The 800 pound
gorilla on the TV screen… we cannot get the name Trump off her lips Recently I
read a Washington Post article on
Scott Adams, the Dilbert cartoonist, from March 21, 2016, way before before Election Day. Adams brilliantly outlined the reasons for his prediction that
Donald Trump would win the presidency.
Much of this blog
comes directly from the Washington Post
article by Michael Cavna. See the link above. The ideas come from Scott Adams,
almost verbatim.
(I apologize in
advance for any failure to include quotation marks. Scott Adams’ insights make
the entire basis for this blog entry.)
We should all be
listening to Scott Adams. Adams predicted Trump beating Clinton easily, playing
Hillary like a fiddle much as he had with his primary competitors. Adams must
know something none of the rest of us knew, including Nate Silver. We should be
beating down Scott Adams door to learn the reasons behind Trumps victory…to
learn the lessons of modern presidential politics in the electronic age!
Adams states that Trump,
a master of psychology, understands a basic fact of human behavior—we are all irrational
beings. We like to think of ourselves as fact-based. We are not. We are
emotion-based. Trump realized this, created his own facts if necessary but mainly
avoided facts altogether. Trump found the hot-button issues, immigration being
a big one, and began to fill stadiums with enthusiastic crowds.
Scott Adams,
thankfully, has taken the time to figure out the rhetorical style of Donald
Trump. Behind Trump’s rhetoric lays a campaign strategy and an understanding of
human psychology.
- Trump loves to win and crush the competition.
- Trump has a great mastery of human psychology. Adams believes this skill—psychology-- is the most important and only skill needed to win the presidency.
- Trump knows that human beings are ruled by emotion, not the facts.
- Trump has amazing powers of persuasion.
Adams likens Trump’s mastery of persuasion to the power a
hypnotist maintains over a subject. Humans are irrational beings. Adams himself
had to gain an awareness of human irrationality to become a successful
cartoonist. Bill Keane of Family Circus
instructed Adams to stop writing for himself. Adams changed his subject to the
workplace, and the demands and inhumanity of the corporate work environment.
Trump connected to a similar sort of invisible "suffering" and
connected to people "on an emotional level."
Trump became the most interesting by a fearless approach.
Adams said Trump “can always be the most interesting story if he has nothing to
fear and nothing to lose.” Bolstered by a no-fear, nothing-to-lose perspective
Trump could employ language in a way never seen before on the political stage.
The audiences loved Trump’s rhetorical style. He spoke directly to them, like a
comedian. The fans felt Trump sounded “like one of us”—. Trump became that
microphone. He painted word pictures—Low Energy Jeb, Lyin’ Ted, Little Marco,
Lyin’ Ted and Crooked Hillary—insulting nicknames that knocked down his
adversaries one-by-one.
Adams did and said whatever was necessary to
strengthen his ties to conservatives. Adams believes Trump, if he so desired,
had the ability to run as a Democrat, and could have found the hot-button
issues to appeal to liberal-minded voters.
Adams compares Trump’s ability to warp reality to
his own needs to Steve Jobs, the Apple creator, and his reputation for inventing
new realities through force of will. Trump’s new reality, I am one of you heartland Americans… based on emotion, grew from a
brilliant campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” From this cornerstone he
went all out with his sales pitch to the conservative voter.
Trump’s manufactured reality led the building of a
new identity—the onetime New York City socialite, braggart, multi-bankrupted
billionaire became a friend to the truck driver, factory worker, flyover state
mom, and unemployed coal miner. Adams explains it best, before Election Day:
“Trump is well on his way to owning the identities of
American, Alpha Males, and Women Who Like Alpha Males. Clinton is well on her
way to owning the identities of angry women, beta males, immigrants, and disenfranchised
minorities.
“If this were poker, which hand looks stronger to you for a
national election?”
Cut to post-election. Donald Trump is President. His critics
seethe with anger at the ineptitude of the Trump administration. Meanwhile, Scott
Adams has become a big Trump supporter. I disagree with his position. I wish
Donald had stuck to building golf courses.
Meanwhile, about a week ago CNN promoted an upcoming program
“How Trump Won”… produced by Fareed Zakaria. I’m not sure the show has aired or
pulled from the schedule. If the CNN special does not include air time with
Scott Adams… I remain a skeptic. Adams may be the one man in America who can
tell us—What Happened. *
*Apologies to Hillary Clinton. Her similarly titled book on
the election— What Happened – is due
out any day. I’m not sure she knows.
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