Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where
Facts Don’t Matter by
Scott Adams (Penguin, 2017) is a tribute to Donald Trump. It is also a
tribute to Scott Adams. The author of Dilbert has been popular online for
decades; and he had tens of thousands of readers when, back on August 13, 2015,
he began predicting Donald Trump’s victory. Throughout the book, Adams gives
himself a lot of credit for that. Adams calls Trump a Master Persuader (in
capitals). Trump won because facts do not matter. People make up their minds
based on emotion and then cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias provide
them with “reasons” to justify their choices. Adams says that Trump could have
run on any platform, even Bernie Sanders’.
Many of my
conservative comrades on the “Objectivish” message boards ObjectivistLiving.com,
RebirthOfReason.com, and GaltsGulchOnline.com are enthusiastic Trump
supporters. They stand up for his immigration policies, and just about
everything else. But it is important to understand that Trump was only selling
to them. He is an entrepreneur. I
believe that Donald Trump sized up the markets and the demands within them and
chose to tap the buyers (voters) along the right wing populist spectrum. Toward
the end of the campaign, Michael Moore gave a speech that identified this and
seemed to support it right up until the close. So, I agree that Donald Trump
could have said almost the very same things and won as a Democrat. But
that market was already dominated by Hillary Clinton. So, he played to a market
with weaker competition. He also brought in more votes by selling to consumers
who otherwise would not have bought any of the existing products. But I believe
that Donald Trump is no more emotionally tied to immigration or national
defense or global warming than he is to a particular hotel or golf course.
According to Scott
Adams, one of Trump’s most successful tactics as a Master Persuader is
intentional wrongness. He makes a grandiose claim, such as building a wall along
the border. People point out the errors. He might modify his position – he does
that often – but it remains that he has framed the discussion, defined the
terms, tilted the debate in his favor. Everyone talks about what he wants them
to talk about. The border wall, banning Muslims, global warming, Syria, North
Korea, whatever the issue of the moment, Trump made huge statements that
grabbed headlines, then slowly shifted away from the hardline stance, often to
no specific proposals at all. All the while, everyone talked about what Donald
Trump told them to talk about.
Adams says that another way that Trump achieves that control and neutralizes his opponents is by flooding the news. He issues so many statements in so many media and so often provocative that news agencies can only report them all and yet be unable to actually focus on any one or a few of them. He did this in the campaign and it made him the most newsworthy candidate in the race.
According to Doug Adams among the many failed strategies of the Democrats was their campaign called “Imagine President Trump...” It was supposed to turn people against him, of course. People who consumed news were supposed to be shocked and disgusted by the picture and thereby vote for Hillary Clinton. In fact, all the Democrats achieved was to plant the vision of President Trump in millions of people. The Democrats did Trump’s selling for him. “Love Trumps hate” was another failed campaign slogan. All it said was “Love Trump…” And apparently, very many people do.
Adams says that another way that Trump achieves that control and neutralizes his opponents is by flooding the news. He issues so many statements in so many media and so often provocative that news agencies can only report them all and yet be unable to actually focus on any one or a few of them. He did this in the campaign and it made him the most newsworthy candidate in the race.
According to Doug Adams among the many failed strategies of the Democrats was their campaign called “Imagine President Trump...” It was supposed to turn people against him, of course. People who consumed news were supposed to be shocked and disgusted by the picture and thereby vote for Hillary Clinton. In fact, all the Democrats achieved was to plant the vision of President Trump in millions of people. The Democrats did Trump’s selling for him. “Love Trumps hate” was another failed campaign slogan. All it said was “Love Trump…” And apparently, very many people do.
I grant that
Donald Trump is a Master Persuader, as our culture accepts that. He can really
negotiate a deal. However, I believe that in some of the upcoming engagements,
the paradigm the defines the context comes from one of our favorite Christmas
movies, Die Hard: Harry Ellis negotiating with Hans Gruber.
Harry Ellis : Yeah.
Now listen, John, they're giving me a few minutes to try to talk some sense
into you. I know you think you're doing your job, John, and I can appreciate
that, but, you're just dragging this thing out. Now look, no one gets outta
here until these guys can talk to the *LA* police, and that just ain't gonna
happen until you stop messin' up the works, capisci?
John McClane : Ellis,
what have you told them?
Harry Ellis : I
told 'em we were old friends and you were my guest at the party.
John McClane : Ellis,
you shouldn't be doin' this.
Harry Ellis : Tell
me about it. Alright, John, listen. They want you to tell them where the
detonators are. They know people are listening. They want the detonators or
they're gonna kill me. (from IMDB.com "Harry Ellis" character )
The difference is
that with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, it is not the negotiator who gets
shot.
PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS
When you started this blog, could you have imagined "a world where facts don't matter" stated without irony?
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