Going low
When Tim Walz’s 17 year old son Gus dared to show he was a human being and broke down crying at the Democratic National Convention, MAGA wingnut Ann Coulter attacked him for it. She posted a photo on “X” of Gus crying, then added the caption, “Talk about weird.” It turns out that Coulter, who makes a living being vile, soon realized that this particular post was too vile — even for her. Her tweet was universally and justly pilloried. She quickly deleted it.
Not before governor, Democratic vice presidential candidate and father Tim Walz had a chance to respond to Coulter’s attack on his son. “Talk about why your fiancés keep leaving you,” he wrote. Walz then inserted a squib about Coulter’s personal life: “Coulter has been engaged several times, but she has never married and has no children.”
When she attacked Gus Walz, Coulter was acting in an obnoxious Trumpian tradition. It turns out that the courageous lad suffers from nonverbal learning disability, or NVLD, which affects a person’s spatial-visual skills. In a 2015 rally, Donald Trump famously (and disgustingly) mocked New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, who suffers from a congenital joint condition. So picking on the disabled is nothing new in MAGA Land.
But Democrats responding to it with zinging rejoinders is. Tim Walz could have taken the usual “offended position” on behalf of his son and disparaged Coulter for daring to attack his disabled child. He certainly had every right to. But he realised that the internet had already dispatched Coulter quite handily for him, thank you very much, and he didn’t need to. What WAS needed was a touch of viciousness in return. A zinger that Coulter will not soon live down.
The age of “when they go low we go high” is now officially over, I think. The proverbial kid gloves have come off. We’re strapping on Everlast Powerlock pro boxing gloves. You think you’re nasty Republicans? Hold our collective beers. What’s more, we’re better at this than you. We’re smarter than you.
We’re laughing at Trump, mocking him, calling him weird. In fact, as Coulter showed, being called “weird” really bugs Republicans. That’s why they keep using it. Republicans could handle being called fascists and racists — they secretly glory in it. But weird? That’s a bridge too far. They can’t handle it. To them, “weird” is nonconforming, nonwhite. It doesn’t square with their anal-retentive, goose-stepping self image. They’re clearly mad about it. So let’s keep using it. Because it’s working.
If Ann Coulter is smart — and there’s no indication that she is — she’ll lay low until after the election. She’ll watch impotently from the sidelines as we similarly take down her personal gods like Trump, JD Vance and other MAGA assholes who have the bad luck to get in our way.
So when they go low, we’re going lower, and we’re going to do it faster, smarter and stronger. We’re better at it. And we’re gonna win. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.