Even so devoted a bootlicker as Senator Lindsey Graham declared the debate a “disaster” for the ex-president.

Donald Trump is so feral and narcissistic, so unrestrained and so outside the norm of American politics, that he’s difficult to debate. It’s disorienting. Very few people have been able to stand up to him without being pulled into the muck. In the past, even when he lost debates on points, he dominated his opponents.

But on a Tuesday night in Philadelphia, Kamala Harris cracked the code.

  • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    2 months ago

    The issue is, you’re using a disability as a weapon. You’re saying “it’s bad to be retarded. You’re retarded. Therefore you’re bad.” The very act of using that term as an insult necessarily insults all people who are themselves medically retarded. In short, if being retarded wasn’t a bad thing, why would you use it as an insult?

    • RavenFellBlade@startrek.website
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 months ago

      I can tell you from experience that I’d rather spend my time in the company of special needs people than Conservatives. Most of the special needs people I’ve worked with are some of the kindest and most compassionate people I know, while Conservatives seem to have built their entire ideology around having the compassion and empathy of a sociopath.

    • lurch (he/him)@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      One can certainly see it that way, but what I meant was: “There are people who think a bit slower and then there is what this guy just did. Only the latter action is retarded.”

      • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 months ago

        I can see that as a legitimate intent. Unfortunately, intent is often hard to convey, without like, what, 4 posts worth of comments on a social media thread? I don’t really care about the word myself. I just wanted to highlight how, even without malicious intent, you can end up hurting someone you don’t want to.