There’s an old saying in business: If a bank gives you an average-sized loan, the bank owns you. But if you take out a gigantic loan, you own the bank.
Trump only takes out gigantic loans.
Why?
Is it because he is an egotistical clown who goes big no matter what the situation deserves?
Maybe.
0 CommentsToday I offer you a new and probably different filter for interpreting your reality. You can try the filter in the same way you would try on a new pair of sunglasses. See for yourself if the new filter fits the data better than your old one. This is for entertainment only. Science is probably at a different URL.
What follows is a description of some of the tells for cognitive dissonance. If any of what follows is accurate, it might set you on a path that changes your life in delightful ways. Or maybe reading this post will do nothing but leave you with less time to interact with other people. Either way, you’re welcome.
This might be a lucky day for you.
Pay attention.
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“Bad system” is a test balloon.
Watch what happens to that phrase in the next 24 hours. If it gets quoted a lot (more than this blog would explain) it will be lethal.
Why?
Big Picture move: Fix the money, fix it all.
Who agrees with him that the system is bad? Every human alive. Even the lobbyists doing the bad.
And “system” is a fresh word. Notice he uses fresh ones, or in this case an underused one. That lets you control its content. No leakage in the way of reminding people of unrelated things.
Engineered.
I’m almost positive that the other candidates are going for 55% of the vote. Trump is going for them all. Watch what happens with his VP pick and his immigration plan. I have never seen a chess board so well set. (A big part of that is luck, obviously.) But look for some surprise flanking moves on his problem topics.
I remind you that this blog is for entertainment. I am making predictions based on Trump’s persuasion skills so you can compare the Master Wizard hypothesis to the Lucky Clown consensus in the media. See which one fits the data better as we go.
In any event, looks like we have a systems guy competing against goals people. I say systems usually win whenever the contest is long and the variables are many. We have plenty of time to find out.
Someone should write a book about that. I mean someone else. I already did mine.
0 CommentsWhat follows is an engineered set-up to induce cognitive dissonance in the reader. Do not read past the break if that sort of thing would be uncomfortable for you.
I do this as part of my series on Trump’s persuasive brilliance. You will have a better understanding of the power of cognitive dissonance when you see it displayed in the comments.
You might find it interesting that I can warn you in advance that the cognitive dissonance is coming and it will not influence the outcome. That’s one of many reasons I developed the Moist Robot hypothesis. I am going to push a button on your user interface and 80% of you will react the way I expect.
I am going describe you in a way that sounds quite reasonable and yet violates your internal idea of who you are. That will trigger cognitive dissonance, and you will see it spew into the comments over the course of the day.
My follow-up post will describe the “tells” for cognitive dissonance that hypnotists look for. I can’t describe the tells in advance without ruining the experiment. We can agree that no science is happening here. This is just for fun. And maybe we will learn something.
0 CommentsIf you can’t see the image below because your company fire wall is being a dick, follow me on Twitter here.
An alert reader noticed that Trump is already beta-testing a linguistic kill shot for Hillary Clinton.
As Yohami accurately notes, this kill shot is also a high ground maneuver. It takes you out of the weeds of the email server question (where reasonable folks can be confused and disagree) all the way to national security where we all have the same opinion that risk is unacceptable.
0 CommentsSome saucy language is below the break. Please read no further if that sort of thing bothers you.
0 CommentsThe media is having a hard time wounding Trump. The attacks keep bouncing off. Looks like they stepped up their game today.
Here’s the SHOCKING story of how Trump once owned, or still owns, a book of Hitler’s speeches. It was a gift from a friend. Trump admits it and names the friend. The friend confirms he gave it to Trump.
I’m sure the friend meant well. Trump is a master persuader, and obviously Hitler was too. I’m thinking of picking up a copy for the same reason that I assume the friend thought Trump would be interested. Trump says he did not read it. I’ll bet that is true, but only because his skills are already at that level. There wouldn’t be much for Trump to learn. And it seems kind of a downer.
To put things in context, a book of speeches from Kennedy, Reagan, or Dr. King would have been good gifts as well. And for the same reason. But less of a downer. So what we have here is a case of a very shitty gift-buyer.
The media, or some of it, is looking for a Trump kill shot. When Hitler’s name enters the mix, you know all the other ammo is already gone.
Look for LOTS more Hitler comparisons. Until it all seems silly.
I think you have seen a bunch in my comment section already.
And the press continues its slide to irrelevance.
Scott
0 CommentsOn August 6th, Nate Silver predicted in his highly-respected FiveThiryEight blog that Donald Trump had only a 2% chance of getting the Republican nomination. Silver’s prediction is based on historical patterns, solid data, and sound reasoning. He’s great at what he does. Maybe the best.
A week later, on August 13th, I wrote my post about Trump’s “clown genius” and predicted – based on his tool set – that Trump would win the Republican nomination and the general election as well.
On August 24th, based on Trump’s continued use of masterful persuasion techniques, I doubled-down and modified my prediction to say he would win the general election by a large margin. I believe I am alone in that prediction, at least among the talking-head/pundit/writer set. I realize that a healthy chunk of voters think he can go all the way. But the smart professionals almost universally expect him to flame out.
0 CommentsThis article explains how Trump has decided to call Jeb Bush a “low energy” candidate.
That’s a linguistic kill shot. If you live to be a hundred, you will never see a better linguistic move.
No candidate can recover from the low-energy label. Trump ended Bush with two words. Now, even if Trump stumbles, Bush won’t be the one that surges to the front. From now on, Bush’s campaign hat is an anvil.
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