Chasing red herrings (eating cats and assassination attempts) is killing us...

[PeaceWave]

For the last week, 95% of the posts here have been chasing one red herring or another. I find this extremely troubling. Democrats are wasting a tremendous amount of their time and attention on this crap. And, make no mistake, Donald Trump LOVES his red herrings. They distract from the fact that we are currently BEHIND in four of the seven swing states and barely clinging to a lead in the other three. That, despite the fact that the campaign has made zero errors while Trump's campaign has shot itself in the foot on multiple occasions. Unless we get ourselves back on focus, Democrats are staring at a very real chance of doing what we've become very good at - winning the popular vote but losing the damn election. Am I the only one seeing what is happening here?

[B.See]

1. No, you aren't.

[pat_k]

2. Repost: If you want to disarm trump, stop giving him the gift of our attention.

Roy Cohn taught trump well (link)

. . .
. . Cohn imparted an M.O. that’s been on searing display throughout Trump’s ascent, his divisive, captivating campaign, and his fraught, unprecedented presidency. Deflect and distract, never give in, never admit fault, lie and attack, lie and attack, publicity no matter what, win no matter what, all underpinned by a deep, prove-me-wrong belief in the power of chaos and fear.
. . .

Trump and his acolytes want us to be immersed in his horror show. And over, and over, and over, we oblige. If we break away, they do something more outrageous to drag us back.

And when we spend time "spreading the word" about how horrible he is, we are, once again, immersed in his shit.

Time spent denouncing him is NOT PRODUCTIVE. It crushes hope and joy and thus immobilizes. It suppresses the will to take positive action. When we are overwhelmed by his shit, we lose ourselves. When we feel like screaming "how can 'they' not see this?" we are on road to cynicism and hopelessness; we are on the road to feeling powerless. It saps us.

His people are his people. For now, just let them bask in their own horrible little world. He's basically at both his ceiling and his floor. Now it is all about turning out our voters. That's it. That's our job. We need all our hope, enthusiasm, and energy to get it done.

The most productive thing those who oppose trump can do is to ignore the man and his acolytes -- truly ignore them as the pathetic creatures they are. I would be happy if we didn't even put his mug in our ads.

Whatever the latest bit of insanity, dismiss it as the same old shit without comment. Only that way do we disarm him. Find a hopeful speech. Feed our own sense of our power through action or inspiring ourselves with books like "Lobbying for Change: Find Your Voice to Create a Better Society" by Alberto Alemanno. Find the things that inspire you -- simple things.

Resisting the efforts to turn our attention from hope and action to the horrors of the trump show is perhaps our most difficult, but important, task. Just as a meditator chooses, over and over again, to turn their attention back to the breath when attention is pulled elsewhere, we each need to find ways to turn our attention back to hope and action when we find ourselves pulled into the latest outrage.

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No, you aren't the only one. Original here.

[Ocelot II]

3. Why do you think these events are red herrings?

These are real things that really happened. The repeated accusations by Vance and Trump that Haitians are eating pets and by implication that they are strange, bad, dangerous people who don't belong there, have caused bomb threats and school closings, and Haitians are afraid to send their kids to school. The assassination non-attempt is another thing that is significant: Some nutter was lurking in the shrubbery with a gun that he shouldn't have had. The GOP is trying to turn it around and blame Harris/Biden/Walz for inciting violence, but the incitement of violence while refusing to regulate guns is a GOP thing. And it's important. We are very focused, and we are quite capable of focusing on more than one thing at a time. I find it a bit insulting to be accused of being distracted just because I note and comment on things that are actually happening.

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. I'm not worried

While a few folks on the internet were distracted by whatever shiny object the media has become fixated upon, thousands and thousands of Harris campaign staffers and volunteers were calling and knocking on doors, registering voters and helping folks create a plan to get to the polls.

Starting later this week, these same folks will be starting the GOTV efforts in the early voting states.

All of this will take place while some folks on the internet are wringing their hands bemoaning the fact that other folks on the internet are distracted by the wrong things, and not paying enough attention to the right things on the internet.

Discussion topics in the far flung corners of the internet don’t necessarily correlate with what’s important in people’s daily lives, and what motivates them to vote.

[emulatorloo]

5. Steve Bannon: "flood the zone with shit." That's what's behind all this Trump campaign propaganda

[Persondem]

6. I don't see it that way

I see the events you mentioned as just more of the sickening chaos that follows The Felon. I also think that most of the country is extremely friggin' tired of this sort of nonsense. What would hurt us is if suddenly he and JD started talking like serious potential leaders and put aside the crazy @$$ rhetoric for the next 40 days.