I had to do a search of the website to find it 7 paragraphs into "How Democrats View Kennedy and Trump: ‘A Weirdo Campaign Just Got Weirder’/Democrats once seriously worried that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would be a spoiler. Now, after his endorsement of Donald Trump, they see a political opportunity":
And on Monday, after Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who has rebranded herself as a celebrity in the MAGA movement, endorsed Mr. Trump, the D.N.C. issued a news release with the headline: “Trump’s Circle of Weirdos Gets Even More Extreme.”
The NYT expresses some disapproval of the weirdness theme, calling it "a playground-style strategy" and giving us this juvenile quote:
“A weirdo campaign just got weirder,” said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, a Democratic think tank that has led efforts to stop independent and third-party candidates from siphoning votes from Democrats. “This campaign of freaks is not going to do Republicans any favors.”
Tulsi Gabbard's name appears in another NYT article this morning, "Trump Hits Harris Over ‘Humiliation’ in Military’s Afghan Exit/Courting military votes, Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery to observe the anniversary of a deadly Kabul bombing and then spoke at a National Guard group’s conference."
Scroll to the 19th paragraph:Mr. Trump at one point invited Tulsi Gabbard, a former congresswoman, who has since left the Democratic Party, to the stage to formally endorse him. She served two combat tours in the Middle East and is helping him with debate preparations.
I guess the help with debate preparations makes yesterday's endorsement non-news — really nothing more than an appearance at a rally.
An internal link in both of those articles goes to the August 7th article "Trump Pulls in Tulsi Gabbard for Debate Prep/Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democrat who has rebranded herself as a celebrity among Donald J. Trump’s supporters, once eviscerated Kamala Harris on a debate stage."
From that article:
Ms. Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party after her 2020 presidential run and has rebranded herself as a celebrity among Trump’s base of support, has long been friendly with Mr. Trump and was briefly considered to be his running mate. But her involvement in Mr. Trump’s debate preparation, which has not previously been reported, was partly because of her own performance in a 2019 Democratic presidential primary debate, when Ms. Gabbard eviscerated Ms. Harris in a memorable onstage encounter....
[Trump] still doesn’t do traditional debate prep. Nobody played Mr. Biden in his sessions ahead of their CNN debate on June 27. Instead, he sat with advisers for blocks of time or informally on plane trips and discussed potential topics and lines of questioning....
Presumably Gabbard isn't playing the role of Kamala Harris in debate simulations. She's got the first-hand experience confronting Harris with a well-prepared attack on the debate stage.
The NYT also asserts that she "brings some key qualities to the role for Mr. Trump: She’s a woman, at a moment when Mr. Trump is for a second time facing a woman as his general election rival." Seems like Trump knew quite instinctively how to debate Hillary Clinton. But I'm amused at the thought of Gabbard cluing Trump in on how to debate "a woman," whatever that's supposed to mean... apparently something, at least some of the time.
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All the news that’s fit to line a bird cage
No introspection at all. Kennedy was kicked to the curb the Democrats and his attempts to run as an independent were fought by them at every step. Tulsi is being followed by Air Marshall’s and subject to extra TSA screening everywhere she flies. This is a blatant attempt at intimidation. The Democrats will brook no dissent and are pushing out people who used to be an integral part of the party
From Instapundit: “I forget who it was, but someone made the point that the Democratic ‘weird’ critique is basically a feminized aggression tactic writ large onto political strategy. The argument was that men will argue you’re wrong, and women will argue you’re outside the group. This is amplified by social media and its effects, which reward verbal repartee and social signaling that are present in the novels of Jane Austen, but not in those of Cormac McCarthy.”
"Circle of weirdos" is starting to sound an awful lot like "basket of deplorables".
Interesting trying to brand Tulsi as a celebrity. And making that a negative thing. I suppose she's an influencer, but most politicians are these days.
"Seems like Trump knew instinctively how to Hilary Clinton"?
“Russian asset” was Hillary’s attempt to move Tulsi outside the group without addressing the truth of her claims.
At what point will everyone understand that the press is corrupt - and in the tank for one political party? The Party(D).
If the hack-D Soviet press isn't spinning positive BS for Democrats, they are trashing Trump, lying about him, assuming mind-reader status about him,- or ignoring Trump and his campaign entirely.
In short: when the Dems say “weird” they mean truth teller.
It has been buried, deep in the land of Mordor. The law of the land is the attractive and intelligent women are not permitted to endorse that which the ugly ducklings and iNags of the world have declared "wierd".
remember!
Diversity Is STRENGTH!
Unless...
It's not Democrat Party Diversity..
Then.. It's JUST WEIRD!!!
