Democrats Have Finally Learned the Value of Shitposting
https://www.wired.com/story/democrats-have-finally-learned-the-value-of-shitposting/
Democrats Have Finally Learned the Value of Shitposting
https://www.wired.com/story/democrats-have-finally-learned-the-value-of-shitposting/
25 comments
I, for one, am glad we’ve moved from “when they go low, we go high” to “fuck these weirdos.”
To me, it now feels like Democrats took a crash course in shitposting and have nearly mastered it. They’re acknowledging the grassroots support, and interacting with it in a way that shows they truly, and perhaps finally, understand the social media landscape in 2024.
Pinning the Republicans as odd and weird has become the Democratic Party’s primary weapon this week. And they unsheathed it because the internet and the base was ready for it. Did I think that last week a joke about the possible VP having sex with [a couch](https://archive.is/TEWUO) would land so hard? No, no I didn’t. But here we are, in a new era where Democrats are the ones doing the dunking.
“It is deeply important to Republican policy and ideology that they are not the weird ones, so they will never be able to let it go. It [sic] shows that Democrats are done playing nice with people who do not play nice with us,” said Emma Mont, [Democratic creator](https://x.com/theemmamont) and an admin for the u/Organizermemes X account. “There are groups of people online who for years have been begging Democrats to lose the niceties, and now that they have, those online folks are excited to participate.”
The marked change in tone first appeared in a press release on July 25. Recounting an interview Trump gave to Fox News, the Harris campaign invoked one of its favorite hobby horses, [Project 2025](https://www.tiktok.com/@wired/video/7379661053757656366), but also said, “Trump is old and quite weird?”
While the “weird” strategy might be new for Democrats, Republicans have been using it for years under a different name: *cringe*.
Read the full newsletter: h[ttps://www.wired.com/newsletter/politics-lab](https://www.wired.com/newsletter/politics-lab?sourceCode=Twitter)/
They are striking the right balance right now of punching back, but not going full cafeteria food fight. Politics is hostile, and it is a nice change seeing Dems roll up their sleeves and get their hands a little dirty.
It’s our time to shine lads and lasses.
What else do you call:
Their years long obsession over a fictional story of litter boxes in schools despite no evidence they have ever existed.
Making fun of childless women but wanting to ban ivf.
Wanting government control of your sex life and body.
Palling around with Putin and Kim Jong Un and wanting to abandon NATO.
Labeling people DEI (didn’t earn it) when their candidate was gifted $413 million from daddy.
Weird!
Fetterman campaign showed the value of just pointing out the weird shit, like Oz moaning about the price of crudites, in a way that got through to people. Now the weird word is pointing out, fairly, that rambling about shark attacks and fictional serial killers is really abnormal.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.wired.com/story/democrats-have-finally-learned-the-value-of-shitposting/) reduced by 84%. (I’m a bot)
*****
> Recounting an interview Trump gave to Fox News, the Harris campaign invoked one of its favorite hobby horses, Project 2025, but also said, "Trump is old and quite weird?".
> Since Gamergate, right-wing provocateurs have painted Democrats and liberals as cringe.
> The Harris campaign is taking advantage of it: Since Harris took over the BidenHQ TikTok, the account's following has quintupled in size, and she's been able to ride the wave of favorable content without becoming cringe herself.
*****
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MAGA …bunch of weirdos
It’s not shitposting if it’s true, Trump and his crew are just weird.
I don’t wanna brag, but I understood the value a long time ago. It’s fun! Gets people worked up
r/conservative is hilariously decrying the “Ad Hominem” attacks as signs of desperation when it is literally the only strategy Trump has used for his entire life.
Republicans are middle school bully trolls who never grew out of it, and you just have to know how to troll them back in order to humble them.
The amount on the right losing their mind over a simple statement is funny. But here’s the thing it’s not bullying or whatever Republicans like to spin it as, because it’s true.
If I called someone an idiot and then showed a video of them eating Tide Pods, then *bam* proof of an idiot.
Maga has left a trial so big of weirdness that you could make endless clip shows without even using the same clips.
Trump is weird. Example? Him going on a tangent about playing with locks as a kid.
They’re not exactly personal attacks but rather an observation.
MTG is weird. Example? Stroking the junk of a cardboard cutout of Trump.
And in the end when I get “called out” by a Maga that all I have is schoolyard tactics, they seem to go silent when I bring up policies. Because in the end Trump stands for nothing that benefits the country as a whole.
The media is getting this entirely wrong. The names they call us aren’t real and have no basis in reality, they’re just meant to demean and noting else. Dems calling Trump weird and Vance creepy are legitimately factual names, we’re not shitposting, we’re pointing out actual character traits that make them unfit for the office of the Presidency (or any office).
The media is desperately trying to equate both Harris and Trump on the name calling but they’re not the same.
>”One thing I have learned in my time in politics is that if one of the parties is shameless, the other party cannot afford to be spineless.”
Those were the words of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who spent 30 years in the Senate and was the last of the WW2 vets in office. He knew politics. (New Jersey Dem)
It isn’t shitposting, though, calling the Right weird is childsplay. It only works because they are all children.
Been waiting for this for 8 years… They need to ramp it up, honestly.
Trump is so thin skinned. He should have been demolished in every debate.
In the age of social media you can’t take the intellectual route or the high road all the time. You have to come out swinging sometimes. Just an unfortunate truth. Social media is dumbing us all down but if you want to connect with people you have to do what works.
Finally. Its about time we moved on from being scared of our own shadow and this boomer “They go low we go high” bullshit.
Call the couchfuckers what they are.
Part of this shift has to be the older, boomer gen among DNC leadership finally letting go and giving Gen X and Millennials some control.
About fucking time. Any time Weird Trump mentions color we should mention he spray paints himself orange! WEIRDO!
I really think Jasmine Crockett’s “bleach blonde bad built butch body” was a turning point that gave Democrats permission to start shitting all over over Republicans. She deserves more credit for opening the floodgates.
I posted similar elsewhere – calling Cheeto a “dictator” and the like makes his minions and followers happy since they live vicariously through that and they wish **they** had the power to deport/imprison/etc.
But calling him *weird* is like equating him to the odd kid on the playground who eats their own boogers. It means we’re calling THEM booger eaters.
No one wants to be called a booger eater.
This is becoming of a societal issue imo. The problem is for me personally I don’t mind the Dems punching back. I don’t even mind Republicans slinging mud.
There just certain levels of decorum that used to be held when doing it. Hence Michelle Obama when they go low we go high comment.
In my very short life, 31, watching the political mud slinging devolve into… well millennial shit posting is mind boggling.
What I’ve come to appreciate from this new fight from the Dems is basically they’re just making fun of what moronic statements Republicans are saying.
It’s like being back in school and the bullies say some stupid crap and the popular kids or intelligent kids speak up in defense of whomever is getting bullied. It’s very odd to see this play out as an adult.
Hey should he addressed as
“Project 2025 Candidate DT”
And
“Convicted Felon Candidate DT”
Every time a Democratic speaks his name.