Post

It's just that Republicans never met a child rapist they didn't fall fully behind.

This, of course, competes very handsomely with the alternative explanations.

Panic

or maybe mom is just a big donor ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Lack of shame and belief that their supporters are dumb.

This is like if Trump ran on GHBTP in the last month of 2016 He loses even with the Clinton letter if he does that

Heckuva job, Brownie! Keep up the good work!

In a cult, when the leader speaks, the members don't think. They just obey.

The mods of /r/conservative are removing any posts that even mentions the ad. If those chuds can see how toxic this brand is for Rs, I can't comprehend how the pols don't

It's reminding me of the Access Hollywood tape - like WE all see it's awful but somehow maybe there's a chunk of people who are responding to it, or aren't actively repulsed by it?

They honestly think that everyone secretly believes as they do.

Savvy is cucked, prop.

He thought Epstein was evil because he "stole the help." I don't think he understands how normal people feel.

Children lying about getting raped is an idea that undergirds their entire existence and their ability to stay free and unaccountable. Defending the idea that children lie about adults raping them is the whole ball game.

I honestly still haven't been able to bring myself to believe Ohio wil make the right choice, as someone whon grew up there most of my life. Maybe they're just betting the OH electorate think it's good and cool. Maybe they turn out to be right.

Now do I think they are actively implementing this as a strategy? 😬 I think with Trump it happens on a very primal self-preservation level and it’s just what he does instinctively

In this worldview, Acton's mom marrying a child molester was poor judgment, but Acton holding her mother's choice of husbands against her makes her an ungrateful daughter, which is far worse.

Double down, all the way dowwnnnn

They are the party of abusers because they think it makes them look powerful.

They are ideological rapists and simply agree with the abuse of children

i forget who suggested this first, but you really can't rule out that they've made a big polymarket bet against themselves and now desperately want to lose. lol

Have you considered that R's are genuinely terrible people?

They're stuck, because they're not allowed to imply that a parent could make a bad decision regarding a child, because their entire worldview revolves around parents owning their children.

I feel like society has reached a saturation point of willful ignorance though. Cornell is fresh in everyone's minds. If there a tipping point for ignoring and tolerating "locker room talk" I think it's close.

Daddy Trump gets what he wants, rationality notwithstanding.

This

Perhaps it’s some kind of Hail Mary for them. If they can make the race inconceivably cruel to the candidate, maybe, just maybe, the candidate will just quit.

"shes unstable due to this" is probaly the line they are taking...oh look another lying woman claiming stuff that didnt happen to get ahead etc....... I bet next will be Amy are you in treatment for this come clean now.

I think the answer is that they're legitimately incredibly stupid and we just haven't fully seen how stupid they are. A lot of people seem to have a mental model of politics that doesn't allow them to believe that people with intelligence that low can get that far and I think that's wrong.

Rape, especially child rape, is a winning issue for Republicans. Additionally insulting attacking disparaging a liberal women child rape victim is a 100% turnout vote getter.

I don’t see any logical way this wins voters

Most of the normal R’s immediately distanced themselves, so

There are very few people Trump has consistently and sincerely supported over his long career but “dictators” and “white guys who rape children” are in that select club

This is how Those People are going to counter the Epstein Files release: DARVO. They will use “oppo” on the victims in ways that will make this seem quaint and docile. Victim crushing, not victim blaming. We have not reached the depths of their depravity.

You assume the the handlers still have control of Trump here

I think they just have terrible instincts because they never face consequences for their actions

Absolutely not the important thing here, but reading him say '"Artificial" News' instead of his usual "Fake News" makes me wonder if the "artificial" in "artificial intelligence" reads as "fake" in his head, so that's why he's all in on "SI".

It's actually baffling. The only thing I can come up with is that they have literally run out of incompetent quisling bootlickers and so have to try to preserve the ones they have left. Supply and demand.

This is the apotheosis of vice signaling

The "grab em by the pussy" tape was also "obviously terrible"... Maybe we intellectual libs should just admit that lots of voters are um... ya know... not good.

I mean, Trump is a child rapist too, this is kind of their thing

Have to keep in mind that we have no real idea what Trump’s information environment is, other than that it’s *really fucking weird*, and certainly skewed by Natalie. How aware is he of the actual reactions to the ad? How aware is he of the actual content? Also too, he’s a malignant piece of shit.

I just assumed theyd moved on from betting on the war they started in Iran to rigging the bet on midterms

What's up is that, at bottom, Trump doesn't think what Cledith Arthur did is that bad

It may be too simplistic of an explanation but this is very much a party of, for, and by abusers. And they need a hail mary in the race so they may figure this gets them the attention they want and they can bang pots and pans together to distract from what the supposed "lies" were about.

Plus it stole all the attention. Now the entire race is about whether or not you support an adult’s “Right to Rape.” It’s bonkers.

They have a deep emotional commitment to the idea that a girl who speaks up about being sexually abuse must be a liar.

& animal abuser!

even stephen miller is a little disgusted (I made this up and it’s probably wrong)

They like SA and their power requires absolute loyalty and doubling down when someone objects to your immorality.

