History Main / ScareCampaign

*** Related to this is the Senate election with Democratic candidate John Fetterman defeating Republican candidate and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz partly because Fetterman framed Oz as an elitist carpetbagger who actually lived in New Jersey until late 2020[[note]]the carpetbagging accusations were first brought up during the GOP primary. Oz only became the nominee after the initial frontrunner dropped out as he lost a child custody dispute with his ex-wife[[/note]]. The other factor in Fetterman's win despite suffering a stroke was Oz's "crudités" video[[note]]in which Oz accused president Biden of not doing anything about the rising inflation, but Oz actually looked visibly confused about what items are used in crudités, which Fetterman himself stated that Pennsylvanians call them "veggie trays." Oz also mistakenly thought that tequila is included in crudités when grocery stores actually can't sell alcohol in Pennsylvania. Oz also appeared to mix up the Wegmans and Redner's supermarket chains with a non-existent "Wegner's" store, which resulted in a parody Twitter account being set up. Comparisons have also been made to UsefulNotes/MichaelDukakis's infamous tank photo-op[[/note]], which only served to make Oz look out-of-touch with the average voter.
** In the Georgia Senate race, besides his [[OpenMouthInsertFoot propensity for gaffes]], infighting amongst his staffers and past mental health issues, ex-NFL player Herschel Walker was condemned for being a deadbeat father to several of the children he sired with different women despite hypocritically bemoaning about fatherless households and accusations of paying for his ex-girlfriends' abortions despite running on an pro-life platform. As with Oz, Walker was accused of carpetbagging given he lived in Texas until 2021.

* Besides the clusterfuck that were the 1972 Democratic Party primaries[[note]]UsefulNotes/GeorgeMcGovern became the nominee after UsefulNotes/HubertHumphrey and Ed Muskie's campaigns were derailed partially by GOP saboteurs using "dirty tricks" (including a forged "Canuck Letter" to the ''Manchester Union-Leader'' that contained insults about French-Canadians and character attacks on Muskie's wife Jane; for Humphrey, it was his past association with the unpopular Vietnam War) to ensure UsefulNotes/RichardNixon won, while George Wallace suspended his campaign after an assassination attempt that left him paralyzed for the rest of his life. Not helping [=McGovern=] were his VP pick Thomas Eagleton's mental health issues, forcing [=McGovern=] to dump him for Sargent Shriver at the last minute[[/note]], Richard Nixon framed his challenger George [=McGovern=] and the Democrats as the party of "[[DrugsAreBad acid]], [[DraftDodging amnesty]], and [[GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion abortion]]" -- riddled with the worst excesses of the 1960s' counterculture that wanted immorality to run rampant on the rest of the country -- compared to the GOP that supported the GoodOldWays of the flag, faith, and family values. Nixon's "Southern Strategy" to court the conservative "silent majority" of white Northerners and Southerners by appealing to their backlash against the antiwar and the [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement civil rights]] movements also helped him sail to a [[LandslideElection landslide victory]] in the 1972 election.

** During the campaign, Trump stated he won't concede if he lost[[note]]The GOP stopped him from pulling a similar stunt in 2016, who were already upset that he made the same claims during the primaries. Even before politics, Trump has a knack for being a SoreLoser, including one time when he tweeted that the Emmys were rigged against him when he didn't win an award for ''Series/TheApprentice'', something which was mentioned during the 2016 debates. Usually, the loser yields as part of the peaceful transfer of power[[/note]], which did happen when he preemptively declared victory before it was officially called, filed more than ''sixty'' {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s[[note]]which were all dismissed for regurgitating the same voter fraud BS \and caused his attorneys to be sanctioned[[/note]], bullied election officials (including his own Vice President UsefulNotes/MikePence[[note]]After several pro-Trump lawyers claimed there was a loophole that allowed him as presiding officer of the Electoral College to unilaterally reject Biden's electoral votes, legal experts told Pence that this is nonexistent. A variant of this involved self-proclaimed Republican "electors" falsely asserting Trump won those states, which would then cause Pence to claim the swing states sent in "competing" sets of electors. The authentic certificates of ascertainment bore the governor's signature, which are then tallied by Congress every 4 years. While Congress can object to a state's set of electors, these are usually rejected due to lack of support. If the results were rejected, nobody would have had the votes required in the Electoral College, forcing the House to decide who the winner is. Since Republicans controlled 26 state legislatures at the time, Pence would have declared Trump the winner. There have been multiple criminal investigations on why the "electors" would send forged documents[[/note]], then Attorney General Bill Barr, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger[[note]]including a Mafia extortionist-like taped call where Trump tried forcing the latter to illegally fudge the state's results, which has opened another criminal investigation[[/note]]), obstructed the presidential transition, and spread conspiracy theories in an effort to flip the results once Biden was declared the winner. Even though he conceded grudgingly, Trump remains sour and has called for the 2020 election to be redone[[note]]which is also impossible as past elections can't be nullified and even his allies don't want to relitigate it[[/note]].
*** Even before the election, Trump falsely claimed that postal voting[[note]]which is generally used by disabled voters, military personnel, and the elderly. The pandemic forced millions to request absentee ballots for fear of getting sick, but some [=GOPers=] claimed that postal voting is fraud-prone. Ironically, Trump was called out when he ''himself'' voted by mail[[/note]] is fraud-prone and tried to have the Postal Service slow down mail deliveries, though it led to an outcry of medical supplies not being delivered in time and his claims about postal voting were debunked many times. Trump also floated delaying the election, but it was opposed by even the GOP as only Congress can alter the election date.

