Althouse: "It is urgently important that Democrats find ways to depict this cartoon villain as more villainous than comic."

May 22, 2024

"It is urgently important that Democrats find ways to depict this cartoon villain as more villainous than comic."

"A host of data shows that a crucial slice of the electorate has relatively sunny memories of the Trump years and a vague understanding of the extremist agenda his allies are putting together for a second term. And worse yet... the youngest voters, on whom Democrats are relying for a big 2024 advantage, know little about Trump at all... 'Santiago Mayer, the 22-year-old founder of the Gen Z group Voters of Tomorrow, which has endorsed Biden, told me that his 18-year-old brother and his friends see Trump as more funny than threatening. "They don’t know much about Donald Trump’s agenda, and Donald Trump is an entertaining character," Mayer said. "They are gravitating toward him not because of their political beliefs but out of sheer curiosity."' It is urgently important that Democrats find ways to depict this cartoon villain as more villainous than comic... Perhaps the way for Democrats to thread the needle is to make Trump appear not just scary but also predictably wedded to the worst aspects of his party...."

Writes Ed Kilgore in "The Biden Campaign Has a Trump-Fatigue Problem" (NY Magazine).

The internal quote — "Santiago Mayer... sheer curiosity" — comes from an Atlantic article by Russell Berman called "The Voters Who Don’t Really Know Donald Trump/Many of this year’s first-time voters were too young to remember what Trump was like in office. Biden hopes to show them." Berman's recommendation is to give young people "a well-funded history lesson." Noted.

52 comments:

Howard said...: The more villainous they try to paint Trump, the more entertaining he becomes. It's like they are intentionally helping Donald Garner clicks and votes.

The Dims never learn.; 5/22/24, 6:41 AM
Kevin said...: Wolf!; 5/22/24, 6:45 AM
rehajm said...: No matter what narrative you choose we can all still see the ugly cadaver you guys are running…; 5/22/24, 6:47 AM
rhhardin said...: Trump made a friend of NK's Rocket Man, something nobody before or since has found a way to do.; 5/22/24, 6:54 AM
rhhardin said...: Abraham Accords; 5/22/24, 6:54 AM
Tom T. said...: The Democrats could have opposed him on policy grounds (or even cut policy deals with him). Instead, they went all-in on the insistence that he's a monster, and they've got no fallback once that fails.; 5/22/24, 6:58 AM
Enigma said...: The problem with cartoon depictions -- be they superheroes or super villains -- is that many people LOVE the anti-hero. It's all about personalities and shades of gray. Lefty Hollywood fuzzy moralists cannot have it both ways. They are hoisted on their own petards regarding Trump.

See revisionism in fiction.

The bad guy (e.g., Terminator 1) becomes the good guy (Terminator 2) because people cheer for him. See lefty Marvel comics and their now hateful relationship with The Punisher. See every Clint Eastwood film ever, especially Dirty Harry and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. See most James Bond films, where a "patriotic" government assassin kills people and slaps women and sleeps around...; 5/22/24, 7:00 AM
Leland said...: Democrats might want to consider how villainous they look in persecuting their political rivals and stealing oil from the strategic reserves to pretend they lowered fuel prices for a campaign ad.; 5/22/24, 7:07 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: The real villains are the Nazi Democrats.; 5/22/24, 7:15 AM
JRoj said...: Shocking to find state aligned media types engaging in propaganda. Yawn.; 5/22/24, 7:15 AM
gilbar said...: Many of this year’s first-time voters were too young to remember what Trump was like in office.
Biden hopes to show them.

resident Biden's Problem is that they DO remember four years ago..
It's amazing how GREAT things were under Trump compared to now..

I have to watch those you tube clips of highschool life in the early '80's to remind myself how fortunate i am

The modern world SUX. it's no surprise that MOST teens today are mentally disturbed and on meds.; 5/22/24, 7:24 AM
tim maguire said...: I can understand the Democrat's frustration in trying to get people to ignore the peace and prosperity of the Trump years and instead focus on their scare stories about how different Trump will be next time.; 5/22/24, 7:24 AM
The rule of Lemnity said...: Grant is the new Jackson.

You need a $50 to buy now what you could buy with a $20 in the Trump years.

Wall Street Journal: “Though inflation is falling now, it has been higher on average under Biden than Trump. Adjusted for inflation, [household] net worth was up just 0.7 percent through Biden’s first three years, compared with 16 percent through Trump’s first three years.”

