I want to get back to basics a bit today. I don’t anticipate a bunch of heavy rhetorical theory. I’m not going to dig into a bunch of pedagogy. No, today we’re talking about good ol’ politics and current events. But I don’t think I’m going to say too much, that’s even too controversial.
If you remember, way back in the beginning, one of the things I first did was look at some leading politicians and think about the way they talked and why it was significant. I think I might have even mentioned some unknown governor at the time named Tim Walz. But maybe I didn’t. Anyway, that’s what I want to look at today.
The Harris/Walz campaign is having a bit of a moment. And I want to consider a few of the things that are making that happen. This isn’t necessarily a comment on how good or bad the ticket is – regardless of who I’m going to vote for, I think we have to acknowledge that there are significant problems with them both – but these are simply observations about their campaign. One thing that I think continually befuddles people who aren’t familiar with rhetorical criticism is that you can say negative or positive things about the way a person speaks or campaigns or whatever without saying something negative or positive about them or their campaign. Just because I acknowledge Trump is fantastic at reaching his base doesn’t mean I’m happy about that, you know?
The first thing I want to comment on actually reaches back to 2008 and the Obama campaign. What Obama and his folks did that built a coalition unlike what we had seen in quite a while was offer hope.
America had been in a bit of a quagmire by the time 2008 rolled around. We were struggling. We were locked in culture wars that were wearing us down, the economy was a disaster, and America’s political landscape seemed completely fraught. After the Bush years it looked like the divisions would never heal.
But the Obama campaign brought something new to the table. Obama focused on hope. America felt like she was falling apart at the seams, and Obama brought us a message of hope.
And the public completely devoured that message.
It turns out, what the public wanted more than anything at that moment was hope. And they would take it from anywhere they could get it. Even if it was a Black man who a significant chunk of the nation swore was Kenyan and Muslim.
So, let’s talk about Harris and Walz.
There has been a lot of talk about “joy” in the last couple of weeks. I’ll be very honest – I don’t think we are paying enough attention to that word.
The last few years in American politics have been absolutely brutal. We have taken the culture wars to a whole new level. There are people out there literally burning books. BURNING BOOKS, PEOPLE. Moms for Liberty is out there doing everything they can to strip libraries of anything that smacks of diversity. Conservatives have declared war on trans kids, for no other reason than they are an easy target. I’ve done whole episodes on women’s health care.
I’m going to real political here, but real honest: conservative policies are deeply unpopular. They can’t win on policy. So, they are going for “vibe.”
And what I mean by that, is instead of campaigning on policy, they are campaigning on these culture war issues that stir people up and get emotions running high but are nothing more than divisive issues that stoke fear and hate. Unfortunately, they’ve got the Supreme Court in their pocket, so this is a real threat right now. But what I want to focus on right now is the narrative.
The political discourse of the last 8, maybe 12 years, has not even tried to be about policy. A few folks like Elizabeth Warren tried to inject that into the conversation, but people just weren’t interested in hearing it. Because policy is not where the conversation was – or is. And there is a whole set of dangers that go with that, but that’s neither here nor there. So, when we aren’t talking about policy, what are we talking about? Ideology at best, a mood or vibe at worst. And for the last decade or so, that has been one of fear and hate.
We have been indulging in a politics of turmoil and hatred for a long time. It’s all about who we despise the most – MAGA, the LGTBQ population, immigrants, the rich, People of Color – we have vilified them all.
And I’m not saying divisive politics are new. All you have to do is look at American history to know that we have a history of divisive politics. But what I am commenting on is that the last few years have been particularly divisive, and that division has been the driving force of American politics. And not only have politics been divisive, division has been the chief aim of some of the most prominent political leaders. And that is intentional. The division is necessary because leaders know their policies won’t win. So, they sow the seeds of unrest to keep their base riled up so they will feel emotionally obliged to vote for them. It is an endless cycle of anger and hate.
But the thing is, people are tired of it.
You can only be angry for so long before it wears you out. That is tough on the spirit. Angry people are hard to be around. Angry people are exhausting. Most people don’t enjoy being angry.
Enter Harris/Walz!
They are offering something else that I think is going to appeal to a lot of people who have been ready to give up on the political system – joy.
