By Stephen Macaulay

One of the things that Democrats in support of the candidacy of Kamala Harris are doing is to refer to Donald Trump and his sidekick JD Vance as being or of having beliefs or notions that are, vis-à-vis the people who are located within bigger part of the bell-shaped curve, “weird.”

Strange. Odd. Out of step.

Let’s take a portion of a Trump stump speech theme, something he has said on more than one occasion, so it is not like nitpicking out of context.

Allegedly, Trump visited a recreational boat manufacturer in South Carolina.

Trump said he was told by someone at the company that “They” — and as “They” are not identified, it must be the Feds, because the governor of South Carolina is a Republican and legislative assembly is dominated by Republicans — “want us to make all electric boats.”

Let’s let that go. There is no proposed legislation for that. But as electric vehicles are seen by Trump as being related to environmental issues, and as he seemingly thinks environmental concerns are irrelevant, it is good for his brand to use this fantasy.

Now, let’s go full Trump:

“He [the person at the boat company] said ‘The problem is the boat is so heavy it can’t float.’

“I said, that sounds like a problem.”

Fair point. A boat that can’t float isn’t exactly useful. But there are electric boats. And they do float.

Someone might point out to Trump that the Boeing 757 he uses weighs over 255,000 pounds — and it flies!

To continue:

“He said, ‘Also, it can’t go fast because of the weight’ and they want to now have a 50 mile or a 70 mile radius. You have to go out 70 miles before you can really start the boat up, and you go out at two knots. That’s essentially almost like two miles an hour.

“I say, ‘How long does it take you to get out there?’

“’Many hours. And then you’re allowed to go around for 10 minutes, but you have to come back because the batteries only last for a very short period of time.’”

Now that is certainly too tangled to figure out. You have to go 70 miles before you can accelerate the boat, but 70 miles is the limit the boat can travel? And it takes “many hours” to “go around for 10 minutes”?

Even if this was the case, would anyone buy the boat?

Trump:

“So I said, ‘Let me ask you a question.’

“And he said, ‘Nobody ever asked this question.’”

Probably because it is a nonsensical question. But Trump continued:

“And it must be because of MIT. My relationship to MIT. Very smart. He goes. I say, ‘What would happen if the boat sank from its weight? And you’re in the boat and you have this tremendously powerful battery, and the battery is now underwater, and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there.’

“By the way, a lot of shark attacks lately. You notice that? A lot of shark.”

In case you’re wondering: Trump had an uncle who was a professor at MIT. The uncle died in 1985. Just imagine if he played Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Trump goes into a shark-attack digression:

“I watch some guys justifying it today. ‘Well, they weren’t really that angry. They bit off the young lady’s leg because of the fact that they were, they were not hungry, but they misunderstood what, who she was.’

“These people are crazy. He said ‘There’s no problem with sharks. They just didn’t really understand a young woman swimming,’ — no, really got decimated and other people too, a lot of shark attacks.”

Ah, yes. . . .

Anyway, back to that electric boat:

“I said, ‘So there’s a shark 10 yards away from the boat, 10 yards or here. Do I get electrocuted? If the boat is sinking, water goes over the battery, the boat is sinking. Do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted? Or do I jump over by the shark and not get electrocuted?’

“Because I will tell you, he didn’t know the answer. He said, ‘You know, nobody’s ever asked me that question.’

“I said, ‘I think it’s a good question. I think there’s a lot of electric current coming through that water.’

“But you know what I’d do if there was a shark or you get electrocuted? I’ll take electrocution every single time. I’m not getting near the shark!”

Now let’s realize this is at a political rally. Presumably an event where he is trying to persuade people to vote for him.

So what does he do?

Does he explain what his goals to improve the lots of those listing are? Does he work to inspire them with images of a brighter future?

No, he talks about electric boats with bizarre capabilities, about how smart he thinks he is, and about sharks.