The Journal is paywalled but the Corner lifted some: link; 5/22/24, 7:28 AM
Iman said...: Ew, that smell. Can’tcha smell that smell?
The smell of corruption and death surrounds him; 5/22/24, 7:28 AM
Christopher B said...: Every generation is surprised to find succeeding generation(s) don't think like they do.

The youngest voters in 2024 have parents and grandparents who voted for Ronald Reagan and/or George W Bush. They don't have the reflexive distaste for Republican Presidential candidates passed from the Boomers to their Millennial kids.; 5/22/24, 7:28 AM
rehajm said...: They really are obsessed with telling their fables and it’s driving them mad fewer people are falling for them. I suppose with good reason given the whoppers they get away with…and it wasn’t all that long ago when the commentariat here was being mocked as conspiracists for pointing out their biases…; 5/22/24, 7:29 AM
Temujin said...: Hmm. I lived through the Trump years and thought we were doing pretty damn well. Surely far better than we are today. And people forget- he was a slam-dunk for reelection until the orchestrated national riots in the summer of 2020 (bought and paid for by The Left), and of course, the Covid shut down.

Hell...when your economy is cranking at historic levels under your opponent, how can you undermine that economy to win the voters? Why...just shut it down.

And so, it was. But for those with a memory, Trump accomplished a great deal of things for so many people. And...the people DO remember.; 5/22/24, 7:32 AM
mezzrow said...: "Ew, that smell. Can’tcha smell that smell?"

I'm picking it up here, too. I live in Skynyrd country, and from here it seems the Democrats may have overdosed on a certain orange monster. You can't see the reality of it until you go through the addiction and get on the other side. Well, if you can survive that long. What we see is not "getting over it." Trump hate (and Trumper hate) is a helluva drug.

Google AI:
"That Smell" is a song by the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from their 1977 album Street Survivors. The song's title refers to the smell of death and is about the dangers of substance abuse and its impact on people. Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Allen Collins wrote the song as a warning about the consequences of careless overuse of drugs and alcohol, inspired by the band members' increasing reckless use of drugs and alcohol. The song's lyrics are written from the perspective of someone who has experienced the struggle.; 5/22/24, 7:42 AM
Bob Boyd said...: They should listen to Ann Althouse, not Satiago Mayer...but they won't.; 5/22/24, 7:45 AM
God of the Sea People said...: Trump has been out of office for almost four years now, and I have still never seen anyone actually explain what was so bad about his term of office or his policy agenda. If you press them, they will mumble something about a threat to democracy. But they have built him up as a villain in their own minds so much that the possibility of having to explain that position never occurs to them.; 5/22/24, 7:50 AM
Cappy said...: And I would have gotten away with it, too, if not for those darned kids!; 5/22/24, 7:54 AM
Sebastian said...: "more villainous"

OK, let's take the prog drivel at face value. Of course, sure, Trump is a crude clown, but what exactly is "villainous" about him? So he made a half-assed effort to build the wall and keep illegals out, and he sorta sweet-talked Vlad and Xi and Kim to no obvious ill effect, and he moved the embassy to Jerusalem and concluded the Abraham Accords, and he did next to nothing to rein in spending, and he did away with some regulations here and there, and he imposed some tariffs same as Joe, and the economy did fine until Covid hit. OK, sure, as a prog you'd disagree, but where's the "villainy"? So, for progs who are not rabid Jew-haters, we're down to three things: 1. Beating Hillary--still intolerable. 2. 1/6--the "insurrection!" and 3. Abortion--conservative justices who overturned Roe. I guess 3 by itself is enough to tar him as a villain; 1 and 2 are just narrative enhancements.

From a deplorable point of view, I'd suggest trusting Birx and Fauci and vilifying Kemp--an outrageous error.; 5/22/24, 8:01 AM
Clyde said...: "Extremist agenda": Regain control of our border and deport most of the freeloaders who have to legitimate asylum claim. End the trans madness of biological men in women's sports and women's spaces. End the federal government's war on fossil fuels and return to energy independence. Return to policies of supporting our allies and opposing our adversaries. Clean up the Augean stable that is the permanent Administrative State, AKA "The Swamp," and end the malign influence of unelected government bureaucrats on policy issues. Make America Great Again.; 5/22/24, 8:08 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: We had low unemployment.
No Chi Com Covid-Arabella Virus.
Low gas prices.
A closed southern border.
We didn't have masses of illegals pouring - with local governmetn coddling them with free stuff - taken from the tax payer well.