* Although the GOP pulled a squeaker win in the 2022 House of Representatives elections, their lame results elsewhere was due to the unpopular ''Dobbs'' Supreme Court decision earlier that year, which reversed ''Roe v. Wade'' and stated abortion is not a right. Other reasons why the overhyped "red wave" flopped were ex-president Donald Trump running for 2024 despite his unpopularity and [[SoreLoser fixation]] with losing the 2020 election to Biden, and GOP candidates embracing authoritarianism and bigotry towards minorities and LGBTQ+ people. Not helping matters was Trump's tendency to interject in many races with his handpicked candidates over GOP leaders' objections. That it took Kevin [=McCarthy=] (R-CA) 15 ballots to become the Speaker of the House[[note]]which was only possible when he agreed to several demands made by the far-right Freedom Caucus, who distrusted him. [=McCarthy=] was ousted from his position in October 2023 after far-right Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed a motion to vacate his position because [=McCarthy=] didn't cave into the Freedom Caucus's demands on spending bills to avert a government shutdown. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) became the new speaker later that month, while [=McCarthy=] announced his retirement in December 2023[[/note]] shows the GOP's weak position as they have a razor-thin majority in the House.

*** Related to this is the Senate election with Democratic candidate John Fetterman defeating Republican candidate and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz partly because Fetterman framed Oz as an elitist carpetbagger who actually lived in New Jersey until late 2020[[note]]the carpetbagging accusations were first brought up during the GOP primary. Oz only became the nominee after the initial frontrunner dropped out as he lost a child custody dispute with his ex-wife[[/note]]. The other factor in Fetterman's win despite suffering a stroke was Oz's "crudités" video[[note]]in which Oz accused president Biden of not doing anything about the rising inflation, but Oz actually looked visibly confused about what items are used in crudités, which Fetterman himself stating that Pennsylvanians refer to these as "veggie trays." Oz also mistakenly thought that tequila is included in crudités when grocery stores actually cannot sell alcohol in Pennsylvania. Not only that, Oz appeared to mix up the Wegmans and Redner's supermarket chains with a non-existent "Wegner's" supermarket chain, which resulted in a parody Twitter account being set up. Comparisons have also been made to UsefulNotes/MichaelDukakis's infamous tank photo-op[[/note]], which only served to make Oz look out-of-touch with the average voter.

** In the Georgia Senate race, besides his [[OpenMouthInsertFoot propensity for gaffes]], infighting amongst his staffers and past mental health issues, GOP candidate and ex-NFL player Herschel Walker was called out for not publicly acknowledging having additional children with different women, and being an absentee father to them despite hypocritically bemoaning about fatherless households. Several of his ex-girlfriends also accused him of paying for their abortions despite running on an anti-abortion platform. As with Oz, Walker was bogged down with carpetbagging accusations given he lived in Texas until 2021.

*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNR1iFcvIsY This Biden ad]] mocks Trump's comments on why he does not like having pets, portraying him as a selfish narcissist. The Republican Accountability Project[[note]]part of a faction within the GOP consisting of anti-Trump conservatives and former Trump admin officials who despise Trump for his blatant corruption, overt bigotry and authoritarianism, and poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic[[/note]] ran ads featuring GOP voters who regretted voting for Trump in 2016 and feel he was unfit for the job.

** During the campaign, Trump stated he won't concede if he lost[[note]]The GOP stopped him from pulling a similar stunt in 2016, who were already upset that he made the same claims during the primaries. Even before politics, Trump has a knack for being a SoreLoser, including one time when he tweeted that the Emmys were rigged against him when he didn't win an award for ''Series/TheApprentice'', something which was mentioned during the 2016 debates. Usually, the loser yields as part of the peaceful transfer of power[[/note]], which did happen when he preemptively declared victory before it was officially called, filed more than ''sixty'' {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s[[note]]which were all dismissed for regurgitating the same voter fraud BS repeatedly and caused his attorneys to be sanctioned[[/note]], bullied election officials (including his own Vice President UsefulNotes/MikePence[[note]]After several pro-Trump lawyers claimed there was a loophole that allowed him as presiding officer of the Electoral College to unilaterally reject Biden's electoral votes, legal experts told Pence that this is nonexistent. A variant of this involved self-proclaimed Republican "electors" falsely asserting Trump won those states, which would then cause Pence to claim the swing states sent in "competing" sets of electors. The authentic certificates of ascertainment bore the governor's signature, which are then tallied by Congress every 4 years. While Congress can object to a state's set of electors, these are usually rejected due to lack of support. If the results were rejected, nobody would have had the votes required in the Electoral College, forcing the House to decide who the winner is. Since Republicans controlled 26 state legislatures at the time, Pence would have declared Trump the winner. There have been multiple criminal investigations on why the "electors" would send forged documents[[/note]], then Attorney General Bill Barr, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger[[note]]including a Mafia extortionist-like taped call where Trump tried forcing the latter to illegally fudge the state's results, which has opened another criminal investigation[[/note]]), obstructed the presidential transition, and spread conspiracy theories in an effort to flip the results once Biden was declared the winner. Even though he conceded grudgingly, Trump remains sour and has called for the 2020 election to be redone[[note]]which is also impossible as past elections can't be nullified and even his allies don't want to relitigate it[[/note]].