Dems who move left (remember Republican Sen. Jim Jeffords becoming an Independent?) are celebrated. Dems who move right (remember Democratic Gov. Zell Miller speaking at the 2004 Republican National Convention) are dismissed.
See also: Supreme Court justices who move left (or, "evolve.")
Tulsi Tulsi, you’re my bae
The VP that wouldn've made dems pay
We know you
You’ll take the pressure
Wearing a harness
Of vegan leather
The finest politician in all the land
With a body so perfectly tanned
"Weirdos" just means diverse, which I thought was a good thing? The Ds and Rs have seemed to flip roles. The Rs are the coalition of the many different ideas and peoples. The Ds are a monolith of thought, approach, and peoples.
Reading the NY Times to see what news isn't fit to print is a good way to stay informed.
Here is graceful Tulsi - respecting the military. watch the whole thing.
Of course - to the corrupt Soviet-Democrat media - that's "weird" and "extreme".
De-fund the police / open border - & punitive tax hikes to pay for illegals/ illegals voting/ Stuff the courts/ Soviet Media darling Kamala is the very definition of EXTREME.
Weird as in fate. An NYT endorsement. Reverse psychology?
Diverse as in individuals, minority of one, is Antidem and popular... with individuals.
Sorry, "quite instinctively" and "Hillary."
I found the last Biden Trump debate to be the most enjoyable debate in recent memory - good questions, good discussion control, good time limits, fairly represented both candidates. The fact it led to Biden's forced withdrawal actually demonstrates how effective it was, not because Biden took unpopular policy decisions - but because he could be heard clearly without interruption.
The Trump campaign should simply state publicly they will debate Harris using the same rules the Biden campaign accepted, since it's essentially the same ticket and campaign team and party. Why would Harris suddenly need to change the debate rules?
Keep the Republican Party Weird!
When I need to Clinton someone, I prefer to Bill. Much more fun!
A noticeable shift in tone by the NYT, then, displaying their bias out in the open again. We must be in the last turn and entering the home stretch.
Come to us Tulsi. Come Ride Spa....I mean join the conservatives. Lose those zeros and get with the heroes! Come into my...I mean our arms.
American politics are following the route of Soviet reality when people realized that left-wing ideology is inclusive and they would not be spared.
Tulsi is weird?
More of the 2024 Democrat campaign's "up is down" shibboleth. On the contrary, Tulsi Gabbard is about as serious, rational, and grounded as they come.
Nice Kate!
Thats why they want to change the rules
My rewrite:
And on Monday, after Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii whose opposition to the war in Ukraine resulted in Hillary Clinton calling her a Russian agent, and other Democrats to call her a Traitor, endorsed Mr. Trump, the D.N.C. issued a news release with the headline: “Trump’s Circle of Weirdos Gets Even More Extreme.”
Its impossible for the MSM's level of dicourse get more childish. No policy discussions, just call name calling that would make a 13 y/o girl cringe.
We have a thread winner!
Weird as in fate may go to their heads. Let's keep it queer as in eccentric as in individual and dynamically stable in order to mitigate authoritarian progress.
Calling someone weird is the new code word telling the clapping seals who read the NYT not to listen to anything that weird person has to say.
The Democrats at this point display nothing but projection.
Of a piece with James Carville, who yesterday said that in a "more humane" country, RFK, Jr. would be involuntarily committed to an insane asylum for his weirdness. The Democrat Party evolves into the true successor to Maoist Socialism.
...Third Way, a Democratic think tank that has led efforts to stop independent and third-party candidates from siphoning votes from Democrats.
Because God forbid that people might want to vote for someone other than Democrats! Do these people realize how they sound to the rest of us?
"No policy discussions, just call name calling that would make a 13 y/o girl cringe."
What else might one expect, from people whose emotional and intellectual development ended in junior high school?
IRC, Gabbard was the only one in 2020 that was willing to attack Harris or Biden - hard. Everyone else just hit soft or didn't hit at all. She's a liberal on everything except foreign policy. So, its interesting that she' s supporting Trump.
When you have to resort to name calling, have to hide your policies, have to avoid the press so don't demonstrate your capability, then the votes you get won't be because you are representing the people. When people vote for one thing, but you are NOT that thing, you are not a representative of the people. Kamala will not be a representative of the people. At least with Trump, we know what we are voting for.
Where is the news in the NYT that Tulsi Gabbard just endorsed Trump?
Well, you found it, didn't you? Buried in some other story, with editorializing in the "report" and some talking point comment from a far Left group. So now if there is any criticism about their biased coverage, the NYT can claim they did cover it. They're just covering the facts, right down the middle. Now move along now.
