Let's Go Vermin -- I saw this on a T-shirt...

[LeftyLucie]

Should we embrace the fuckwad's terminology and thus try to defuse its impact? I remember one of my eighth grade students in 2016 calling herself an "adorable deplorable," and it made me want to puke. Or should we refuse to even acknowledge fuckwad's disparagement? Personally I wish the obesity in orange would simply keel over with a stroke. I would sleep better.

[yardwork]

1. I like it!

It made me laugh. It calls attention to Trump's language.

[czarjak]

2. Context. Words matter.

Was what Rushbo would've said. And he did. They never stutter.

[Silent Type]

3. Definitely agree with your next to last sentence. However, if I were young, "Vermin" sounds like a good band name.

[RockRaven]

4. I can't tell you hardly anything about the band other than that they exist, but...

There is a band called The Vermin.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vermin

[Silent Type]

5. Thanks, probably won't check them out. Sadly, I was young long before Vermin started in 1984.

[Deuxcents]

6. I'm all for using it to make a new meaning for it to help our cause.

For example, what we did with Brandon, woke. I have a “roe, roe, roe your vote” tshit and just ordered a “I’ll trade racists for refugees” tshirt. I don’t think we should hide from words but we could let the words work for us and have some fun with it.

[COL Mustard]

10. It's like embracing the whole

“Brandon” thing. Dark Brandon is a wonderful comeback, and look at how well he’s done!

Embrace the Vermin! Do it with humor!

[SmittyWerben]

7. For the T-shirt:

A rat wearing sunglasses with a "Let's go vermin" in an arch over the top, with "Dark Vermin" underneath. Takes on the repubs refusal to say Democratic party because their small brains like the way "democ rat" sounds and plays on the genius Dark Branden meme.

[canetoad]

8. This is kinda begging

To have something done with it.

[trusty elf]

9. ...

[calimary]

11. Get the bug spray.

[Layzeebeaver]

12. Let's go Vermin "Supreme"?

Nothing wrong with that.

[orleans]

13. hitler used used the word vermin to describe political opponents

putting that on a t-shirt is like giving a shout-out to hitler.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/13/how-trumps-rhetoric-compares-hitlers/

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/1213746885/trump-vermin-hitler-immigration-authoritarian-republican-primary

[bdamomma]

18. Exactly

we have enough neo-Nazis in the US.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

14. Proud to be called Vermin

[LuckyCharms]

15. I think we should continue to address serious issues and also

point out the absurdity of the other side.

Embracing a term like "vermin" reminds me of the right embracing the term "deplorable", as you note in your OP.

I think Dems should stay away from mirroring the reactions of the other side.

Embracing weird and childish insults would just drag the Dems down a rabbit hole.

However, I think that vocally drawing a comparison between trump and hitler is valid.

[bdamomma]

17. I would diffuse this term

"vermin" all together this term did not have the best connotation to many people who were lost during the holocaust. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".

This saying should be advertised in a commercial.