Nicholas Grossman
"Deplorable" is not a word most people use, and it punched down at millions of voters. "Weird" is something people regularly say. Directing it at a vice presidential nominee and other public figures is punching up. Whether you think either is merited or not, they're different.
Timur Kuran
Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” quip probably caused her the election by energizing Republican voters. The coordinated campaign to treat Vance as “weird” may have the same effect. It strikes me as a misguided strategy designed by people living in a progressive bubble.