"Debate" is good. I was kinda hoping for 'eviscerate' or 'crush.'
Inga will be along soon with the official talking points about how Gabbard likes to kill puppies.
I disagree with Tulsi's view of the Ukraine war, but I respect her integrity. In a sane world, her endoresment should mean much more than RFK's.
'Weird' is what Mean Girls call you when they don't like you but for reasons that would make them look bad if they explicitly spoke them aloud.
Killing puppies? That would be so "wierd"!
You don’t seem to understand, if Trump were to be reelected life on earth would simply cease to exist.
It would be the rough equivalent of the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Anything done by Hitler would pale by comparison.
49% of the US population would be placed on suicide watch.
Federal judges from every corner of the nation would band together and hold vigil insuring that any Trump initiative could be struck down at a moment’s notice. The damage from “mostly peaceful protests” would be catastrophic.
You simply do not want to risk it.
Trans Pedophile Drag Queens twerting tweens is The New Normal..
Army Officers are "weird"
Pedophile teachers decking out their classrooms in Pedophile flags is the New Normal..
cis people are "weird"
Trump had a goldfish once. It died.
Playground strategy indeed. Democrats have apparently never left middle school. Every single attack on their opponents boils down to calling them "scaredy cats". It's "this-phobe" and "that-phobe". You're supposed to learn by the time you're, oh, 14, at the latest, that you don't do things just because somebody calls you "chicken"; they don't have your best interests in mind.
All part of Trump's plan to pivot to progressive populist policies to attract bummed out Bernie Bros.
This weirdness trope reminds me of the plots of "Revenge of the Nerds", "Scent of a Woman", and every other movie where the maligned outsiders and weirdos come together and interesting things then happen.
Third Way, a Democratic think tank that has led efforts to stop independent and third-party candidates from siphoning votes from Democrats.
I just read right over that in the post - thank you to whoever pulled it out for your comment above.
WOW, is that an Orwellian name for an organization dedicated to denying anyone a "third way."
We’re down now to the Democrats trying to stop the preference cascade as people discover who Harris really is. The “only weird bigots without teeth would vote for Trump” strategy has taken a serious hit with the endorsement of RFK, Musk and Tulsi.
RFK, Jr. endorsing Trump is not on either of the two San Francisco new sites I check in on. Each has a 'Politics' page and the story is absent.
Prof, have you watched Tod Browning’s “Freaks” in the Criterion Collection?
https://www.criterion.com/films/29015-freaks
Then there is the classic Marillion song of the sams name:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEY7HSAfXSs
Trump should kick off his rallies with “ALL THE BEST FREAKS ARE HERE!!”
And for when he’s trying to chip away some more black votes, there’s the Bar-Kays:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9FCYlGDAc4
JD could take the mike and exclaim he wants to Make America a Freak Show on the Dance Floor!
JSM
I thought Hillary beat Trump in all of her debates? Are Dems now admitting he won them?
"'Weird' is what Mean Girls call you when they don't like you but for reasons that would make them look bad if they explicitly spoke them aloud."
The lady is a tramp.
"He "grew' in office"
What happened to the blue dog democrats? How many are now republicans? This isn’t our parent’s democratic party anymore.
You debate a woman by seeming to mean well.
I suspect one of the great battles the West faces is more philosophical and cultural; where do we see ourselves in the future world? Do we even want to be working such hours? Are we happy to dilute much of our cultural attachments if it means cheap foreign labor? Do we see ourselves leading the wider world or shrinking away?
Personally I believe many of these 'woke' issues is an over energetic population without much ability to get it out of their system. We no longer fight wars on any scale that requires drafting. Civil rights movement are light years away from the 60s for all kinds of minorities. This is an internal backlash by a privileged, soft, population that seems guilty of its very privilege they did not fight to achieve.
Rather than build on it, they seem to prefer to tear it down. I am not sure how Governments across the West combat this sort of nihilism. I am not sure how they refocus this energy on building an economy and a society for the long term.
We seem to be eating ourselves and we will be in for a real shock when we see the alternative.
"Tulsi Gabbard's name appears in another NYT article this morning, "Trump Hits Harris Over ‘Humiliation’ in Military’s Afghan Exit/Courting military votes, Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery to observe the anniversary of a deadly Kabul bombing and then spoke at a National Guard group’s conference.
Trolls on X are branding this as an illegal use of Arlington National Cemetery as a campaign prop.
It helps Trump. He gets 5 more votes. And we thought he couldn't expand his base. 😂
Characterizing one’s panic as “opportunity” is an interesting cope.
'Othering' people as 'weird' seems like part of a playbook from the 1930s in Germany to me.
