I really don’t think that’s it, I think that all these news orgs are missing the point. “They’re a threat to democracy” isn’t entertaining. And guess what shows up on social media sites? Entertainment. The reason trump got popular was because people (American public in general) do not care about politics. But trump isn’t politics. He’s entertainment. “Weird” is working for the same exact reason that he became popular… it’s entertaining. It’s catchy, it can move up people’s social media feeds. It is pushed by the algorithms on all these apps and sites. “Threat to democracy” is never going to be the top comment on an article about Jeff goldblum eating a potato in socks. “Weird” is. And with that, it’s immediately in the minds of every person that cares about the entertainment value.
I think the reason why it hits so hard is because it's an attack that lands under their own ideology. To them, being outside the normal is the worst thing you can be. They demonize everyone that they perceive as outside the normal. So, when they're accused of not being normal, they take that very seriously.
Most other attacks against them don't bother them as much since they're based in other ideologies and don't really land under their own ideology.
Well put. Being outside the normal is the worst they can be, but they also know, they're so far from normal they only have a tenuous grasp on the concept.
They know they're fucking weirdos and it pains them lol