MAGAReport for 7/22/2024 - Biden Drops Out, Day 1
The far-right realizes they are in trouble, sinks into conspiracy theories and misogyny
It’s 12 hours since Biden announced he was dropping out of the race. The best description I’ve seen of Republican’s mood is “the dog who caught the car”, and that also applies to the forums I monitor as well. Here’s a quick look at the initial takes from the far-right.
There are two main themes I’m seeing right now:
Concern, conspiracy, and bigotry - “This is not good news for Trump,” wrote one person, a sentiment echoed by dozens of others. They saw Biden as beatable and had well-established lines of attack. Now, most of those lines are gone, and they can see some points of attack (like the candidate being too old) will come back at them. While none come out and say that VP Harris is a candidate against whom Trump looks weaker, they can see that the race is about to turn in a way that undermines his strength.
Their response to that is to slide into the comfort of conspiracy theories. They all believe the election was stolen in 2020 and that the Democrats would try to steal it again in 2024. They reconciled this with the confidence that Trump would win by claiming that Trump was so popular that the left couldn’t possibly get away with another steal. Now, however, they are explaining that, because Harris would be the first woman of color to become President, this will definitely lead to election fraud and probably a Trump loss.
Kamala will win via the steal. First female black President gives the left justification for the steal result - likely over 100 million votes.
Now they have their justification - first female black President - for the steal result. Expect the polls to reflect a big lead for Kamala.
Fuck, Trump was going to win against Biden by a mile, now they're going to put someone in who's good enough to make the steal look believable. 2020 repeat here we come.
Misogyny - I do not shy away from sharing the harsh language and offensive talking points of the right, but I’m not going to give you a list of the things they are saying today. It’s as bad as you can imagine, and then several times worse. I’ve done research specifically on misogynistic hate speech targeted at women in power, Harris included, so I’ll be back later this week with a deeper dive on this.
There is also an undercurrent of light glee. This community loves to mock, deride, and humiliate. They have been directing that at Biden for years and now that he has left the race, they are acting like bullies who finally got their target to cry and run away. It doesn’t matter that Biden’s decision had nothing to do with their memes; some of them are taking a victory lap. This is not one of the main types of response, but it’s visible as an undercurrent among those who have not yet started considering the implications.
Finally, the right has long-been oddly obsessed with the idea Michelle Obama is going to become president. There are plenty of weird theories that she will somehow be installed as the candidate. This obviously comes from a strong reaction against black women, but given that Harris is the presumptive candidate at this point, it’s odd that they still go back to MO.
More tomorrow as this wild ride continues.