Without a positive message to run on, Republicans leaned into gratuitous personal insults of their opponents, thinking that’s worked for Trump before. But it didn’t, and doesn't.
You correctly cite that Republicans keep trying to be mini-Trumps. Hegseth likely still doesn't get why his public execution plan didn't work. It's something Trump would do, right? Maybe, maybe not, but Trump has the charisma to do things other people can't. I don't know what specific artifact of Trump's personality makes it work for him and not others, and everyone trying to replicate it has failed so it doesn't seem anyone else can figure it out either. But whatever it is, it's there, and only he has it.
There is also the problems of Too Online and Internet Poisoning. People filter themselves into bubbles, and talk themselves into crazy positions through games of telephone where anyone saying "oh c'mon, that's too much" is kicked out. They come out of these hothouses and find their ideas can't survive outside the environment they were made in.
The other issue is GOP also assumed the “They/Them” ad was representative of some new permanent paradigm shift culturally. That somehow Americans and specifically Gen Z were somehow all super right wingers when it came to race and gender. Didn’t help that way too many pundits and corporations bought into this narrative too. The Tech bros may be the prime example but I actually think that American Eagle Sydney Sweeney jeans ad is a better “brown M&M” example. GOP clearly thought the “they/them” ad was some skeleton key to victory when in fact it likely moved the needle maybe at best a point in the election. Which of course matters! Given how close the election was ultimately (more on that in a sec) shifting even a small sliver of the electorate may have won a few key swing states. But of course the real big reason Trump won was “it’s the inflation stupid”. Which was actually the unspoken key to the ad; Harris cares about this extreme lefty stuff instead of bringing down prices.
But the person who most bought into “the world is a new place now” was clearly Trump himself. Go look how often he cited the “Immunity” SCOTUS decision. Combine with his already insane ego talk about a recipe to engage in the most unhinged stuff; not just absurd threats to Canada, the unbelievably ill thought out Iran war but of course cartoonish levels of corruption. I’m sure it didn’t escape your notice that corruption was supposedly the number one issue to voters on Election Day.
Look count me one of those libs who’s still disappointed that Trump (and his cronies) astonishingly racist/misogynist rhetoric and first term corruption(and real world actions) hasn’t moved the needle politically as much as I hoped. But I’ve always been in the camp (contra super leftists) that while too many media members don’t recognize that there is still a sizable minority of Americans with super racist views, this doesn’t mean Americans still have the same views on race as say 1965…or heck 1996 (go look at Gallup support for interracial darting in 1996 vs now). I think what last 10 years has shown that Americans will forgive a lot of bad behavior (too much in my book but I digress) for a good economy. But as soon as economy is less than stellar, the terrible behavior can be a liability real fast.
As one last point. I’ve made the case for 10 years and feel more vindicated today; Trump and Trumpism are actually wild electoral under-performers. I genuinely think a normie Republican in 2016, given who the Dem candidate was and that she was running for a 3rd Dem term, should have won the popular vote by about 3 points; in other words Trump underperformed by as much as Paxton did in Texas if we take the governors race as a baseline. And in 2024, incumbent parties throughout Western Europe lost…in landslides. Right wing AND letting wing. Using international comparisons Trump’s 2024 vote share is not really impressive at all.
TRUTH all the way! I noticed years ago when MAGA was rising just how disgusting and misinforming their TV ads had become. It might have been coincidence, but I think there is a link. And I didn't like it one bit. I even said something like Why oh Why can't they just campaign on a platform but this year they truly didn't have a whole lot to campaign on. After all they passed one Big Ugly Bill that did more damaged for everyone than any good.
You correctly cite that Republicans keep trying to be mini-Trumps. Hegseth likely still doesn't get why his public execution plan didn't work. It's something Trump would do, right? Maybe, maybe not, but Trump has the charisma to do things other people can't. I don't know what specific artifact of Trump's personality makes it work for him and not others, and everyone trying to replicate it has failed so it doesn't seem anyone else can figure it out either. But whatever it is, it's there, and only he has it.
There is also the problems of Too Online and Internet Poisoning. People filter themselves into bubbles, and talk themselves into crazy positions through games of telephone where anyone saying "oh c'mon, that's too much" is kicked out. They come out of these hothouses and find their ideas can't survive outside the environment they were made in.
The other issue is GOP also assumed the “They/Them” ad was representative of some new permanent paradigm shift culturally. That somehow Americans and specifically Gen Z were somehow all super right wingers when it came to race and gender. Didn’t help that way too many pundits and corporations bought into this narrative too. The Tech bros may be the prime example but I actually think that American Eagle Sydney Sweeney jeans ad is a better “brown M&M” example. GOP clearly thought the “they/them” ad was some skeleton key to victory when in fact it likely moved the needle maybe at best a point in the election. Which of course matters! Given how close the election was ultimately (more on that in a sec) shifting even a small sliver of the electorate may have won a few key swing states. But of course the real big reason Trump won was “it’s the inflation stupid”. Which was actually the unspoken key to the ad; Harris cares about this extreme lefty stuff instead of bringing down prices.
But the person who most bought into “the world is a new place now” was clearly Trump himself. Go look how often he cited the “Immunity” SCOTUS decision. Combine with his already insane ego talk about a recipe to engage in the most unhinged stuff; not just absurd threats to Canada, the unbelievably ill thought out Iran war but of course cartoonish levels of corruption. I’m sure it didn’t escape your notice that corruption was supposedly the number one issue to voters on Election Day.
Look count me one of those libs who’s still disappointed that Trump (and his cronies) astonishingly racist/misogynist rhetoric and first term corruption(and real world actions) hasn’t moved the needle politically as much as I hoped. But I’ve always been in the camp (contra super leftists) that while too many media members don’t recognize that there is still a sizable minority of Americans with super racist views, this doesn’t mean Americans still have the same views on race as say 1965…or heck 1996 (go look at Gallup support for interracial darting in 1996 vs now). I think what last 10 years has shown that Americans will forgive a lot of bad behavior (too much in my book but I digress) for a good economy. But as soon as economy is less than stellar, the terrible behavior can be a liability real fast.
As one last point. I’ve made the case for 10 years and feel more vindicated today; Trump and Trumpism are actually wild electoral under-performers. I genuinely think a normie Republican in 2016, given who the Dem candidate was and that she was running for a 3rd Dem term, should have won the popular vote by about 3 points; in other words Trump underperformed by as much as Paxton did in Texas if we take the governors race as a baseline. And in 2024, incumbent parties throughout Western Europe lost…in landslides. Right wing AND letting wing. Using international comparisons Trump’s 2024 vote share is not really impressive at all.
TRUTH all the way! I noticed years ago when MAGA was rising just how disgusting and misinforming their TV ads had become. It might have been coincidence, but I think there is a link. And I didn't like it one bit. I even said something like Why oh Why can't they just campaign on a platform but this year they truly didn't have a whole lot to campaign on. After all they passed one Big Ugly Bill that did more damaged for everyone than any good.