Harris and Walz are offering a reprieve from the angst and fear. They are laughing, and not in a necessarily mean way. They seem to be happy.
These seem to be two people who not only enjoy their jobs, but actually seem to like other people.
I think Joe Biden kind of got the short end of the stick in that regard. He seems to like a lot of peoople. But he had to be constantly on the defensive because the last term started with January 6th and ended with him actually being ousted from the ticket. It’s hard to be joyful in the middle of all that.
But Harris and Walz are seizing the opportunity to just…spread a little love and cheer. Every time Harris laughs and talks about what a wonderful time she’s having, some Independent somewhere is taking note. Every time Walz makes some dad joke or off-the-cuff endearing remark about butter carvings and state fairs, or whatever, some heartland voter thinks, Okay, yeah, I get that.
These are not things Trump does. One, Trump always seems to be angry. When he laughs it is generally at somebody and he only seems to have a good time at someone else’s expense. Many voters are tired of that. And two, Trump wouldn’t be caught dead at a state fair. So little things like this are making for a very different kind of campaign than what Trump/Vance is offering.
The point of all of this, is that many Americans are thirsting for a change. We are tired of anger, hate, and division. Now, here’s the thing – we have no guarantees that Harris/Walz will be any less divisive. We have no guarantees that they will be any better in office. But for now, they are offering something different, and I think a lot of people will be interested – they are offering joy. Which is why I think going back to 2008 is a useful analogy. Obama offered hope, and people ate it up.
We are a different country now. We are harder, madder, and more split than we were. We are more extreme in our politics. But I think there are still people who crave positivity. Maybe even more so than ever. I think there are people looking for a breath of fresh air. And if Harris and Walz can provide that, I think they will pick up some of those voters Dems have lost in the last few years.
The second thing I want to talk about is probably one of the most loaded words of the summer: weird.
Tim Walz is generally credited as the guy who first started using this term to describe the opposition. But honestly, I gotta say – my husband and I have been saying this for years. It IS weird that some people are so obsessed with who people sleep with. And it is VERY weird that people want to know so badly what is in other people’s pants. And it is INCREDIBLY weird that some people would rather let kids go hungry than have rich people pay a couple of extra bucks that they won’t miss. That’s weird, right?
Well, Walz called it. The focus has largely been on Vance, but it applies overall. This is strange. These politics are bizarre. The culture wars are just WEIRD. I mean, what is wrong with you? What, in all honesty, drives you to be this way? Who raised you?
And this has turned into the wink-and-a-nod battle cry of the summer.
The thing about being weird is, that if you are weird and you’re okay with being called that, then congratulations, you’re probably pretty cool. If you are weird and you flip out about being called that, then you’re probably pretty problematic.
Because weird has long been used as an insult. No lie. And we just talked about how Harris and Walz are trying to avoid a politics of hate. But “weird” strikes a different tone. Trump uses terms like “rapist” or “murderer” or “drug dealer.” Harris and Walz say that is “weird.”
This does a few things:
One, it sets them apart rhetorically in magnitude. Whereas the Trump campaign can’t seem to regulate itself, Harris and Walz seem to have some understanding of scope. Trump can’t seem to reign it in. Every immigrant is an inhuman criminal. Every LGBTQ person is out for your children. There doesn’t seem to be any nuance. But “weird” regulates the situation. And it’s interesting because one of the winning strategies of the left in the last few years has been to focus on how the Right is a threat to democracy. I mean, January 6th. Come on. But here they are moving away, partially, anyway, from the huge, grandiose statements about the end of the republic, and just cand of making a casual observation about the just general oddness of it all. Like, wanting to end democracy is terrible and everything – but that’s weird, right? I mean, we all like democracy, but that’s kind of bizarre thinking, isn’t it?
The other thing it does is paint Harris and Walz as the adults in the room, and Trump and Vance as childish and illogical. Now, you would think that a silly, name-calling insult like “weird” would infantilize the name-caller but consider the context. Trump has an ever-lengthening list of names he has for people. And I’ve always thought it was odd they stuck, because they aren’t particularly catchy or good names. I mean, how impressive is “Lyin’ Ted” or “Low-Energy Jeb?” But he has this habit of creating insulting nick-names for people. And, as we’ve noted, he tends to dehumanize the victims of the culture wars at any opportunity. He is, in every sense of the word, a bully. So, when Harris and Walz refer to him as “weird,” they really are taking the high-road. Because if it’s a silly, only slightly marginalizing attack, it’s humorous. They are positioning themselves as outside of the culture wars, and above the dehumanizing rhetoric, and just kind of amused by the competition.
