Scott Adams' BlogMy Trump AMA on Reddit
I just finished a Trump AMA on Reddit here.
0 Comments#Trump
Why I Disagree With All of the Candidates
Posted April 7th, 2016 @ 8:48am in #Trump
I’ve said a few times in this blog, and elsewhere, that my political views don’t match up with Donald Trump’s views, or anyone else’s.
How’s that possible, you ask? Let me give you a taste of it.
0 CommentsThe Presidential Persuasion Pardon
Posted April 5th, 2016 @ 9:12am in #trump
I don’t expect this to happen. So consider it a thought experiment in persuasion.
Let’s say Donald Trump promises that when he gets elected President he will pardon Hillary Clinton of any future convictions regarding her email server situation. I’m sure he could come up with a plausible reason for the promise, such as healing and uniting the country and whatnot. And let’s say he makes the promise often and convincingly, so you start to think he means it. Maybe he even puts it in writing and has it notarized. That gives him a piece of paper to wave around when he talks about it. Trump likes to keep his persuasion visual, as in “The wall,” because visual persuasion (including imagined images) is the strongest.
0 CommentsDerailing the Trump Train
Posted April 4th, 2016 @ 10:35am in #Trump
Donald Trump has made some big mistakes lately. On top of that, his opponents improved their game. As a result, he finds himself in an enormous hole of disapproval, especially with women. If you have been reading my Master Persuader series, you might be interested in why Trump’s persuasion suddenly stopped working.
It’s more interesting than you think.
0 CommentsTrump and Abortion
Posted March 31st, 2016 @ 10:10am in #Trump
I’ll start by reminding readers that my policy preferences don’t align with Donald Trump’s policies, or with anyone else’s except in some minor cases that are mostly coincidence. In the case of abortion rights, I defer to the better-informed views of women. I like having the right to vote on every issue, but as a practical matter, men add nothing to the abortion discussion unless those men are doctors, scientists or philosophers. Women have this issue covered. So I support whatever the female majority wants to do with abortion.
I tell you my non-opinion on abortion because the messenger is always part of the message. You wouldn’t be able to appreciate the rest of this post without knowing my starting position.
0 CommentsUsing Persuasion to Solve Everything
Posted March 29th, 2016 @ 10:00am in #Trump
Persuasion is a learned skill. It involves a well-understood set of science-tested tools. For whatever reason, Donald Trump is bristling with talent for persuasion and Hillary Clinton has none (that I can detect) except for basic political skills and her gender identity. Persuasion is not the only talent you want in a president, so I won’t try to oversell it. But let’s see what kinds of issues are susceptible to a president’s powers of persuasion.
0 CommentsThe Elbonian Zombie Virus
Posted March 27th, 2016 @ 8:13pm in #Trump
This is a thought experiment.
Imagine that the tiny nation of Elbonia suffers a Zombie Virus outbreak. Luckily, the virus does not spread easily, but prolonged personal contact with an infected zombie increases the odds of transmission. Once infected, the Elbonian becomes a zombie killer. As it turns out, most people are immune to the virus. Over 99% of the public have no risk of catching it. But 1% is far too many zombie killers.
0 CommentsThe Sarcasm Tell (With an Absurd Absolute)
Posted March 25th, 2016 @ 7:34am in #Trump
This post won’t mean much to you unless you have been following my Master Persuader series. Today I will teach you to spot The Sarcasm Tell. When you see the tell it means you won the argument. But it won’t feel that way to you because cognitive dissonance will cause your opponent to reinterpret the world in some bizarre new way in order to avoid the appearance of being dumb. The form of the tell is this:
0 CommentsWho’s Afraid of Donald Trump?
Posted March 24th, 2016 @ 9:54am in #trump
For new readers:
I have already disavowed Donald Trump for being scary. And by that I mean he scares my fellow citizens, which I find unacceptable.
My policy views don’t line up with any of the candidates’ positions, including Trump’s. I don’t vote and I am not a member of a political party. I try to avoid identifying with any political label because doing so would make me biased and less credible.
My interest in Trump is his persuasion skills. I have never seen better.
— start —
A Donald Trump presidency might offer a once-in-a-lifetime chance to fire the government of the United States.
Whatever that means.
0 CommentsSleeper Persuasion with a Trigger
Posted March 23rd, 2016 @ 9:02am in #Trump
The other day I explained to you that Trump was using “stamina” as a linguistic kill shot against Hillary Clinton. The genius of it – persuasion-wise – is that every normal candidate has some low-energy days. Everyone gets hoarse from too much speech-making. Everyone takes bathroom breaks, and other kinds of breaks. Trump knew that voters would see “evidence” of Clinton’s lack of stamina even when there was no evidence. That’s how confirmation bias works.
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