** Incumbent Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer's larger-than-expected 11-point victory over Republican challenger Tudor Dixon[[note]]who was nominated after a clown-car GOP primary with several candidates being rejected for submitting fake signatures to appear on the ballot[[/note]] can be traced to Trump's endorsement of Dixon, his attempts to overturn the state's 2020 election results, and a foiled kidnapping attempt of Whitmer by far-right militias in 2020. Whitmer's victory also had a coattail effect as not only did Democrats gain control of the state legislature for the first time since 1984, but abortion as a right was enshrined in the state constitution.
*** Simultaneously, incumbent secretary of state Jocelyn Benson won by a 14% margin over Republican challenger Kristina Karamo thanks to the latter's support for conspiracy theories such as [=QAnon=] and believing the 2020 election was "rigged" against Trump. Not helping Karamo was a 2021 court filing which revealed that she attempted to kill herself and her daughters in a car crash when her ex-husband sought parenting time following their divorce in 2014, which made voters feel that she was unhinged.

* While LGBTQ people have always been subject to this, there was an ''immense'' wave of right-wing scaremongering against trans people in the early 2020s. Most of this centered around depicting trans people as "groomers" targeting innocent children to indoctrinate them into becoming trans themselves, or even as outright child molesters. It has since mushroomed into a wider anti-LGBTQ backlash by far-right personalities, groups, and politicians that has manifested through various forms such as discriminatory laws restricting LGBT rights and content, and a sharp uptick of hate crimes.

* While LGBTQ people have, of course, always been subject to this, there was an ''immense'' wave of right-wing scaremongering against trans people in the early 2020s. Most of this centered around depicting trans people as "groomers" targeting innocent children to indoctrinate them into becoming trans themselves, or even as outright child molesters. It has since mushroomed into a wider anti-LGBTQ backlash by far-right personalities, groups, and politicians that has manifested through various forms such as discriminatory policies and laws against LGBTQ people, book bans, and hate crimes against the LGBTQ community.

*** Related to this is the Senate election with Democratic candidate John Fetterman defeating Republican candidate and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz partly because Fetterman framed Oz as an elitist carpetbagger who actually lived in New Jersey until late 2020[[note]]the carpetbagging accusations were first brought up during the GOP primary. Oz only became the nominee after the initial frontrunner dropped out as he was embroiled in a child custody dispute with his ex-wife[[/note]]. The other factor in Fetterman's victory despite suffering a stroke was Oz's "crudités" video[[note]]in which Oz accused president Biden of not doing anything about the rising inflation, but Oz actually looked visibly confused about what items are used in crudités, which Fetterman himself stating that Pennsylvanians refer to these as "veggie trays." Oz also mistakenly thought that tequila is included in crudités when grocery stores actually cannot sell alcohol in Pennsylvania. Not only that, Oz appeared to mix up the Wegmans and Redner's supermarket chains with a non-existent "Wegner's" supermarket chain, which resulted in a parody Twitter account being set up. Comparisons have also been made to UsefulNotes/MichaelDukakis's infamous tank photo-op[[/note]], which only served to make Oz look out-of-touch with the average voter.

*** Simultaneously, incumbent secretary of state Jocelyn Benson won by a 14% margin over Republican challenger Kristina Karamo thanks to the latter's support for conspiracy theories such as [=QAnon=] and believing the 2020 election was "rigged" against Trump. Not helping Karamo was a 2021 court filing which revealed that she attempted to kill herself and her daughters in a car crash when her ex-husband sought parenting time following their divorce in 2014, which made voters feel that she was unhinged. Karamo's tenure as chair of the Michigan GOP since 2022 has been marred with infighting to the point it led to a fistfight between party activists in July 2023, the state GOP running low on funds thanks to the party's hard right-wing turn (which has turned off moderate voters), and a sizable chunk of the party's state committee calling for Karamo's ouster due to her incompetence.

*** Related to this is the Senate election with Democratic candidate John Fetterman defeating Republican candidate and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz partly because Fetterman framed Oz as an elitist carpetbagger who actually lived in New Jersey until late 2020[[note]]the carpetbagging accusations were first brought up during the GOP primary. Oz only became the nominee after the initial frontrunner dropped out as he was embroiled in a child custody dispute with his ex-wife[[/note]]. The other factor in Fetterman's victory despite suffering a stroke was Oz's "crudités" video[[note]]in which Oz accused president Biden of not doing anything about the rising inflation, but Oz actually looked visibly confused about what items are used in crudités, which Fetterman himself stating that Pennsylvanians refer to crudités as "veggie trays." Oz also mistakenly thought that tequila is included in crudités, when grocery stores actually cannot sell alcoholic drinks in Pennsylvania. Not only that, Oz appeared to mix up the Wegmans and Redner's supermarket chains with a non-existent "Wegner's" supermarket chain, which resulted in a parody Twitter account being set up. Comparisons have also been made to UsefulNotes/MichaelDukakis's infamous tank photo-op[[/note]], which only served to make Oz look out-of-touch with the average voter.

*** Simultaneously, incumbent secretary of state Jocelyn Benson won by a 14% margin over Republican challenger Kristina Karamo thanks to the latter's support for conspiracy theories such as [=QAnon=] and believing the 2020 election was "rigged" against Trump. Not helping Karamo was a 2021 court filing which revealed that she attempted to kill herself and her daughters in a car crash when her ex-husband sought parenting time following their divorce in 2014, which made voters feel that she was unhinged.

* While LGBT people have, of course, always been subject to this, there was an ''immense'' wave of right-wing scaremongering against trans people in the early 2020s. Most of this centered around depicting trans people as "groomers" targeting innocent children to indoctrinate them into becoming trans themselves, or even as outright child molesters.

** Incumbent Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer's 2022 victory over Republican challenger Tudor Dixon[[note]]who was nominated after a clown-car GOP primary with several candidates being rejected for submitting fake signatures to appear on the ballot[[/note]] can be traced to Trump's endorsement of Dixon, his attempts to overturn the state's 2020 election results, and a foiled kidnapping attempt of Whitmer by far-right militias in 2020. Whitmer's victory also had a coattail effect as not only did Democrats gain control of the state legislature for the first time since 1984, but abortion as a right was enshrined in the state constitution.

