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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   11433 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 6, 2025

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I distinctly remember posters here telling me how great she is. How she brought on the vibe shift, how optimistic everyone is thanks to her, how all the kids are sending each other coconut memes.

Press X to doubt. Harris's online presence was so fake it was pathetic. Not even the usual shills showed any enthusiasm, (ignoring the Eglin Air Force Base glowies on reddit)

I'm yet another commenter who remembers the 107 days very differently wrt to the enthusiasm around Harris by many Dem-leaning posters on this forum. I distinctly remember multiple regular such commenters explicitly talking positively about how different and positive this "vibe shift" was on the ground towards Harris, especially about the "weird" attack that Walz & she were pushing heavily about JD Vance (and conservatives in general).

Of course, this was mocked just as heavily here and in other places. One rather common response I recall was a meme format on /r/stupidpol (subreddit focused on Marxism/socialism/leftism with an explicit disdain and rejection of identity politics) where people would make up fake anecdotes about going to the local "McSchlucks" to hang out with "the boys" where tough blue collar workers were all gushing over how they were a little skeptical about this fancy-schmancy lawyer Harris lady, but after looking a bit deep into her policies and considering the kinds of things Trump has done, they feel like she's really the one that speaks to them, their values, for what's good for their daughters and wives and sisters, etc. Basically the "Man Enough for Harris" advertisement in text form, as parody, before the ad was ever created.

Now, I did fully expect most mainstream Subreddits and news outlets to buy in hook-line-sinker to Harris's message and to push it as pure true believers, and that was indeed what happened, but I admit to being surprised by seeing the sheer volume of that here at the Motte. I consider The Motte good not only for providing a space for people with non-mainstream opinions to present, argue, and discuss their cases, but also for being a space where people with mainstream opinions tend to hold themselves up to higher standards, and seeing this was a disappointment to me that challenged this belief.

but I admit to being surprised by seeing the sheer volume of that here at the Motte.

You're just making stuff up dude.

I was over at my dads house today helping with some household chores. He lives in a very rural area of a very red state. At the end of the work we went to one of the nearby country bars. It’s the kind of place that farmers, truckers, legit cowboy boot wearers and the working class go to unwind with a cold one.

Vice President Harris was on the TV and the local gun store owner said to his auto mechanic (friends since high school),

“You know what? She ain’t so bad. The economy is recovering, nobody’s rioting, and we’re standing up on the world stage again. Can’t believe I’m saying this but Ol’ Oakland Kam’s got my vote this year.”

I looked around and all I saw were heads nodding in agreement. I heard a few calls of “Yes sir” and “Damn Straight” from the men around me. Even saw the lonely ball cap wearing farmer in the corner raise his drink with a nod.

Is this a quote, or an anecdote?

Edited to remove unnecessary antagonism.

To be fair to yourself, the antagonism may not have been entirely unwarranted since I just kinda dropped this without elaborating. Sorry. RoyGBivens is correct, it's a copypasta from shortly after Biden dropped out and Harris took over the nomination.

I intended this to be another example of what 07mk was talking about on /r/stupidpol.

It's a copypasta from July 2024.

Intellectuals are more capable than the hoi polloi of elaborate self-deception. I suspect that at least some of us here are immersed in the New York Times reading, granola-eating, NOVA-commuting segment of the American population where things like seeing Kamela Harris as a viable candidate are in vogue.

Intellectuals are more capable than the hoi polloi of elaborate self-deception.

To get on my favorite tangent, even though I have high skepticism of most social science, I do believe that the best evidence right now indicates that this is true. As such, intellectuals have no excuse for being unaware that they themselves are more susceptible to self-deception than the hoi polloi. And if they choose not to take extra steps - more than they expect a typical layman to take - to guard against the possibility of them deceiving themselves, they are admitting that they prioritize their own biases over truth.

Which is all well and good, but I just wish people who did this would be open about it instead of deceiving others about their embrace of self-deception over truth.

One of the posters here (I think his name is Anti Populist now) posted the Seltzer poll. I, among others, pointed out how absurd the cross sectionals were and how inconsistent it was with prior polls. He kept on ignoring it predicting a Harris victory right up until she lost.

I rubbed his nose in it because when people make predictions on vibes while ignoring the obvious holes they should be reminded to improve their thought processes going forward. He then blocked me. So yeah, people here were gung ho on harris until she lost.

It's hard to remember because for some reason there really was a major loss of memory once Trump was elected. I'm not blaming anyone, and I'm not being sarcastic; it was true. I remember the day before, almost everyone in the Motte lamenting that Harris was going to win, and the day after everyone taking about how Harris sucked and Trump's win was inevitable, and conservatives were in such a strong position in the culture war. I'm not sure how it happened like this, and I don't think it was exclusive to the Motte, either, but I'm not certain about that. But it's a really strange phenomenon.

I think the turning point for conservatives was actually the first assassination attempt, not the election itself.

Maybe. I remember some talk here about how the attempt won Trump the election, but I remember that being short lived, maybe a week or a weekend. I distinctly remember in this forum people being very fatalistic about Harris's victory up until the night of the election.

A significant percentage of people really believed the soft or hard version of the stolen election theory, such that they didn't believe Harris could lose. Similar to how many if not most Eagles fans thought the Chiefs couldn't lose in the super bowl, even when neutral analysts would give them the advantage at every position but kicker and QB. Some percentage of Harris belief was really "the election is fake" belief.

I thought Harris was playing for an honorable second from the assassination on. She didn't manage it.

I dunno, yeah I saw people calling the election the moment it happened, but it sure didn't feel so certain to me.

Harris's online presence was so fake it was pathetic. Not even the usual shills showed any enthusiasm

I agree with the first sentence and disagree with the second. It absolutely was fake, but every left-winger was going along with it.

I suppose they were just hail marying their last and only hope of stopping Trump 2 though. You can easily see she wasn't regarded as a great candidate before she was anointed.

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