Leftists gotta lie. that is what they do.; 5/22/24, 8:08 AM
Clyde said...: "NO legitimate asylum claim."; 5/22/24, 8:08 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Is there a virus the collective liar left can create to erase memory?; 5/22/24, 8:09 AM
Aggie said...: The Biden campaign has a fatigue problem, period.; 5/22/24, 8:21 AM
Krumhorn said...: I was interested in reading the extremist agenda piece. I was oddly pleased to see that I agreed with everything on the list.

- Krumhorn; 5/22/24, 8:28 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: When leftists have nothing to sell but lies - the best bet for leftists, is to scare people away from the Jews.

er I mean - that evil Trump.; 5/22/24, 8:38 AM
Greg the Class Traitor said...: "It is urgently important that Democrats find ways to depict this cartoon villain as more villainous than comic."
"A host of data shows that a crucial slice of the electorate has relatively sunny memories of the Trump years and a vague understanding of the extremist agenda his allies are putting together for a second term.

Hmm, so, an extremist agenda like:
1: Supporting the terrorists of Hamas as they try to rape, torture, and murder all the Jews in Israel
2: Destroying the US border, and importing over 10 million unskilled illegal aliens
3: Aiding Russian aggression (Russia is a lot more active in the Biden Admin than it was with the Trump Admin)
4: Destroying the rule of law
5: Addicting kids to drugs for life ("gender affirming medicine", you can NEVER stop taking it)
6: Surgically mutilating kids
7: Government taking over people's bodies (there was NO scientific justification for teh Biden Admin "vaccine mandate" by the time they issued it)
8: Destroying the US economy

That kind of extremist agenda? Because that's the "Biden" agenda; 5/22/24, 9:10 AM
ron winkleheimer said...: "Many of this year’s first-time voters were too young to remember what Trump was like in office."

If your eighteen, and a first time voter, Trump left office when you were 14. So that means from 14-18 you have experienced the Biden years. In an era where the internet is a thing so you can access information that is not provided by the MSM, which is propaganda. The reason that young people don't see Trump as extremist or frightening is because he isn't and they aren't falling for the bullshit.; 5/22/24, 9:12 AM
Greg the Class Traitor said...: God of the Sea People said...
Trump has been out of office for almost four years now, and I have still never seen anyone actually explain what was so bad about his term of office or his policy agenda

Yep. I recently had an attempted discussion w/ a woman on Twitter. She said "Trump makes my skin crawl". I asked why. She stated her reasons. I mostly agreed with them, but pointed out that Biden was just as bad or worse on every dimension she mentioned, and asked if he made her skin crawl.

No real answer; 5/22/24, 9:13 AM
Yancey Ward said...: It is apparently very difficult for people to remember what the Trump Administration was like since it was so long ago. For the first time in a while, I can't disagree with anything in a comment by Howard.; 5/22/24, 9:15 AM
Yancey Ward said...: While I have long been over 99% certain the COVID virus was engineered in a lab in Wuhan, I have also been 99% certain the virus was accidentally released. However, over time I become less certain of the latter, just bit less each month. Trump was going to be easily re-elected if the pandemic never happened- he came within a grand total of about 30K votes of winning anyway in what I am certain was a stolen election in several states, but that is beside the point- without the pandemic even fraud wouldn't have gotten Biden over the line.

Basically, I find it completely plausible that someone released that virus when they did in order to change the outcome of the election, I just haven't reached the point where I think that was probable, but I do wonder more about it these days as I see what the Democrats are capable of trying to stop Trump's return to the White House today.; 5/22/24, 9:22 AM
Static Ping said...: It is difficult to paint someone as a "comic book villain" when his opposition are acting like comic book villains.; 5/22/24, 9:42 AM
wendybar said...: Riley Gaines
@Riley_Gaines_

How much proof do people need to recognize this as political persecution?

I'm not sure there is a 'quiet part' anymore

End Wokeness
@EndWokeness
AOC says the quiet part out loud:

They stopped Trump from campaigning by putting him in a "legal version of an ankle bracelet"; 5/22/24, 10:02 AM
Oligonicella said...: NYT:
Many of this year’s first-time voters were too young to remember what Trump was like in office. Biden hopes to show them."

Please do. Please, please, please. The side-by-side would be wonderful.

An elderly man still with decent health alongside a member of the walking dead. A man who makes fun of himself along with his opposition alongside a man who drops into an Alzheimer rage at the slightest criticism. A man who can speak for an hour alongside a mumbling brain case who can barely make it two sentences.

Trump admittedly fabricates some of his past. Biden can't remember where he is NOW.

