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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 22, 2024

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Normalizing Donald Trump.

I just watched this video in which golfer Bryson DeChambeau plays best ball with Donald Trump to see if they can shoot under 50 on the short tees in an 18 hole golf course.

First of all, for those people who think Donald Trump sucks at golf, you're wrong and you have TDS. He's an extremely good golfer. Actually, ridiculously good. Multiple times, the duo used his shot over Bryson's. Combined, they shot 22 under par. Even if you think he's literally Hitler, he's extremely good at golf. If you don't think so, it might be worthwhile to examine why you think that. Watch the video and update your priors.

But the bigger CW angle is how a mainstream celebrity (Bryson is maybe the biggest golf player today) played a round with Donald, gave him a lot of respect, and just treated him as a normal, chill dude. And Donald reciprocated in kind. Bryson isn't overtly political and he said he'd be happy to play with Biden (lol) too.

https://x.com/b_dechambeau/status/1815447305467970034

There has been a massive effort to delegitimize Trump as a candidate, to make voting for him beyond the pale even if you mostly agree with his platform. But videos like this completely obliterate those efforts. He becomes human. Maybe if you have 12 piercings and purple hair Trump would seem unappealing in this video. But to a normal person, he just seems like a decent hang who is remarkably, extraordinarily good at golf.

The stigma is no longer there. People are coming out of the closet. And I think when it comes down to it, Trump is just way cooler than Kamala, even if he's old. It's said that the more charismatic candidate always wins. In 2020, there were some unique circumstances that made this not true. But if the Democrats cannot maintain the cordon sanitaire around Trump, it's over. He's just too likeable.

I suspect you live in an extremely Trump-biased media bubble. In my Kamala-biased media bubble vibes are at an all time high and people are convinced that JD Vance is going to get fired and are non-stop fucking a couch memes. Both of us are too online to evaluate how any of this plays with normies.

That's a very interesting point you're making, though I think it made more sense in the other thread than here, and repeating it makes me think this is itself some sort of a psyop... But anyway, yeah, I think back in 2016 it was easier to stick your figer in the air, and tell which way the wind was blowing, even with all the aglorithms and social media bubbles. Today's Internet is so fake it feels like you never know what is real, and what is someone's marketing campaign.

Wait... @Tomato, I just reread that other thread, it doesn't make any sense over there either. Is "vibes are at an all time high" something y'all are trying meme into existence*? If so can you stop doing it here? In my book, this makes you no better then that dude who's spamming AmRen links through "criticizing white nationalism".

EDIT: *) Nevermind, I re-checked the results of that search and only the first one is about Kamala. Still, am I the only one who find the whole "we're all in bubbles, the vibes in my bubble are at an all time high" somewhat hamfisted into either thread?

Repeating an idea in multiple comments is common because people will naturally want to say the same thing multiple times if they believe it, it does not imply some kind of deliberate effort to shift opinion.

I guess I'm going full-schizo, but it just looked weird to me.

Or because I didn't get traction on it the first time, so I try it again hoping to spark the discussion I want. I, like most commenters, remain fairly sure I have the most brilliant idea underneath.