The striking shift in tone was first made clear in a July 25 press release in which, looking back at an interview Trump gave to Fox News, the Harris campaign brought up one of the campaign’s favorite themes, Project 2025, but also said, “Hasn’t Mr. Trump aged and changed a lot?”
While this “weird” strategy may be new to Democrats, Republicans have been using it for years under different names. I am sick of.
Ever since Gamergate, right-wing provocateurs have portrayed Democrats and liberals as an embarrassment. Go on YouTube and you’ll find countless videos with millions of views, with titles like “SJWS OWNED COMPILATION #2” and “SJW Cringe & Feminist Fails Compilation.” Some creators have built digital careers out of criticizing leftists as “embarrassing.” Thus was born the stereotype of the blue-haired liberal, which has influenced conservative views of liberals for years.
For the first time, the Republican Party has become the target of an embarrassing attack. It makes it worse that the former president’s party is now made up of political influencers and partners like LibsofTikTok, random Roman statue avatars, and even “party elders” like Catturd. It’s almost impossible to escape the accusation that they’re weird, and it makes it worse that they’ve responded to the attacks with even more weirdness.
Vance’s personal history doesn’t work in his favor, either. Kyle Tharp, who writes the FWIW newsletter (subscribe, it’s great), says, “As an older millennial,[Vance]has clearly spent a lot of time in the male-dominated, right-wing sectors of the internet, which unfortunately, or fortunately, influences many of the talking points he makes.”
On TikTok and X, the right-wing reaction to the change has mostly provided Democrats with more ammunition, and the Harris campaign has used it to its advantage: since Harris took over BidenHQ TikTok, the account’s follower base has grown fivefold, and Harris herself has been able to ride the wave of positive content unabashedly. For now, the wind is blowing in her favor, but as with Trump and Vance, that may not last forever.
Chat Rooms
I’ve written a lot this week about how everyone from Swifties to politicians are using social media to organize and communicate with their constituents. I think I’m on top of all the interesting stuff going on in this space, but I also have blind spots. What interesting political organizations have you seen on social media that I should know about?
One aspect of Harris’ digital strategy I haven’t mentioned is how she’s hosting community Zoom calls. At this point in the election cycle, supporters are at their most enthusiastic, and the campaign wants to harness that energy beyond inspiring TikTok edits. On many of these Zoom calls, Harris campaign staffers walk attendees through the phone and text banking system and direct them to volunteering. The campaign seems to understand that this enthusiasm won’t last forever, and is showing voters how to reach out offline, too.
