Clinical psychologist explains the power of calling Republicans 'weird'

Democratic leaders began calling Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), "weird" for some of their political ideas and comments they've made about women and people of color. One clinical psychologist explained that the word has a lot more impact than one would think.

Dr. Carl Hindy, Ph.D., HSP posted in a thread on X that the power of using phrases like "that's weird" or "that's just weird" is that it conveys, "That's just not worth of discussion."

"Therein is the magic," said Hindy. "With Trump it means not allowing him to define the discussion or make the rules. It stops the Dems from chasing him down his rabbit hole. That seems to infuriate Trump, who’s now escalating to pull them back into arguments and to continue to define the game."

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Hindy thinks that it ultimately has a greater impact on the person who says it, by allowing that person "to dismiss the matter more easily."

He wondered where it leads from there.

"It seems like it would be a useful CBT/type intervention for ourselves at times," he said, referencing cognitive behavior therapy. "In other aspects of our lives: a self-cueing to 'just let it go by.'"

Rhetoric expert and professor Jennifer Mercieca referred to the Friday morning Axios report that purported to reveal the real reason Trump delayed walking out on stage at the National Association of Black Journalists. According to the piece, Trump was furious that he would be fact-checked in real-time.

Mercieca explained that Trump wants to have the definitive word on everything.

"Remember when I explained that, like all authoritarians, Trump is 'cognitively irresponsible,'" she posted on Friday. "He never wants to be questioned or have to give good information. He would rather 'because I said so' be the end of any conversation."

So, as Hindy explained, shutting Trump down with "that's weird" eliminates his power to end the conversation on his terms.