** During the campaign, Trump stated he won't concede if he lost[[note]]The GOP stopped him from pulling a similar stunt in 2016, who were already upset that he made the same claims during the primaries. Even before politics, Trump has a knack for being a SoreLoser, including one time when he tweeted that the Emmys were rigged against him when he didn't win an award for ''Series/TheApprentice'', something which was mentioned during the 2016 debates. Usually, the loser yields as part of the peaceful transfer of power[[/note]], which did happen when he preemptively declared victory before it was officially called, filed more than ''sixty'' {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s, bullied election officials (including his own Vice President UsefulNotes/MikePence[[note]]After several pro-Trump lawyers claimed there was a loophole that allowed him as presiding officer of the Electoral College to unilaterally reject Biden's electoral votes, legal experts told Pence that this is nonexistent. A variant of this involved self-proclaimed Republican "electors" falsely asserting Trump won those states, which would then cause Pence to claim the swing states sent in "competing" sets of electors. The authentic certificates of ascertainment bore the governor's signature, which are then tallied by Congress every 4 years. While Congress can object to a state's set of electors, these are usually rejected due to lack of support. If the results were rejected, nobody would have had the votes required in the Electoral College, forcing the House to decide who the winner is. Since Republicans controlled 26 state legislatures at the time, Pence would have declared Trump the winner. There have been multiple criminal investigations on why the "electors" would send forged documents[[/note]], then Attorney General Bill Barr, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger[[note]]including a Mafia extortionist-like taped call where Trump tried forcing the latter to illegally fudge the state's results, which has opened another criminal investigation[[/note]]), obstructed the presidential transition, and spread conspiracy theories in an effort to flip the results once Biden was declared the winner. Even though he conceded grudgingly, Trump remains sour and has called for the 2020 election to be redone[[note]]which is also impossible as past elections can't be nullified and even his allies don't want to relitigate it[[/note]].

*** Related to this is the Senate election with Democratic candidate John Fetterman defeating Republican candidate and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz partly because Fetterman framed Oz as an elitist carpetbagger who actually lived in New Jersey until late 2020[[note]]the carpetbagging accusations were first brought up during the GOP primary. Oz only became the nominee after the initial frontrunner dropped out as he was embroiled in a child custody dispute with his ex-wife[[/note]]. The other factor in Fetterman's victory despite suffering a stroke was Oz's "crudités" video[[note]]in which Oz accused president Joe Biden of not doing anything about the rising inflation, but Oz actually looked visibly confused about what items are used in crudités, which Fetterman himself stating that Pennsylvanians refer to crudités as "veggie trays." Oz also mistakenly thought that tequila is included in crudités, when grocery stores actually cannot sell alcoholic drinks in Pennsylvania. Not only that, Oz appeared to confuse the Wegmans and Redner's supermarket chain with the non-existent "Wegner's" supermarket chain, which resulted in a parody Twitter account being set up. Comparisons have also been made to UsefulNotes/MichaelDukakis's infamous tank photo-op[[/note]], which only served to make Oz look out-of-touch with the average voter.
** In the Georgia Senate race, besides his [[OpenMouthInsertFoot propensity for gaffes]] and carpetbagging accusations, GOP candidate and ex-NFL player Herschel Walker was besieged with the fact that he didn't publicly acknowledge having additional children with different women, and being an absentee father and DomesticAbuser to them despite hypocritically bemoaning about fatherless households. Several of his ex-girlfriends also accused him of paying for their abortions despite running on an anti-abortion platform.

** In the Georgia Senate race, besides his [[OpenMouthInsertFoot gaffes]] and carpetbagging accusations, GOP candidate and ex-NFL player Herschel Walker was besieged with the fact that he didn't publicly acknowledge having additional children with different women, and being an absentee father and DomesticAbuser to them despite hypocritically bemoaning about fatherless households. Several of his ex-girlfriends also accused him of paying for their abortions despite running on an anti-abortion platform.

*** Related to this is the Senate election with Democratic candidate John Fetterman defeating Republican candidate and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz partly because Fetterman framed Oz as an elitist carpetbagger who actually lived in New Jersey until late 2020[[note]]the carpetbagging accusations were first brought up during the GOP primary. Oz only became the nominee after the initial frontrunner dropped out as he was embroiled in a child custody dispute with his ex-wife[[/note]]. The other factor in Fetterman's victory despite suffering a stroke was Oz's "crudités" video[[note]]in which Oz accused president Joe Biden of not doing anything about the rising inflation, but Oz actually looked visibly confused about what items are used in crudités. Not only that, Oz appeared to confuse the Wegmans and Redner's supermarket chain with "Wegner's". Comparisons have also been made to UsefulNotes/MichaelDukakis's infamous tank photo-op[[/note]], which only served to make Oz look out-of-touch with the average voter.

* In the 1993 Canadian federal election, the Progressive Conservatives ran an ad that (at least in popular perception) was a scare campaign targeted at the Liberal leader Jean Chrétien's facial disfigurement caused by his Bell's palsy, suggesting he would be a national embarrassment in the office of Prime Minister because of it. The Tories went from 156 seats to 2 in that election. The ad lost them ten percentage points in one day as Chretien leapt at the opportunity to give a speech about being a little guy who was InspirationallyDisadvantaged. Chretien would become Prime Minister as a result of the election and turned out to be [[BunnyEarsLawyer competent at the job despite his quirks]].

* After UsefulNotes/BernieSanders popularized his brand of Democratic Socialism (really closer to Social Democracy) in the United States, the Republican right wing resorted to RedScare techniques in an attempt to frame him and his ideological fellow-travelers (such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) as ignorant at best or DirtyCommunists at worst, set on turning America into a destitute dictatorship.[[note]](UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}} being pointed to frequently, since Bernie Sanders's rise was around the same time as the rise of Nicolás Maduro)[[/note]] Ironically, [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity the attacks only seemed to make them more popular]], in a similar way as the constant attacks against UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump during his campaign appeared to help him more than hurt him. The sheer egregiousness of ads such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK8KOxUmRrg this one]], combined with Trump's general unpopularity among Democrats, probably had something to do with this.

* Although the GOP pulled a squeaker win in the 2022 House of Representatives elections, their lame results elsewhere was due to the unpopular ''Dobbs'' Supreme Court decision earlier that year, which reversed ''Roe v. Wade'' and stated abortion is not a right. Other reasons why the overhyped "red wave" flopped were ex-president Donald Trump running for 2024 despite his unpopularity and [[SoreLoser fixation]] with losing the 2020 election to Biden, and GOP candidates embracing authoritarianism and bigotry towards minorities and LGBTQ+ people. Not helping matters was Trump's tendency to interject in many races with his handpicked candidates over GOP leaders' objections. That it took Kevin [=McCarthy=] (R-CA) 15 ballots to become the Speaker of the House[[note]]which was only possible when he agreed to several demands made by the far-right Freedom Caucus, who distrusted him. [=McCarthy=] was ousted from his position in October 2023 after far-right Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed a motion to vacate his position because [=McCarthy=] didn't cave into the Freedom Caucus's demands on spending bills to avert a government shutdown. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) became the new speaker later that month[[/note]] shows the GOP's weak position as they have a razor-thin majority in the House.

*** Related to this is the Senate election with Democratic candidate John Fetterman defeating Republican candidate and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz partly because Fetterman framed Oz as an elitist carpetbagger who actually lived in New Jersey until late 2020[[note]]the carpetbagging accusations were first brought up during the GOP primary. Oz only became the nominee after the initial frontrunner dropped out as he was embroiled in a child custody dispute with his ex-wife[[/note]]. The other factor in Fetterman's victory despite suffering a stroke was Oz's "crudités" video[[note]]in which Oz accused president Joe Biden of not doing anything about the rising inflation, but Oz actually looked visibly confused about what items are used in crudités. Not only that, Oz appeared to confuse the Wegmans and Redner's supermarket chain with "Wegner's". Comparisons have also been made to UsefulNotes/MichaelDukakis's infamous tank photo-op[[/note]], which only served to make Oz look out-of-touch with the average voter.

* The 2014 Brazilian presidential campaign was rife with this, especially on the side of incumbent President Dilma Rousseff as she ran for reelection. The primary target was the long-standing opponents of the center-left-wing PT (the President's party), the right-wing PSDB, who launched former Minas Gerais Governor Aécio Neves, but once PSB's Marina Silva started appearing neck-to-neck with Rousseff on polls, the President's marketing campaigns shifted their attacks on Marina instead, basically by attacking her inefficiency during the time she was Minister of Environment under Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Rousseff's predecessor, who is still seen by many as the main figurehead for PT). Marina's own indecisiveness about certain social matters didn't help her campaign, and she slipped down until she finished third place, behind Neves, and was left out of the electoral run-off. The run-off campaigns themselves were a festival of VolleyingInsults between Rousseff and Neves, as well as between opposing gubernatorial candidates in some of the States where the election would be decided on run-off[[note]](in cases where the winning candidate has less than 50% of the total votes; the same rule applying for the presidential elections)[[/note]]. In the end, Rousseff came out on top thanks to the support Northern and Northeastern regions' States (which have a high percentage of low-income voters, who benefit from PT's social policies, and where Neves was relatively less well known).

* The Mexican elections of 2006 featured the conservative PAN saying "Vote for Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and his populist politics will bring Mexico to a new era of crisis, devaluation, unemployment, hunger, starvation, crime, and poverty!"; the leftist PRD eventually fired back, saying "Felipe Calderón is a corrupt bastard who plunged Mexico into crisis in 1994, giving later his brother-in-law a suspicious job!". However, since the Mexican people as of 2008 are still scared of potential economic crisis after ''three'' of them in a little over 10 years (1982, 1985 and 1994), the PAN finally won, and Felipe Calderón was succeeded by a PRI candidate in 2012.

* This sort of thing goes way back. In 1920s UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}}, producers of beer successfully scared the population from drinking the traditional drink [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulque Pulque]] by claiming that it was produced using bags of animal and human feces (''muñecas'') to speed the fermentation process, while beer was "rigorously hygienic" and "modern". The accusation wasn't true (''muñecas'' with animal feces may have been used in a few backwaters into the late 19th century, but by the 1920s not even the most backwards producers used them anymore), but the damage was done: what was once Mexico's national tipple became nigh-universally shunned in the span of a few short years.

*** Related to this is the Senate election with Democratic candidate John Fetterman defeating Republican candidate and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz partly because Fetterman framed Oz as an elitist carpetbagger who actually lived in New Jersey until late 2020[[note]]the carpetbagging accusations were brought up during the Republican primary. Oz only became the nominee after GOP infighting and the initial frontrunner dropping out as he was embroiled in a child custody dispute with his ex-wife[[/note]]. The other factor in Fetterman's victory despite suffering a stroke was Oz's "crudités" video[[note]]in which Oz accused president Joe Biden of not doing anything about the rising inflation, but Oz actually looked visibly confused about what items are used in crudités. Not only that, Oz appeared to confuse the Wegmans and Redner's supermarket chain with "Wegner's"[[/note]], which only served to make Oz look out-of-touch with the average voter.

*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNR1iFcvIsY This Biden ad]] mocks Trump's comments on why he does not like having pets, portraying him as a selfish narcissist. The Republican Accountability Project[[note]]part of a faction within the GOP consisting of anti-Trump conservatives and former Trump admin officials who despise Trump for his blatant corruption and poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic[[/note]] ran ads featuring GOP voters who regretted voting for Trump in 2016 and feel he was unfit for the job.

** [[https://youtu.be/UFa0dNY3QtU This Senate ad]] attacks sitting Senator John [=McCain=] for his plan to endorse Trump. [=McCain=] later yanked his endorsement in light of the leaked ''Access Hollywood'' tape[[note]]in which Trump made vulgar statements about women[[/note]], which nearly derailed Trump's campaign. Even before the election, [=McCain=] and Trump became bitter rivals until the former's death in 2018 partly because the latter made insulting remarks on his military service.

* Although the GOP pulled a squeaker win in the 2022 House of Representatives elections, their lame performance elsewhere was due to the unpopular ''Dobbs'' Supreme Court decision earlier that year, which reversed ''Roe v. Wade'' and stated abortion is not a right. Other reasons why the overhyped "red wave" flopped were ex-president Donald Trump running for 2024 despite his unpopularity and [[SoreLoser fixation]] with losing the 2020 election to Biden, and GOP candidates embracing authoritarianism and bigotry towards minorities and LGBTQ+ people. Not helping matters was Trump's tendency to interject in many races with his handpicked candidates over GOP leaders' objections. That it took Kevin [=McCarthy=] (R-CA) 15 ballots to become the next Speaker of the House[[note]]which was only possible when he agreed to several demands made by the far-right Freedom Caucus, who still distrust him. [=McCarthy=] was ousted from his position in October 2023 after far-right Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed a motion to vacate the speaker's position because [=McCarthy=] didn't cave into the Freedom Caucus's demands on spending bills to avert a government shutdown. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) became the new speaker later that month[[/note]] shows the GOP's weak position as they have a razor-thin majority in the House.

** Incumbent Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer's 2022 victory over Republican challenger Tudor Dixon[[note]]who was nominated after a clown-car GOP primary with several candidates being rejected for submitting fake signatures to appear on the ballot. Three of them were later booked for forgery[[/note]] can be traced to Trump's endorsement of Dixon, his attempts to overturn the state's 2020 election results, and a foiled kidnapping attempt of Whitmer by far-right militias in 2020. Whitmer's victory also had a coattail effect as not only did Democrats gain control of the state legislature for the first time since 1984, but abortion as a right was enshrined in the state constitution.

* Although the GOP pulled a squeaker win in the 2022 House of Representatives elections, their lame performance elsewhere was due to the unpopular ''Dobbs'' Supreme Court decision earlier that year, which reversed ''Roe v. Wade'' and stated abortion is not a right. Other reasons why the overhyped "red wave" flopped were ex-president Donald Trump running for 2024 despite his unpopularity and [[SoreLoser fixation]] with losing the 2020 election to Biden, and GOP candidates embracing authoritarianism and bigotry towards minorities and LGBTQ+ people. Not helping matters was Trump's tendency to interject in many races with his handpicked candidates over GOP leaders' objections. That it took then-House Minority Leader Kevin [=McCarthy=] (R-CA) 15 ballots to become the next Speaker of the House[[note]]which was only possible when he agreed to several demands made by the far-right Freedom Caucus, who still distrust him[[/note]] shows the GOP's weak position as they have a razor-thin majority in the House.

** During the campaign, Trump stated he won't concede if he lost[[note]]The GOP stopped him from pulling a similar stunt in 2016, who were already upset that he made the same claims during the primaries. Even before politics, Trump has a knack for being a SoreLoser, including one time when he tweeted that the Emmys were rigged against him when he didn't win an award for ''Series/TheApprentice'', something which was mentioned during the 2016 debates. Usually, the loser yields as part of the peaceful transfer of power[[/note]], which did happen when he preemptively declared victory before it was officially called, filed more than ''sixty'' {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s, bullied election officials (including his own Vice President UsefulNotes/MikePence[[note]]After several pro-Trump lawyers claimed there was a loophole that allowed him as presiding officer of the Electoral College to unilaterally reject Biden's electoral votes, legal experts told Pence that this is nonexistent. A variant of this involved self-proclaimed Republican "electors" falsely asserting Trump won those states, which would then cause Pence to claim the swing states sent in "competing" sets of electors. The authentic certificates of ascertainment bore the governor's signature, which are then tallied by Congress every 4 years. While Congress can object to a state's set of electors, these are usually rejected due to lack of support. If the results were rejected, nobody would have had the votes required in the Electoral College, forcing the House to decide who the winner is. Since Republicans controlled 26 state legislatures at the time, Pence would have declared Trump the winner. At the same time, Trump also pressured the DOJ to declare the election fraudulent. There have been multiple criminal investigations on why the "electors" would send forged documents[[/note]] and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger[[note]]including a Mafia extortionist-like taped call where Trump tried forcing the latter to illegally fudge the state's results, which has opened another criminal investigation[[/note]]), obstructed the presidential transition, and spread conspiracy theories in an effort to flip the results once Biden was declared the winner. Even though he conceded grudgingly, Trump remains sour and has called for the 2020 election to be redone[[note]]which is also impossible as past elections can't be nullified and even his allies don't want to relitigate it[[/note]].

