‘Donald Trump is losing his marbles,’ former Congressman and Republican Adam Kinzinger said

Republicans are concerned that party leader Donald Trump is having a “public nervous breakdown” after he made a series of offensive outbursts about Vice President Kamala Harris as he slips behind her in the polls.

The former president has made a number of  insulting personal attacks against his Democratic rival since she moved to the top of the ticket. Last week, Trump questioned Harris’s racial identity  at the National Association of Black Journalists conference. Over the weekend, he accused Harris of having a “low IQ.”

New polls indicate Trump is slipping behind the vice president in the popular vote and races are tightening in battleground states.

“This is what you would call a public nervous breakdown,” Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former Trump state department appointee, told Politico.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    3 months ago

    and serve no real purpose other than distortion.

    Dude, I just showed you that Jesse Watters devoted airtime to getting upset about it. So that’s demonstrably untrue.

    • borf@lemmynsfw.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      3 months ago

      Also, it creates social media engagement much like this thread, so that whether or not somebody believes the truth (that JD personally documented the experience of losing his virginity to a musty piece of furniture) they’re still engaging with the idea the whole time they read and respond. That’s called memetic fitness.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        3 months ago

        And every moment spent by Republicans defending Vance against this rumor is a moment not spent on campaigning for Trump.

    • Optional@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      3 months ago

      I hear what expr is saying though - several Democratic-voting people I know actually thought it was real in the initial scrum of the meme. That part I’m not so big on. Everyone going wink-wink-nudge dude fucked a couch is fine.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        What difference does it make if they think it’s real? I don’t see how that makes a difference in the grand scheme of things. People believe much sillier things that aren’t true all the time.

        • Optional@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          3 months ago

          I’d prefer my own political party to believe truthful things. Despite the wild success the reverse has shown in other parties.

          Call it a quirk.

          • ChadCMulligan@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            3 months ago

            Well, put your mind at ease. The Democratic Party doesn’t think jd Vance fucked a couch.

            • Optional@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              3 months ago

              Which members? Because 100% for sure some of them believe it. When I heard it “was in the first edition of the book” part I was sorely tempted myself.

              It’s a trifle. Not important, and barely a whisper of a shadow of the simplest lie the republiQans tell on an hourly basis. But for the record, there absolutely are Democrats voting for Kamala that believe it to be true. That’s just how media works. Especially when it’s so plausible.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            3 months ago

            Well then wake me up when they stop deifying JFK. Otherwise I’m not too concerned about a couch-fucking rumor.

            • Optional@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              3 months ago

              When Democrats stop deifying JFK?

              Well, I guess you’d have to specify. For one thing that was six decades ago.

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                3 months ago

                And yet Democrats believe all sorts of myths about him anyway. And ignore things like how he stalled civil rights legislation and got the U.S. into Vietnam.

                • Optional@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  3 months ago

                  I suppose some do, but no one’s actively promoting that. Are they? The record is pretty clear by all accounts.

                  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    0
                    ·
                    3 months ago

                    If the record was clear, people wouldn’t still be talking about Kennedy when they talk about civil rights. And yet they do. All the time. Actively.

                    I’m not sure why you don’t think politicians reach back to their predecessors and talk about how amazing they were when it constantly happens. With Democrats, it’s Kennedy. With Republicans, it’s Reagan.