Again, while this was from a speech in Las Vegas it was not the only time he brought up sharks. Clearly the man has some issues vis-à-vis electricity, sharks and other things people don’t really spend a whole lot of time thinking about. And note how he raises the sinking boat and hungry sharks to a level of catastrophe, just like things he otherwise gets worked up about: the unfortunate situation at the border is an “invasion.” (The people who are getting over the border are killing innocent Americans, presumably after they’ve brought over kilos of fentanyl. Odds are, more of them are taking tremendously tough jobs like picking fruit in the Central Valley and the only thing they’ve brought over are the clothes on their backs.*)

And we could go into some of the things that Vance has said that are out of the mainstream of thinking (e.g., adults with children should have a number of votes predicated on their progeny, which, in effect, makes offspring and spouses somewhat, well, not what one would ordinarily consider them as being for a certain segment of the populus.)

So calling Trump and Vance “weird” is arguably definitional.

But Tom Friedman, in The New York Times, interprets that in another way:

“It is now a truism that if Democrats have any hope of carrying key swing states and overcoming Trump’s advantages in the Electoral College, they have to break through to white, working-class, non-college-educated men and women, who, if they have one thing in common, feel denigrated and humiliated by Democratic, liberal, college-educated elites. They hate the people who hate Trump more than they care about any Trump policies. Therefore, the dumbest message Democrats could seize on right now is to further humiliate them as ‘weird.’”

No, that is the dumbest interpretation of what is going on.

Electric boats, sharks, cat ladies, and things like that discussed in the context of politics are weird.

And the “white, working-class, non-college-educated men and women” Friedman refers to are not being called “weird.” Trump and Vance are.

These men and women were undoubtedly raised by parents and teachers who taught them things about what’s right and wrong, good and bad, sensical and nonsensical. 

To finally have people point out that what Trump often says (think of all of the crazy things he said about COVID or about the “love letters” between him and the leader of a country that President George W. Bush, a Republican, identified as being part of the Axis of Evil) is outside the norm. Weird.

Some people are not going to be moved no matter how Trump and Vance are described.

But those who can be moved, those who have had doubts but not certainty, may see the fundamental weirdness at play and when it is being called out and identified by others, it may have an effect on their willingness to acknowledge what they fundamentally know. (And speaking of things fundamental in the Judeo-Christian society, presumably a certain number of the people who Friedman describes attended Christian services while growing up and are aware of the Ten Commandments, including the first three which are: “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall make no idols. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” and Trump saying of himself back in 2019, “I am the chosen one” goes over the line Commandments-wise, again, outside the norm). 

Referring to Trump and Vance as weird while providing instances of their weirdness doesn’t serve to humiliate anyone other than the people involved.

In Friedman’s logic, calling Trump “old and weird” would be offensive to AARP members, not something that is mainly objectively measurable.

==

*(This is not to excuse illegal immigration in any way. But it does bring to mind one of the ways to at least minimize the number of people coming over. These people are, to a large degree, coming from another country because they believe there is a better opportunity for them in the U.S., with “opportunity” equaling “job.” So why not resurrect the idea that employers on this side of the border must establish electronic records for each and every employee on their staff and if there are discrepancies found — and this can be done by random checks — then they pay huge penalties and the illegally employed individual is sent back. By cutting demand (i.e., employers not interested in hiring illegals), the supply will be reduced.)

Macaulay is pundit-at-large.

Could There be Any Reasonable Explanation?

Whether you are a never-Trumper conservative worried you might not be able to vote again if the ex-president wins this November’s presidential election, or you are pro-MAGA and believe the reaction to his comments to the Believers’ Summit hosted by Turning Point Action, in West Palm Beach, Florida are being overplayed, this is your column.

Click on the headline above and go to the Comment section in the column, or email editors@thehustings.news and indicate your political leanings (regardless of your opinion on this specific subject) in the subject line.

If you lean left – whether Trump’s comments worry you or not – please see the left column on this page. You may enter your comments in the appropriate lines on there after clicking on that headline, “Trump Warns of his Authoritarianism?”