I think Trump like might only have his Id left mentally, which would naturally defend a pedophile.

Fits the shape of the 'progressives are ungrateful children' that they're attracted to like catnip. Clearly many of the MAGA crowd are comfortable with treating claims about the politicians they like with a criticality that would be be described as 'wish fulfillment.'

Well, specifically relevant to this case is also the fact that they're pedophiles.

That really only works for close elections.

It’s core to their identity and they take it personally that people are coming at Vivek for it.

I mean, this just seems like a slightly removed version of siding with the abuser and not believing the victim. If there’s anything surprising about it, it’s that they think it’s removed enough to say it without repercussions.

I think it’s because most people literally cannot believe that any human would be so evil and rotten as to lie about child rape so they because they reject that hypothesis all that remains “well I guess there’s something suspicious about the candidate”

Sir, sir did you know that dumb is spelled with a b? Sir

Guessing it's Twitter Brain, this probably plays well in Vance's bubble.

A CORE belief of conservatism is that children are an extension of the parent, thus property. This of course leads to tons of sex abuse. It also leaves the adults with a deep sense of shame, which they think everyone else is subjected to. See also: purity balls, and teenagers ‘pledging’ to Dad.

What's up is that they're rapists or rapist-cheerleaders and they lack a theory of mind for anyone who isn't.

I don't think this one is complicated, he's mad he lost to E. Jean Carroll.

Professional courtesy

See also the idea that the Trump admin is basically rape as an ideology, in which case it makes a terrible, horrific sort of sense that they would think Acton being raped by her stepfather is a mark against HER, not against her stepfather and mother

I get it, it’s all about their pedo rape culture. They do not have the ability to see this as a reprehensible thing to do.

Cult tactic of making the faithful prove themselves

Think we've reached the hang together stage.

In his mind, every rape accusation is a lie by default, so this really tracks.

It worked for “grab ‘em”

I read the articles in the Columbus Dispatch today. I'd venture "is under water and sinking".

IMO no one in Trump's circle is willing to tell him the truth about the ad. I doubt he even watched it himself

The only thread I can squint and see is they want to blame the Indian guy when everything goes sideways

The common denominator seems to be that he's taking the side of child rape.

Also the guy is in favor of raping children, it’s a through line in his whole life both in politics and before

Yeah we're a couple days in and I'm surprised that they haven't started on "Oh, when Hegseth's mom says he's evil, it's disqualifying; but when Acton's evil mom say she's bad, it isn't? WHICH IS IT, LIBS? CHECKMATE?!?!?!?!"

Didn't seem to hurt Hegseth to have his mom call him an abuser of women. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

They've abandoned any attempt to seem like reasonable people and now they're just full scumfuck trash people

I think the last person casually cosplaying being the worst of humanity for votes has officially been turned. I think they’re all just like this now.

I think Trump likes rapists and is also just not very smart.

It didn't hurt with the Christian Conservatives, and it probably did help polarize the male/female vote so...

Ideological commitment.

It’s a hot market, and it’s only getting hotter

Welp, they’re gunna have to if they want to maintain favor with the Mad King.

And we'll see how much the press challenges him and Vance on their support for child abusers, and how much the Democrats advertise "Remember the party that claimed they were against pedophiles? This is what they really believe" just to annoy the Q-Anons.

As an explanatory model, I don’t think it goes deeper than “Amy Acton is a liar. Even her Mom says so.” Most people don’t dig that deep. It’s a swiftboating.

💯 Acton’s mother is an abuse enabler and abusers need enablers. Republicans, many of whom are abusers and/or enablers themselves, just side with them reflexively.

It lets them say ,"CPS is evil and lying"

Vance complained about Republicans who were “whining” about the ad, so the front isn’t particularly united. They are counting on their base to be outraged and turn out?

A combination of "4channers never back down, never say die." and "We're pot-committed to Vivek, and we really, really need to hold the Ohio governorship for 2028."

They're choosing principle over poll-testing

I mean, it’s the party of rapists

My theory is that Vance came out loudly in defense of the ad because he's the one who pushed Ramaswamy to produce it in the first place. Now they have a tiger by the tail.

This should be carved on their tombstones. This is their life’s legacy

if no one else has shared it yet:

For Trump and the Republicans, there are certain bad-sounding words that they avoid and get shocked over, even though the underlying behavior is fine for them.

The Republican base likes pedophiles.

I wonder if they think this will play like the Kavanaugh support that came out after his accusations. But this is reverse uno, on a 12 year old victim, and a mother who is not a good character witness after choosing her husband over the safety of her children. I don’t think it’s going to work.

They're both Evil. They think everyone else is playing around and just pretending to have any sort of moral aversions. They truly struggle to believe anyone actually feels or thinks differently than their baseline mindset, which is again, Evil.

my pet theory is that they're literally trying to trigger PTSD symptoms or otherwise psychologically torment her, in the hopes that she makes some sort of gaffe or has a crash out. I think vivek's team is that craven

I think Trump just no longer has good political instincts, as evidenced by... well... everything.

It’s definitely this option. She was nearing 50%. This is nutty enough to change the narrative. But the new narrative is this guy is a monster.

bsky.app/profile/lips...