Please, please, please. The more the merrier.; 5/22/24, 10:10 AM
mindnumbrobot said...: They created this monster, and now everything they do to try and kill it only makes it stronger. It gives grave concern, because there's no way they're going to let him take office again. No. Way.; 5/22/24, 10:13 AM
Joe Smith said...: I am 100% for Trump's extremist agenda:

-- Lower taxes
-- No wars
-- Closed border
-- Energy independence
-- Fewer regulations
-- High employment
-- Stop mutilating children
-- Etc....

If he can figure out how to throw Hillary, Obama, and the Biden family in jail that would be a huge bonus.

I want retribution. I want revenge.; 5/22/24, 10:30 AM
Mason G said...: "A host of data shows that a crucial slice of the electorate has relatively sunny memories of the Trump years..."

The left: "Who are you going to believe- me, or your lying eyes?"; 5/22/24, 10:31 AM
Joe Smith said...: If Trump is elected I can see a soft landing in the markets and then growth afterward.

If Biden is reelected there will be a major correction.

This regime is being propped up by fake numbers from the government. Every monthly report is quietly corrected downward.

Vote your goddamn pocketbook it you're sane.

If you're a true believer and welcome socialism over your own self-interest, then fuck you.; 5/22/24, 10:33 AM
Skeptical Voter said...: Well the Dims are doing their very best to tell young voters about the Dim's version of Trump. So there is that. But let's face it, they are not really getting their message across. Still there's a chance for dirty work at the crossroads come election time. So all is not lost. Yet.; 5/22/24, 10:34 AM
Mason G said...: "Trump has been out of office for almost four years now, and I have still never seen anyone actually explain what was so bad about his term of office or his policy agenda."

You're not the only one who has noticed this. About all you ever get is "Trump is icky." If you ask for specifics, there's a bunch of mumbling and hand-waving and the subject gets dropped. It's happened numerous times in the comments on this blog.

You'd think if the guy was actually a demonstrable threat to democracy (you know, like taking political prisoners, attempting to imprison political rivals and holding political show trials- that sort of thing) his critics could come up with something concrete with which to object.; 5/22/24, 10:52 AM
Oligonicella said...: Never-Biden Never-Putin:
Is there a virus the collective liar left can create to erase memory?

Yes, but more like a spreading mold that's not 100% effective - NBC, CBS,... WHO, UN,... "Higher Ed", FaceBook,... etc, etc, etc.

Fortunately, it's becoming less and less efficacious because of the phages in the system.; 5/22/24, 11:17 AM
loudogblog said...: "his 18-year-old brother and his friends see Trump as more funny than threatening. "

If this is true, it's amazing that these young people see past this "running around with your hair on fire" alarmism that proclaims that - if Trump wins -he will declare himself dictator for life, institute the fourth Reich, put all black people in chains, end elections, and destroy democracy as we know it.

And Trump won't have a dog in the White House!!!! (Which might, actually, make the Secret Service happy.); 5/22/24, 1:40 PM
Jersey Fled said...: I propose a new tag: Straw Man Trump.

The Left writes about him every day.; 5/22/24, 2:24 PM
Jim at said...: It is urgently important that Democrats find ways to depict this cartoon villain as more villainous than comic.

Or maybe - just maybe - you could run on your record of achievements during the last four years.

Wait. What?

Nevermind.; 5/22/24, 3:22 PM
RMc said...: It is urgently important that Democrats find ways to depict this cartoon villain as more villainous than comic

Nah. Everybody loves a good villain.; 5/22/24, 4:45 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Judge Merkin: Slaps forehead. "Of course! An ankle bracelet! Why didn't I think of that?"; 5/22/24, 4:53 PM
hombre said...: How could anyone on the left really know Trump? Their bubblemedia have been lying about him since 2015, possibly earlier.; 5/22/24, 6:25 PM
mccullough said...: Someone who is 18 now was 14 in 2020.

Only an idiot or a partisan NY Times reporter would say “they were too young to remember.”

If they weren’t paying attention, which is normal 14 year old, then there is nothing for them to remember.

If they were paying some attention, they will remember.

I’m sure they don’t forget the masks and school closings and disruptions to their lives.

And it’s heartening to hear that young people think Trump is funny. Because for all his faults Trump is funny. Saturday Night Live is not funny. Democrats are not funny.

Woke is not funny. It’s Puritanism.

Trump mocks Biden very well. The Kidz love it.; 5/22/24, 8:44 PM
typingtalker said...: It is urgently important that Democrats find ways to depict this cartoon villain as more villainous than comic...

Just as important is the senility of the sad old cartoon clown running against him.; 5/23/24, 5:31 AM