Trump team gambles on new ground game: "BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL."

[dalton99a]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/08/03/trump-allies-ground-game/

https://archive.ph/vzm3D

Trump team gambles on new ground game capitalizing on loosened rules
The campaign is joining forces with outside groups such as Turning Point Action after regulators cleared the way for more coordination. But it comes with the risk of untested outfits duplicating efforts or working at cross purposes.
By Isaac Arnsdorf and Josh Dawsey
August 3, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

...

With fewer than 100 days left before the election, local GOP officials in battleground states have raised alarms about the scant presence of Trump campaign field staff. For the large armies of paid and volunteer door-knockers and canvassers that typically drive turnout in presidential elections, the campaign is largely relying on outside groups such as America First Works, America PAC and Turning Point Action.

At a Turning Point Action office in Waukesha, Wis., in June, about three dozen newly hired full-time community organizers got together with poster boards and scented markers to brainstorm techniques to meet their targeted neighbors. They were each assigned a few hundred registered Republicans who didn’t vote in recent presidential elections, aiming to turn them out for Trump.

[Turning Point Action chief operating officer Tyler] Bowyer instructed the organizers not to come on too strong by showing up with MAGA hats and fliers. Instead, they should research their marks and start reaching out through Facebook groups, community events, or neighborly gestures such as recommending plumbers or harp teachers. They could even arrange seemingly chance encounters on coffee runs or dog walks.

As one slide from the training implored: “BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL.”

...

[Walleye]

1. Having to try hard to be normal, that's weird

[dalton99a]

2. +1. "Ditch the stupid hat and the Fuck Biden T-shirt. Leave your AR-15 in the car"

[Ocelot II]

3. How weird is it that they have to be told to be normal?

[ananda]

12. And the next question is: do they know how?

???

[bluesbassman]

4. Trying to be something you're not is always a recipe for disaster.

This’ll be no exception.

[displacedvermoter]

5. "researching their marks"

Isn't that what grifters do when setting up a con operation?

Oh yeah...

[HowlingWulf]

6. Unfortunately, many of these poor creatures are not capable of passing for normal.

I've encountered some really, really troubled people in my life who could hide their underlying issues pretty well, at least until some extraordinary stress made their façade crack. Then there are the ones who are so inherently, structurally disordered that concealment is impossible. The current crop of Republicans belong to this latter group.

[tanyev]

11. And neither is their candidate.

[Kid Berwyn]

7. That's weird!

When one has to “act normal” to “look normal” means one is “not normal,” one’s weird.

[Buns_of_Fire]

8. Ha. Good luck with that. nt

[Takket]

9. good luck with that

[Hugin]

10. I'm not even going to ask what the "scented markers" is all about.

[Buns_of_Fire]

13. "Scented markers" doesn't sound normal to me. Sounds weird. nt

[EYESORE 9001]

14. It's a time-tested practice

Mostly employed by mustelids

[Demobrat]

15. That's like telling a fish to be a bird.

If they could pass as normal they wouldn’t be maggots.

[CrispyQ]

16. Harp teachers? That sounds pretty elitist to me. -nt

[Fla Dem]

17. He has been acting normal. This is his normal.

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=e6356c902485f8e1&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWIJ0W-FlBEdm2pLkdQoYg_J_OizH2Q:1722783860576&q=trump+angry&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0Aa4sjWe7Rqy32pFwRj0UkWd8nbOJfsBGGB5IQQO6L3J5MIFhvnvU242yFxzEEp3BfblMs7eBu5zPnhtGsrETMyei1dUN8XCdtE6tzYkSMW5je6gJHMbu85xlRfdtmiGtbG_5-M7j0Qa2ukboExRfFBXPJvXYj-6FOuuyicdn8VQNezee_yFBwxH-q-TETjtBNEhwMYyJdEI_rgYSyXDFI4iuEtHg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjl-6KAztuHAxWhHNAFHSqsMkgQtKgLegQIDRAB&biw=1235&bih=555&dpr=1.1

[DFab420]

18. When your cult has become so insular that it has lost the ability

To function in regular situations…