How did we come to the culture where personal life of politicians outside their direct political convictions matters?
Not only is it a manipulation that has no relation to somebody's political performance, it also makes opposition dependent on criticizing a person - something that recently fucked up Republicans themselves as Biden stepped down.
Because the right is constantly being self-righteous while attacking people for being queer. If those same puritan-minded people who want to criminalize LGBTQ+ people also fuck couches for fun, everyone deserves to know about it. They don't stay out of our personal lives, why the fuck should I afford them any privacy? They don't respect our humanity, why should I respect their dignity just because couch-fucking is victimless?
They're the party of "family values", let's put their party position under the microscope.
it also makes opposition dependent on criticizing a person - something that recently fucked up Republicans themselves as Biden stepped down.
The mistake Republicans made wasn't in standing against Biden, it was in failing to stand for anything else. If J.D. Vance drops out of the election, I am not going to be out of political ammunition. In fact, J.D. Vance should and probably will drop out and I'm not worried about if he does, because Trump isn't going to choose a good running mate no matter what.
In fact, changing the running mate after the RNC destroys their argument that it is somehow improper for Democrats to change their nominee before the DNC, so while they play checkers, we're playing chess.
I was going to ask the same question. Why should we care. But you have a good point. If the right is saying "we must look into the bedroom " then the left might as well join in. It won't fix anything. But at this point, make the idiots squirm.
You think he will drop out? I'm not sure what's going to happen - our political situation is beyond sane prediction - but I feel like dropping out would be admitting a mistake, and I just don't see either Trump or Vance wanting to do that. I feel like they will ride that decision right into November.
I feel like dropping out would be admitting a mistake
Trump got famous running a reality TV show where he feigns business acumen by firing people.
It is well understood in the real world that constantly firing people is a sign of poor leadership. You either aren't hiring productive employees, or you're too eager to terminate under-performing employees. That didn't matter in The Apprentice, because people view firing people as authoritative behavior, and they love it.
So when Vance backs down (and he will because he's toxic to Trump's approval rating), it will be presented as Trump smartly firing his inferior running mate in favor of a superior job candidate.
I think the Dems found the:"why not both?" meme when it comes to politics against the maga Republicans, who gave up on competing on policy years ago. They've only been competing by creating these dumb "culture wars" and ad hominem attacks of opponents. There is no principled position, there is no good faith arguments, there is no limit to their hypocrisy.
The Democrats have been getting beat on messaging for years too.
What I think we are seeing now is a sea change. The Democrats have wildly popular policy and positions on most things. They win on policy.
And now they arent letting the Republicans get away with being "weird" hypocritical unprincipled lunatics that lack substance. They aren't ceding the field on the "manipulation" that Republicans have been engaging in for years. Call them weird. Call them old. Call them criminals.
If they hit below the belt, hit back. If they stay on the high road, meet them there. But as soon as they want to mudsling, slap em in the face with a well deserved mud pie.
When democracy is at stake you can't afford to lose an election because you wanted to avoid calling a couch-fucking creep, weird.
I'll also add, I think the reason you are seeing such a ground swell in Democrat support and a dogpile on JD Vance is the pent up frustration of years of Dems being doormats and not squaring up and fighting back.
This is how you beat a bully. You have to bloody their nose. Turn the other cheek sounds great but you quickly run out of cheeks. Fight back.