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A VIRTUAL button will be used to ‘troll’ Donald Trump in tonight’s presidential debate.

Creatives for Harris – a grassroots group of professionals, writers, designers, and strategists – have launched the Weird Button that allows users to scroll through Trump quotes and tap it when they find one they think is “weird.”

The website features Trump’s “weirdest” moments and keeps track of how many times the virtual button is pressed.

Jonathan Jacobs, the co-organizer of the group, and Louie Spivak spoke to The U.S. Sun about their new project ahed of the debate.

“The idea started with a really simple truth, which is, Trump is weird. And, you know, it’s just a fact,” Spivak said.

“And the Harris campaign has done a really excellent job of pushing that message. The more they pushed it out, the more other groups have sort of rallied around that,” he continued.

Spivak argued that the Democrats’ strategy of calling Trump and Republicans “weird” has “frustrated” the former president.

“And so our thought was really simple. Can we take all of that and turn it into a literal button that people can push? So that’s why we made the weird button,” he added.

Jacobs criticized Trump for “egregious commentary” throughout his political career and said the Weird Button was a way to highlight that.

“We really see this as a key opportunity in a moment where we can hit that button as a way to say, let’s hit pause, let’s wake from this stupor,” he said.

CANDIDATES HOP ON TRENDS

Online trends have become a key strategy in this year’s campaign.

Harris’s social media team, Kamala HQ, has jumped on multiple trends, including rebranding the vice president as “Brat” – a nod to Charli XCX’s recent album.

Trump has also tapped into the online space by appearing on podcasts and in videos with social media personalities like comedian Theo Von, Twitch streamer Adin Ross, and internet star Logan Paul.

Creators are becoming crucial components of political teams, with over 200 content creators receiving invites to the Democratic National Convention.

Creatives for Harris are using their professions in the marketing, advertising, and online space to support the Harris-Walz ticket.

Jacobs created the group with Britton Taylor and in a matter of weeks, over 1,000 volunteers have joined to lend their talents to the group’s projects.

“What we have seen from political campaigns in the past has not always been the most, let’s call it, user-friendly of creative and narrative storytelling,” Jacobs explained.

“And we know that within our group, as an industry, we have the power to do that work.”

Jacobs argued that the Harris campaign “set the tone” for political marketing with their approach to targeting Gen Z voters.

WEIRD BUTTON DEBATE ACTION

The newest project from Creatives for Harris is the Weird Button’s debate feature.

Users can visit the website during the debate and press the virtual button whenever they think Trump said something “weird.”

Data scientists will then track how many times the button was pushed during the debate and publish the results.

“We’re hoping that people are going to use this at their debate watch parties as a way to make the debate a little bit more interactive,” Jacobs said.

The team will track which statements generated the most button pushes so that viewers can react together virtually.

“It’s not just, you know, trolling for this for the sake of trolling. I think that’s an important distinction,” Spivak added.

“We sort of wanted to anchor all of our thoughts around this idea of keeping weird out of the White House.”

PRIMETIME DEBATE

Tuesday night’s 90-minute primetime debate marks the first time Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will meet face-to-face since she replaced Biden as the democratic nominee.

There will be no live audience or opening statements per the official rules of the debate, CBS News reported.

Trump and Harris will each have two minutes to answer questions, two minutes for rebuttals and an additional minute for follow-ups and clarifications.

Although opening statements are not allowed, each candidate will have two minutes to say their closing statements.

Neither candidate will be allowed to bring prepared notes, nor will they be given hints about the questions in advance.

The debate begins at 9 pm ET and can be streamed on ABC, Hulu or Disney+.

Originally published in The US Sun on September 10, 2024

Read the published article here