The Power Of The Image

Remember Fani Willis? Seems like years ago, but just last January, the Georgia racketeering case, according to CNN,was "key",

because as a state case, it’s not something that could be dismissed through a presidential pardon, which applies only to federal matters. Trump’s lawyers have long considered this case the most significant legal threat given the jury pool and the fact that it is beyond pardon powers.

Within weeks of that assessment, that "most significant legal threat" had disintegrated amid jokes about Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs. This is just one example of Trump's extrordinary combination of luck and deftness that's driven his campaign, especially his ability to exploit subliminal cues. This is a factor with the insertion of Kamala Harris into the race that's so far completely eluded commentators.

Let's take the latest Democrat talking point that emerged over the weekend, which seems to have come simultaneously from so many different people that it must be coordinated, Trump and JD Vance are "weird":

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz continued making his increasingly popular argument that Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, are “very weird.” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker echoed Walz . . . .

“Listen to the guy. He's talking about Hannibal Lecter and shocking sharks and just whatever crazy thing pops into his mind,” Walz said of Trump on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Have you ever seen the guy laugh? That seems very weird to me, that an adult can go through six and a half years of being in the public eye — if he has laughed, it's at someone, not with someone — that is weird behavior, and I don't think you call it anything else.”

Walz, a progressive former congressman serving in his second term as governor in Minnesota, made waves last week when he said of Republicans in another TV appearance “these guys are just weird” and that Trump and Vance seem like they are running for “He-Man Women Haters Club” of “The Little Rascals” fame.

On MSNBC, Jen Psaki called Vance Trump's "weirdo running mate". But what on earth makes Vance a weirdo? He's a successful straight white guy with a stable marriage and kids? That kinda turns the whole definition of weirdo upside down. But let's look at what's weird, for instance, Second Dude Doug Emhoff's purported family arrangement:

The ex-wife of second gentleman Doug Emhoff on Wednesday defended Vice President Kamala Harris against sexist criticisms about her lack of biological children, calling them “baseless” and expressing her gratitude for the presumptive Democratic nominee.

“These are baseless attacks. For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I,” Kerstin Emhoff said in a statement first provided to CNN. “She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.”

Are there boundaries here, or not? What kind of "family" is this? And that takes us back to that weird smooch at last year's State of the Union:

What's up with all this extended family stuff, anyhow? Talk about weird:

Trump doesn't even need to say a word, but likely he will: