Why has "weird" had such an incredible punch to it, but "Deplorables" flopped hard and made things worse? There are several theories, probably all contributing lol, but I just think its interesting.
Theories
Its literally just because Hillary Clinton sucks so hard and people didnt want to hear that shit from her
Deplorables is too much of a vocabulary word, weird is a word everyone knows. So deplorable just comes off more elitist, from a woman who is already seen that way. To quote a friend I asked "I think deplorable has a negative connotation that speaks to core personhood, in a way that comes off as both mean spirited and elitist"
The GOP hadnt gotten unhinged enough yet, so America wasnt ready for a campaign that is dismissive of them and still expected bipartisan respect and shit, but are now because the "weird" shit is so out there all the time
"Weird" is simply a more effective word to describe the situation at hand
Deplorables would have worked fine with the young people who can vote now but couldnt in 2008.
Kamala and especially Walz are better representations of "not weird" than Hillary was a representation of "not deplorable".
"Weird" hits them harder, insults them worse, and thus makes them spiral more in a way deplorable didnt
Deplorable would have worked fine if it wasnt just a one off comment but a sustained campaign message (this one im thinking probably not)
The Vance effect, he's just that weird.
People who are tired of Democrats being respectful like weird a lot
yeah, the distinction is dems are calling trump, vance, and other republicans weird. hillary was calling voters deplorable, because she's a fucking genius who fully understands that the best way to get people to vote for you is negging them like some kind of shitty dating coach
"You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?” Clinton said. “The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up."
Walz quotes:
"That stuff is weird, they come across weird," Walz said on MSNBC last week. He followed up on CNN Sunday, saying "I see Donald Trump talking about the wonderful Hannibal Lecter or whatever weird thing he is on tonight ... That is weird behavior. I don't think you call it anything else."
Republicans have successfully defanged the racist and X-phobic terms, so you have to make accusations more concrete. What does transphobic actually mean in plain terms? It means being way too obsessed on whether that girl across the room or on the sports field or in the bathroom has or ever had a penis.
Republicans have successfully defanged the racist and X-phobic term
Not only that, Hillary and her supporters did a lot of the defanging during the primary themselves by falsely accusing Bernie and his supporters of being misogynistic and racist
Straight out of the story of the boy who cried wolf