** During the campaign, Trump stated he won't concede if he lost[[note]]The GOP stopped him from pulling a similar stunt in 2016, who were already upset that he made the same claims during the primaries. Even before politics, Trump has a knack for being a SoreLoser, including one time when he tweeted that the Emmys were rigged against him when he didn't win an award for ''Series/TheApprentice'', something which was mentioned during the 2016 debates. Usually, the loser yields as part of the peaceful transfer of power[[/note]], which did happen when he preemptively declared victory before it was officially called, filed more than ''sixty'' {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s, bullied election officials (including his own Vice President UsefulNotes/MikePence[[note]]After several pro-Trump lawyers claimed there was a loophole that allowed him as presiding officer of the Electoral College to unilaterally reject Biden's electoral votes, legal experts told Pence that this is nonexistent. A variant of this involved self-proclaimed Republican "electors" falsely asserting Trump won those states, which would then cause Pence to claim the swing states sent in "competing" sets of electors. The authentic certificates of ascertainment bore the governor's signature, which are then tallied by Congress every 4 years. While Congress can object to a state's set of electors, these are usually rejected due to lack of support. If the results were rejected, nobody would have had the votes required in the Electoral College, forcing the House to decide who the winner is. Since Republicans controlled 26 state legislatures at the time, Pence would have declared Trump the winner. At the same time, Trump kept on badgering state legislators to replace legitimate Biden electors with fake Trump electors; he also pressured the DOJ to declare the election fraudulent. There have been multiple criminal investigations on why the "electors" would send forged documents[[/note]] and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger[[note]]including a Mafia extortionist-like taped call where Trump tried forcing the latter to illegally fudge the state's results, which has opened another criminal investigation[[/note]]), obstructed the presidential transition, and spread conspiracy theories in an effort to flip the results once Biden was declared the winner. Even though he conceded grudgingly, Trump remains sour and has called for the 2020 election to be redone[[note]]which is also impossible as past elections can't be nullified and even his allies don't want to relitigate it[[/note]].
*** Even before the election, Trump falsely claimed that postal ballots[[note]]which are generally used by disabled voters, military personnel, and the elderly. The pandemic forced millions to request absentee ballots for fear of getting sick, but some Republicans claimed that postal voting is fraud-prone. Ironically, Trump was called out when he ''himself'' voted by mail[[/note]] is fraud-prone and tried to have the Postal Service slow down mail deliveries, though it led to an outcry of medical supplies not being delivered in time and his claims about postal voting were debunked many times. Trump also floated delaying the election, but it was opposed by even the GOP as only Congress can alter the election date.

* While Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meatballs_(advertisement) "Meatballs"]] ad[[note]]which claimed excess immigration will "choke" America to death and nobody cared about it[[/note]] during the 2000 election ended his campaign due to widespread backlash, his nativist stances were adopted by Donald Trump in his successful 2016 election bid.

** [[https://youtu.be/UFa0dNY3QtU This Senate ad]] attacks sitting Senator John [=McCain=] for his plan to endorse Trump. [=McCain=] later yanked his endorsement in light of the leaked ''Access Hollywood'' tape, during which Trump made vulgar statements about women. It nearly derailed Trump's campaign.

** During the campaign, Trump stated he won't concede if he lost[[note]]The GOP stopped him from pulling a similar stunt in 2016, who were already upset that he made the same claims during the primaries. Even before politics, Trump has a knack for being a SoreLoser, including one time when he tweeted that the Emmys were rigged against him when he didn't win an award for ''Series/TheApprentice'', something which was mentioned during the 2016 debates. Usually, the loser yields as part of the peaceful transfer of power[[/note]], which did happen when he preemptively declared victory before it was officially called, filed more than ''sixty'' {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s[[note]]which were full of hogwash. Trump's lawyers were later sanctioned for attorney misconduct[[/note]], bullied election officials (including his own Vice President UsefulNotes/MikePence[[note]]After several pro-Trump lawyers claimed there was a loophole that allowed him as presiding officer of the Electoral College to unilaterally reject a candidate's electoral votes, several legal experts told Pence that this is nonexistent. A variant of this involved self-proclaimed Republican "electors" sending fake certificates of ascertainment falsely asserting Trump won those states to the National Archives, which would then cause Pence to claim the swing states sent in "competing" sets of electors. The authentic ones bore the state seal and the governor's signature, which are then tallied by Congress every 4 years. While Congress can object to a state's set of electors, these are usually rejected due to lack of support. If the results were rejected, nobody would have had the votes required in the Electoral College, forcing the House to decide who the winner is. Since Republicans controlled 26 state legislatures at the time, Pence would have declared Trump the winner. At the same time, Trump kept on badgering state legislatures to replace legitimate Biden electors with fake Trump electors; he also pressured the DOJ to declare the election fraudulent. The DOJ has since opened a criminal investigation on why the "electors" would send forged documents[[/note]] and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger[[note]]including a Mafia extortionist-like taped call where Trump tried forcing the latter to illegally fudge the state's results, which has opened another criminal investigation[[/note]]), obstructed the presidential transition, and spread conspiracy theories in an effort to flip the results once Biden was declared the winner. Even though he conceded grudgingly, Trump remains sour and has called for the 2020 election to be redone[[note]]which is also impossible as past elections can't be nullified and even his allies don't want to relitigate it[[/note]].
*** Even before the election, Trump falsely claimed that postal ballots[[note]]which are generally used by disabled voters, military personnel, and the elderly. The pandemic forced millions to request postal ballots for fear of getting sick, but it also led to some Republicans claiming that postal voting is fraud-prone, which has been debunked many times. Ironically, Trump came off as a hypocrite when he ''himself'' voted by mail[[/note]] would invite voter fraud and tried to have the Postal Service slow down mail deliveries, though it led to an outcry of medical supplies not being delivered in time. Trump also floated delaying the election, but it was opposed by even the GOP as only Congress can alter the election date.