This is just more evidence that the coastal elite believe normal people are weird.
I know it's a weird thing to postulate, but maybe she acts according to what she feels will be best for the country, and not just herself.
Ironic that an organization called "Third Way" would be so against third party candidates.
What have you done with Howard? There's actually an interesting nugget here.
And now back to the post at hand. That's some good weed.
"Inga will be along soon with the official talking points about how Gabbard likes to kill puppies."
Inga dispensed the official talking point yesterday. Tulsi Gabbard is a Russian agent. Seriously.
Tulsi Gabbard loves autocrats - particularly those who are killers. She had to drop out of the 2020 race to become the Democrat candidate for president after she made an inexplicable trip to Syria to meet the country’s murderous leader Bashar al-Assad. And despite her claim to be Hindu, her continued ties to a strange religious group called “Science of Identity” didn’t help matters either. This group was founded by Chris Butler, the son of a communist anti-war activist.
The jujitsu on the debate started with Trump whining, two nights ago, about ABC as an excuse to get out of the presidential debate yet again.
Early the next morning, Politico was the first to report a substantive dispute about the debate: whether the candidates’ mics would be on between questions. In the story, Jason Miller got an unsurprising dig suggesting that Kamala “isn’t smart enough to repeat the messaging points her handlers want her to memorize.”
But before that in the story, this Brian Fallon quote appeared.
“We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the full broadcast,” Brian Fallon, the Harris campaign’s senior adviser for communications, tells POLITICO. “We understand that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own. We suspect Trump’s team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they don’t think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button.”
Bernie Bros will vote Kamala.
Thanks for the DNC talking points, gadfly.
Now you can stop talking about Tulsi because the Supreme Soviet has declared her to be a non-person.
Kamala has the Liz Cheney vote - and all money grubbing war machine neocons.
That's how Phil Donahue bagged Marlo Thomas.
Good observations, Rich.
The Times is still letting the DNC write its stories and headlines.
Just like if Journo-List were still in business.
The Arab Spring didn't work, didn't last, and wouldn't have had positive results for the US, the Near East, or the world. For the foreseeable future, the US is going to have to deal with autocrats -- as we do, and as we have always done.
There used to be a stricter line of division between think tanks and advocacy groups. Herman Kahn of the Hudson Institute was studying nuclear war, not lobbying for it.
Third Way and No Labels were both Clintonesque "center left" groups, but Third Way led the campaign to squash their one-time friends at No Labels. No Labels also got the recent memo from the DNC Politburo:
Statement of Third Way EVP Matt Bennett on RFK, Jr. “Trump doubles down on misogyny and weirdness.”
The deal that Trump struck with RFK, Jr.—a senior administration job in return for his endorsement—also confirms two other central realities of this campaign. First, as Trump struggles with a large and widening gender gap. Second, with the addition of RFK, Trump’s weird campaign is getting a lot weirder.
Dude says “Campaign of freaks” as if Democrats think being a freak is a bad thing. Democrats take freakiness to a higher level. The “non-binary” dude with a mustache who stole women’s luggage for the clothes? Not a Republican. The transgender admiral in charge of HHS? Not a Republican. I could go on for hours, but that’s probably enough examples.
The jujitsu on the debate started with Trump whining, two nights ago, about ABC as an excuse to get out of the presidential debate yet again.
You're a fool if you think for a second Trump doesn't want to debate that cackling imbecile.
LOL
obambi and biden personally invited Putin to send russki troops into Syria to support Assad directly while also delivering billions to the New Soviet Democraticals islamic supremacist mad mullah allies in Tehran!
Thanks for playing soy boy gadfly! Better get back to your cats now.
They are actively making their appeal more selective.
Where are the headlines noting that Trump announced both RFK Jr and Gabbard will be on his transition team?
Where are the headlines noting that Gabbard is being followed by Air Marshalls and RFK Jr has been stripped of his Secret Service protection? Meanwhile, retired Mengelesque Fauci still has SS protection?
"The jujitsu on the debate started with Trump whining, two nights ago, about ABC as an excuse to get out of the presidential debate yet again."
---
It started when Harris decided she wanted to change the agreed upon rules. She now wants the candidates seated, open mics, notes for the candidates, and opening statements.
In other words, the Harris campaign is worried she can't debate on her feet without a script and should be able to first give her campaign slogans spiel so the media will have something to report.
You're a fool if you think for a second Trump doesn't want to debate that cackling imbecile.
A fellow on X who posts about Old English (the language), noted that the way to say “idiot” in old Anglo-Saxon was unwit. I quite like it—we should resurrect it.
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