Hillary Clinton attempted to stigmatize Trump supporters in 2016, and that had little success.
Labelling them as "weird" in 2024 hasn't had a lot of success either.
The challenge is that in the highly individualistic US social culture, we currently lack the cohesion to enforce social stigma. "deplorable" and "weird" also lack any visceral bite. They provide an intellectual connection, but without any dopamine.
I disagree. “Weird” had impact as Trump and Vance kept spending an inordinate amount of time attempting to refute it. As such, their message was lost even after the Harris campaign moved on. “Weird” also doesn’t have the same negative impact as “deplorable”—it was a smart move (“weird” is a plus/minus while “deplorable” is just a minus).
What hurt Trump is a) attempting to refute being “weird” made him look weirder b) his obsession to NOT look weird (fellatio with a mic?)