* Although the GOP pulled a squeaker win in the 2022 House of Representatives elections, their lame performance elsewhere was due to the unpopular ''Dobbs'' Supreme Court decision earlier that year, which reversed ''Roe v. Wade'' and stated abortion is not a right. Other factors causing the overhyped "red wave" to flop were ex-president Donald Trump running for 2024 despite his unpopularity and [[SoreLoser fixation]] with losing the 2020 election to Biden, GOP candidates embracing authoritarianism and overt bigotry, and the fear that LGBTQ+ rights may be targeted following ''Dobbs''. Not helping matters was Trump's tendency to interject in many races with his handpicked candidates over GOP leaders' objections. That it took then-House Minority Leader Kevin [=McCarthy=] (R-CA) 15 ballots to become the next Speaker of the House[[note]]which was only possible when he agreed to several demands made by the far-right Freedom Caucus, who still remain wary of him[[/note]] shows the GOP's precarious position.

** In the 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial race, Democratic candidate Josh Shapiro's LandslideElection victory over Republican Doug Mastriano can be traced to the latter's far-right stances and links to extremist groups, overt usage of anti-Semitic tropes against Shapiro (who is Jewish), and supporting Trump's efforts to overturn the state's 2020 election results, all of which repulsed moderates, whom Mastriano chose to ignore. That he didn't give interviews as he felt the media was "biased" against him nor did he air TV ads until the last moment also hampered his chances.
** Incumbent Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer's 2022 victory over Republican challenger Tudor Dixon[[note]]who was nominated after a clown-car GOP primary with several candidates being disqualified for submitting fake signatures to appear on the ballot[[/note]] can be traced to Trump's endorsement of Dixon, his attempts to overturn the state's 2020 election results, and a foiled kidnapping attempt of Whitmer by far-right militias in 2020. Whitmer's victory also had a coattail effect as not only did Democrats gain control of the state legislature for the first time since 1984, but abortion as a right was enshrined in the state constitution.

** During the campaign, Trump stated he won't concede if he lost[[note]]The GOP stopped him from pulling a similar stunt in 2016, who were already upset that he made the same claims during the primaries. Even before politics, Trump has a knack for being a SoreLoser, including one time when he tweeted that the Emmys were rigged against him when he didn't win an award for ''Series/TheApprentice'', something which was mentioned during the 2016 debates. Usually, the loser yields as part of the peaceful transfer of power[[/note]], which did happen when he preemptively declared victory before it was officially called, filed more than ''sixty'' {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s[[note]]which were full of hogwash. Trump's lawyers were later sanctioned for attorney misconduct[[/note]], bullied election officials (including his own Vice President UsefulNotes/MikePence[[note]]After several pro-Trump lawyers claimed there was a loophole that allowed him as presiding officer of the Electoral College to unilaterally reject a candidate's electoral votes, several legal experts told Pence that this is nonexistent. A variant of this involved self-proclaimed Republican "electors" sending fake certificates of ascertainment falsely asserting Trump won those states to the National Archives, which would then cause Pence to claim the swing states sent in "competing" sets of electors. The authentic ones bore the state seal and the governor's signature, which are then tallied by Congress every 4 years. While Congress can object to a state's set of electors, these are usually rejected due to lack of support. If the results were rejected, nobody would have had the votes required in the Electoral College, forcing the House to decide who the winner is. Since Republicans controlled 26 state legislatures at the time, Pence would have declared Trump the winner. At the same time, Trump kept on badgering state legislatures to replace legitimate Biden electors with fake Trump electors; he also pressured the DOJ to declare the election fraudulent. The DOJ has since opened a criminal investigation on why the "electors" would send forged documents[[/note]] and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger[[note]]including a Mafia extortionist-like taped call where Trump tried forcing the latter to illegally fudge the state's results, which has opened another criminal investigation[[/note]]), obstructed the presidential transition, and spread conspiracy theories in an effort to flip the results once Biden was declared the winner. Even though he conceded grudgingly, Trump remains sour and has called for the 2020 election to be redone[[note]]which is again impossible as past elections can't be nullified and even Trump's allies don't want to relitigate it[[/note]].

* Although the GOP pulled a squeaker win in the 2022 House of Representatives elections, their lackluster performance elsewhere was due to the unpopular ''Dobbs'' Supreme Court decision earlier that year, which reversed ''Roe v. Wade'' and stated abortion is not a right. Other factors causing the overhyped "red wave" to flop were ex-president Donald Trump running for 2024 despite his unpopularity and [[SoreLoser fixation]] with losing the 2020 election to Biden, GOP candidates embracing authoritarianism and overt bigotry, and the fear that LGBTQ+ rights may be targeted following ''Dobbs''. Not helping matters was Trump's tendency to interject in many races with his handpicked candidates over GOP leaders' objections. That it took then-House Minority Leader Kevin [=McCarthy=] (R-CA) 15 ballots before becoming the next Speaker of the House[[note]]which was only possible when [=McCarthy=] agreed to several demands made by the far-right Freedom Caucus, who still remain wary of him[[/note]] shows the GOP's precarious position.
** In the 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial race, Democratic candidate Josh Shapiro's LandslideElection victory over Republican Doug Mastriano can be attributed to the latter's far-right stances and links to extremist groups, overt usage of anti-Semitic tropes against Shapiro (who is Jewish), and supporting Trump's efforts to overturn the state's 2020 election results, all of which repulsed moderates, whom Mastriano chose to ignore. That he didn't give interviews as he felt the media was "biased" against him nor did he air TV ads until at the last moment also hampered his chances.