And this amusement is key. If Trump and Vance were truly good politicians, they would take the “weird” label and run with it. Because people who embrace weird tend to ultimately be solid folks. But the thing is, Trump and Vance cannot handle this label.
Trump and Vance are absolutely livid that it looks like people are amused by them as opposed to taking them seriously. This is turning out to be an incredibly successful rhetorical move.
Now, there is a lot going on here. Trump is falling apart at the seams right now. Some of that is because is he is just an old guy trying to do a lot, and some of that is because he and his campaign advisors had devised their whole strategy based around beating Biden and now, they have to recalibrate. And some is because he doesn’t know what to do about Vance right now and what a deeply unpopular pick he is.
But a small, though not insignificant part of this unraveling, is because the campaign can’t handle being called “weird.” And the response seems to be largely consisting of “I know you are, but what am I?” Which, as devastating as it is when you are seven, is not exactly good politics when you are on the mainstage in a presidential election.
If Trump and Vance were to show up and say, “Yeah, let me tell you all the ways we’re weird!” and then progress to highlight their winning policies and ideas, it could be a good strategy. They could really focus on their ideas that may seem unconventional, but really appeal to those “forgotten people” they so love to champion and highlight the policies that may seem out of the norm but will reach the sentiments of people that don’t completely fit the mainstream. They could possibly reach Independents that way and really strengthen the base. Weird doesn’t have to be devastating. They could have made this work in their favor.
But they didn’t. They freaked out. They have spent a lot of time arguing about how they are not, in fact, weird. Which only goes to prove how weird they are.
And I want to emphasize that they are not getting any help from anyone here. It has become popular at rallies in the last week or so for women to show up to MAGA gatherings wearing cups labeled “JD Vance’s sperm” around their necks. This is supposed to be some comment on family values but COME ON. How is Vance supposed to argue that he is not weird when his supporters are doing THAT?
DO YOU NEED TO BE REMINDED THAT THIS IS NOT A PORNO?
So, when Walz finally put words to what we’ve all been thinking and searching for, it was like a lightbulb went off for a lot of people. I mean, yes, they are mean and spiteful and maybe people didn’t like the Trump folks, but that wasn’t necessarily all that was distasteful – and then Walz nailed it. They’re weird. And we can feel secure again because we know what it is. We know what bothers us.
So, when we say MAGA is weird it performs a number of functions: it positions Harris and Walz as the adults in the room. It paints them as the positive campaigners, even if it is an insult. And it gives their supporters, and even those who are just adjacent, a sense of security, because we can finally identify what has been bothering us.
I have some friends who are really bothered by the “weird” label, because they have always been seen as “weird.” And they don’t like to be put in the same category as Trump and Vance. But the difference, and I think this is important, is that these people have always embraced their weirdness. They never thought being weird was anything to be ashamed of. Being non-normative was the coolest part of who they are.
The MAGA response to being called weird is the exact opposite of that. They are ENRAGED that anyone might consider them out of the mainstream. But that is exactly what they are – not mainstream. And the “weird” label points that out. So, they are furious now that they have to defend their position as being abnormal. They have spent so much time portraying themselves as “every day folks” that now that somebody is calling them out as being totally out of touch, they don’t know what to do with themselves. The truth is, they are weird, and dealing with that is beyond what they can handle, because it is directly in opposition to how they have portrayed themselves for so long.
And that small critique, just that small word, has turned into a sticking point. And I don’t know how they are doing it, but they just keep making it worse.
So, as we think about the DNC, which is probably finishing up as you hear this (I’m recording right as it gets started), I hope you’ll consider these two words: Joy and Weird.
Because I’m not a prognosticator, I think Harris and Walz have hit on some pretty good rhetorical strategies early on, though. But the thing is, “early” for them, is pretty late in the season. So, I’ll be very interested to see what they decide to carry through the two-and-a-half months and what they don’t.
Music in this episode is “Fearless First” by Kevin MacLeod at https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3742-fearless-first.
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