Scott Adams' Blog

Policies and Name Recognition (Trump Persuasion Series)

Posted February 12th, 2016 @ 9:08am in #Trump

The Master Persuader filter, of which I blog, says Trump’s success is based on his persuasion skills. But the more common 2D narrative is that Trump has name recognition and a winning policy with immigration, at least for the Republican base.

So, is Trump’s success in the campaign because of his powers of persuasion, or is it a combination of name-recognition plus having the most popular view on immigration (for Republicans)? I’ll help you sort that out.

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Why Does Trump Terrify People?

Posted February 11th, 2016 @ 11:17am in #Trump

It isn’t unusual for members of the public to hate politicians. For example, lots of people hate President Obama. Some of that hatred is because of his policies, some is because of racism, and I assume there are a few other reasons. But I have never seen anyone who was literally afraid of him on a visceral level.

Trump, on the other hand, actually scares people. I have seen people’s bodies twist up and go into full panic at the thought of him being president. I’m talking about actual, literal, bodily fear, as if a monster is already in house and you don’t know where it is hiding. Even professional members of the media feel this fear.

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My New Hampshire Prediction Scorecard

Posted February 10th, 2016 @ 8:50am in #Trump

On Monday I predicted that Rubio would outperform expectations in New Hampshire because the voting in primaries is – in my view – probably rigged. Instead, Rubio dropped like a rock after his Saturday debate in which Christie annihilated him.

So I was totally wrong about Rubio getting a suspicious bump up in the polls. When I wrote my prediction I had not yet seen the Rubio-robot meme take off and dominate the news cycle.

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The Movie Persuasion Filter

Posted February 9th, 2016 @ 11:02am in #Trump

If you were going to cast a Batman movie, and you had to pick from the Republican candidates, how easily could you fill out the cast? This will tell you what you really think of these folks.

I think it would come out like this:

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The Thinking Filters

Posted February 9th, 2016 @ 8:49am in #Trump

As you watch pundits discuss the presidential elections, you might be wondering who is right, who is wrong, who is wise, and who is dumb. To that end, I put together the the following “high ground” chart.

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New Hampshire Election Fraud Prediction

Posted February 8th, 2016 @ 8:34am in #Trump

The New Hampshire primary tomorrow should be interesting.

As I often say, wherever you have large stakes, an opportunity for wrong-doing, and a small risk of getting caught, wrong-doing happens. That’s a universal law of human awfulness. When humans CAN cheat, they do. Or at least enough of them do.

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The GOP Debate Scorecard (Master Persuader Series)

Posted February 7th, 2016 @ 9:06am in #Trump

If your firewall is being uncooperative, see the image on Twitter here.

If you have a life, and you missed the GOP debate on Saturday night, let me give you the highlights.

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Friday Trump Joke

Posted February 5th, 2016 @ 8:06am in #Trump

Trump offered to build a ballroom for the White House. I assume he will use an adjoining room for the rest of his body.

That is all. Have a good weekend.

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The Pledge of Allegiance

Posted February 4th, 2016 @ 7:50pm in #trump #immigration #religion

Imagine that you go to a football game in the United States. The announcer asks the crowd to rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone stands and faces the flag. Except you. In this thought experiment you’re a citizen of the United States and a patriot. You were born in America and you served with honor in the military. But you don’t like pledges. It feels too brainwashy. So in a demonstration of free speech, you sit it out.

How does that go over with the rest of the crowd?

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Spooky Alert! Spooky Alert!

Posted February 4th, 2016 @ 8:47am in #Cruz #Trump

I mentioned recently that my 2004 book, The Religion War, featured a leader named Cruz rising in the United States and bringing a war of annihilation to the Caliphate. Now we have candidate Ted Cruz doing well in the polls and stating his intentions to annihilate ISIS. Obviously that is a coincidence, but a fun one.

But where I went wrong was the first name. My character in the book was named Horatio Cruz, not Ted Cruz.

Now watch this video of 18-year old Ted Cruz talking about wanting to play a character named Horatio. It happens in the first 30 seconds.

Yeah, spooky.

It’s still a coincidence, but a fun one.

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