after Harris wins.

Will the word "weird" simply go away?

Or will it turn into something darker?

I think we already know.

Calling Republicans weird isn't original. It doesn't strike me as a clever reversal of MAGA tactics. It simply extends what Democrats have been doing to silence dissent in their own party for the last several years.

It's the same tactic, different target.

Maybe I would revel in this trend a little more if establishment Democrats hadn't spent so long calling us weird, different, and fringe for wanting to keep our families safe from diseases they continue to lie about while doing nothing to control. Nobody in the Biden administration or the Harris campaign seems eager to say or do anything that might distinguish them from the status quo.

They won't be seen wearing a mask in public.

Why is that?

Maybe it's because calling Republicans weird isn't just a clever maneuver. Maybe it's an outgrowth of their own obsession with normal. They themselves care deeply about appearing normal. Democrats have been worshiping, preaching, and forcing normal on us since they took office, at everyone's expense, including their own.

Being normal means a lot to them.

If you're going to take credit for giving Republicans a dose of their own medicine, then I think you need to build some credit. Show a little confidence. Dare to do the right thing when so few people out there won't dare transgress the norms.

Salt the vibes.

In my opinion, you don't get to "ironically" call someone weird when you've been doing it to everyone who disagrees with you or expects you to do your job. There's nothing clever about it, regardless of who you're talking about.

Consider how mainstream establishment Democrats react to anyone who dares to ruin their buzz or salt their vibes. They don't respond with substance. They respond with vitriolic personal attacks. They ostracize. They shame. They ridicule. They do everything they accuse their opponents of doing, sometimes even worse.

Someone told me it's "just a word."

I shouldn't care.

They said normal doesn't exist, and weird doesn't exist. They were trying to articulate something many of us have known. Yes, normal is a construct. But that construct has very real consequences when it becomes embedded in social behaviors, policies, and laws.

In a growing number of cities and counties, we can't wear a mask without the very real threat of a police officer or "occupant of public space" telling us it's not normal, it's weird, and therefore we can't do it.

Democrats haven't used the specific word "weird" against us yet, but they've called us everything from "the last holdouts" to "fringe." They've called us doomers and fearmongers, while accusing us of ruining people's mental health.

They've treated us like weirdos.

They've bullied us.

They've also stood idly by while members of their own party actively stigmatize masks and pass laws putting our lives at risk. They won't say a word about it because they're scared. They don't want to look or sound weird.

Let me ask a very uncomfortable question:

If these are the people who are supposed to save us from fascism, why won't they help us? Aren't they supposed to be standing up for us? When will be a good time for them to do that? When will there be enough space between midterm elections, general elections, and victory celebrations for them to defend our rights and protect our health, for at least one press conference?

Or... are we just too weird?

Regardless of what we do in November, I'm wondering how long it's going to be before these establishment Democrats and affluent liberals decide to start calling us weird, since it worked so well for them.

Here's the thing about Vance and his response:

He's not wrong.

Democrats have acted like bullies. They've acted like bullies when it comes to Covid. They've acted like bullies when it comes to Gaza. They've acted like bullies when it comes to mpox and bird flu. They've been bullies toward the vulnerable, the chronically ill, and the immunocompromised.

Would it really be so hard for any of them to speak out for us? Are we really that much of a politically liability for them? What do we get for putting our own needs aside, once again, and letting them do whatever they find politically expedient?

As Sarah Kendzior said, "Stop trying to make weird happen."

Yes, please stop.

For me, this does nothing but highlight the worst of America. Apparently, you can be mean. You can be selfish. You can be cruel. You can be careless. You can be clueless. You can be greedy. But there's one thing you can never, ever be in America. You can never, ever be weird.

That's unforgivable.

You know, I wish we still lived in a world that was like high school, where us weirdos could just slink off to a library or a garage or the woods and let go of the judgment and the bullying. These days, the bullies have a way of following you. The bullies have a way of making your life physically unsafe.

What I would like to hear:

Isn't it weird to go around pretending there's not a highly contagious virus that's killing and disabling thousands of people a week? Isn't it weird to act like shopping, movies, and eating out matter more than your long-term health? Isn't it weird to laugh at people and ridicule them for trying to avoid getting sick? Isn't it weird to stand around talking about dangerous diseases while doing nothing about them? Isn't it weird to keep talking about how to prepare for the next pandemic when you're currently in one? Isn't it weird to watch a virus known to cause widespread brain and organ damage lead to massive surges in heart attacks and neurological disorders while saying you don't know what's causing any of it? Isn't it weird to act like you're standing up to fascism when you're actually too afraid to even say anything about fascist mask bans?

I'm not here to tell you what to do or how to vote. I'm just here to remind you that Republicans always squirm. They get upset about everything. They freak out over Starbucks cups. It hasn't stopped them from taking over our school boards or the justice system. Their moral outrage, righteous indignation, and sense of victimhood only fuels their resolve to try even harder. This appears to be the one lesson we keep forgetting. It doesn't matter how ridiculous they look. They are dangerous. Meanwhile, what exactly are we doing when we teach our leaders to campaign on bully tactics, which they practiced on us first?

There's a difference between rejecting a candidate and voicing expectations for them to do better. If we can't voice those expectations without facing backlash and bullying, then it shows you where we're headed, regardless of who wins.

My entire life, I've been told to vote for the lesser evil.

Now I have to vote for the lesser bully.

I'll say it again:

They didn't just come up with this overnight. They spent the last four years learning how to other their critics and opponents.

We don't matter to them.

We're target practice.

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