John Hayward Profile picture
Sep 16, 2020 14 tweets 3 min read Read on X
There's a lot of talk about the "Shy Trump" vote, especially since it's physically dangerous to express support for him many Democrat-controlled cities, but don't underestimate the Weary Biden vote - exhausted, frightened swing voters who will vote against Trump with a shrug.
People like that aren't going to have a big footprint on social media. They're more likely than the classic Shy Trump voter to be detected by pollsters, but many of them don't really want to answer polls. They might describe themselves as undecided if they do.
The Left looooves that "demoralize-destabilize-normalize" strategy because it WORKS. It's a huge advantage to be able to create conditions of chaos, despair, and destruction - helped along by a black swan event like the coronavirus - and blame it all on the incumbent.
Biden is largely getting away with hiding in his basement and taking a few (embarrasingly obviously) scripted questions from "reporters." The Weary Biden voter is thinking only about Donald Trump right now. 2020 is him vs. the ultimate Generic Democrat Candidate.
Weary Biden voters aren't going to engage on social media or get into fiery political arguments. They aren't really into Biden at all, so they don't know about his past positions, or those of Harris. They're trying very hard not to notice his senile dementia.
And really, Biden's deteriorating mental condition isn't a huge issue for these weary voters, certainly not the checkmate detail ardent Trump supporters imagine. They don't really care who the Generic Democrat Candidate is. They're thinking only about Trump.
And part of the reason for that is Trump's style, his rhetoric, his position as the center of attention in every story. Almost all of Trump's political deficits at the moment are due to things he SAID, and sketchy stories about things he didn't say but sound plausible enough.
The Weary Biden voter isn't very up-to-speed on what Trump has DONE. His campaign will have to work hard to remind them. They barely remember the good economic times lost over the event horizon of the coronavirus black hole.
Middle East peace is nice, but what does that mean to the weary swing voter's daily life? Terrorism stopped being a big story after Obama left, but they've been told not to credit Trump for that. All they're thinking about is riots, police brutality, and economic collapse.
The thing about these weary voters is that they don't want to sign up for more political warfare. They'll be told the path of least resistance is putting someone new - Biden, Harris, anonymous Democrat managers, whoever - in the Oval Office.
Tired people desire peace and normalization above all else, and they will rationalize themselves into thinking it's not surrender to thuggishness. They don't want to see themselves as submissives... so they won't. They'll just say they wanted to give someone else a chance.
The Trump campaign will have to work hard to get to those people. The Weary Biden vote might not be huge, might not even be as big as the Shy Trump vote, but it could be big enough to turn some crucial races. Trump underestimates it at his peril.
Despair is an incredibly powerful political force - it's the only reason socialism is still a thing - but it's also largely invisible in conversation. No one wants to admit their vote is driven by abject despair. They either hide it with performative anger, or they stay quiet.
Trump's style makes it easy for his adversaries to conceal despair with performative anger. Don't assume every quiet voter is itching to vote against the Abolish the Police Party. Some are resigned to that battle being over, and just want to make peace with the winners. /end

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More from @Cobretata

Mar 12
Among the strangest features of GOP internal battles - be it NeverTrump, or conservatives displeased with nominees like McCain or Romney - is this notion that it would be better to throw an election to the Dems and hope a better Republican nominee comes along next time.
How can anyone still seriously think that way, especially after Obama's "Pen and Phone" dictatorship and Biden wiping his posterior with the Constitution to plow ahead with his student loan vote-buying scheme? No, guys, it is NEVER safe to just toss a few wins to the Dems.
Maybe it's a form of projection, a stubborn illusion that the Dem candidate might be relatively harmless and inert in office, as GOP leaders sometimes are. Those illusions should have been utterly shattered by now.
Read 15 tweets
Feb 29
When pundits wrote a decade or two ago that corruption would become the big story around the world, I was skeptical. People love to COMPLAIN about corruption, sure, but few electorates are prepared to take decisive action against it.
Corruption is absolutely inherent to Big Government. Repeat after me, and teach your children: THERE ARE NO CLEAN BIG GOVERNMENTS. Amassing huge amounts of power and money in a central State is like dropping sugar cubes amid anthills.
One reason Big Governments never get clean is they have so many weapons at their disposal to distract the public from anti-corruption initiatives. Key segments of the electorate get paid off, too. Big Media is easily drawn into the cesspool and made comfortable.
Read 13 tweets
Feb 22
It is difficult to combat totalitarianism through electoral politics because the whole point of totalitarianism is to seize control of elections. They terrorize and propagandize people for years, then hold a "vote" to find out if their techniques were at least 51% effective.
Defeating totalitarianism requires spirited resistance and good humor. Mock them and make them look ridiculous. They can't stand it, because they are driven by self-righteousness. Totalitarians are small people who need to feel large by joining herds and crushing outsiders.
Defy them at every turn. Go where you aren't supposed to go, say what you're not supposed to say, and do it all with a smile. Exhaust their resources while refusing to become demoralized. Raise the price of totalitarianism by bankrupting its corporate partners when possible.
Read 20 tweets
Feb 5
The greatest threat to democracy at present is the deliberate effort to erase nationhood and citizenship through mass migration, against the express wishes of citizens.
You don't have much of a "democracy," much less a constitutional republic, if the ruling elite can ignore voters to erase the border and shower benefits and privileges on foreign nationals. It's an explicit rejection of national sovereignty.
You don't have any kind of "democracy" if the Ruling Class can use mass migration to create a new electorate that votes the way it wants. Votes have little power if the rulers can dilute them at will.
Read 13 tweets
Jan 30
The Democrat Party grows increasingly less interested in pretending it cares about American citizens, or feels any sense of duty toward America as a nation. The Party was never really good at this, but at least it used to make some modest efforts.
As I've written previously, every Democrat thinks their Sacred Agenda is far more important than any vestigial sense of duty they might feel toward the American people. There is no "American people" to them, just groups of favored constituents and despised enemies.
America isn't really a legitimate nation under Dem ideology, which frees them of feeling any sense of responsibility to the country as a whole, or any weight of tradition that might interfere with their quest for power. They see not one nation under God, but the Balkans.
Read 14 tweets
Jan 19
This once again has me thinking about how everything went nuts in American youth culture during the Great Anti-Bullying Crusade, which was really more about the Left studying and adopting classic bully tactics to impose its ideology on vulnerable young people.
One element of the growing social discontent in America today is that you have an entirely feminized Mean Girls ruling class wielding increasing levels of compulsive force to impose its ideology on an essentially masculine middle and lower class.
It's like those Middle Eastern countries where a Shiite minority rules over a restless Sunni population, or vice versa. Centralized power has grown to totalitarian levels, and it's concentrated in the hands of a political elite that shares nothing of the majority's worldview.
Read 11 tweets

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