How to Un-Hypnotize a Rabid Anti-Trumper

You think I’m overstating the case for persuasion. Perhaps you think Trump is doing well for a variety of reasons that include his accurate reading of the Republican base.

But Trump’s accurate reading of the Republican base is part of the art of persuasion. None of what you see in Trump’s election success so far is luck or coincidence. It is technique. If you’re not trained to see it, the method is invisible.

For example, I have already used several persuasion techniques in the paragraphs above. If I were to see another writer use these same persuasion methods on me, I would recognize them. But most of you did not recognize the methods – at least not all of them – when I used them right in front of you.

Just for fun, I’ve un-hypnotized several rabid anti-Trumpers lately. It takes less than ten minutes, requires nothing but conversation, and you can probably pull it off just by reading how I did it. Here’s how.

I debated on my post, because I admire him so much. But it’s like he thinks people aren’t going to believe that he’s studied persuasion, so he has to say it over and over again to assert himself. Which would be understandable except that this is coming from the guy who created Dilbert. Scott Adams has blown the world away for decades precisely because he sees so clearly into exactly how people work that he’s made millions roasting them carefully over the fire of his insight, like a perfectly browned marshmallow on a stick over a campfire. So it’s weird he doesn’t recognize that we already believe his skill set.

I do not believe he is still speaking to the choir. He is addressing the congregation - those who sit in the back and observe, as opposed to getting involved.

Just my opinion.

Besides - one aspect of persuasion that the left has long understood and the right has long neglected is the repetition of information. That is why the lefty lie has such longevity - they repeat them until they are taken to heart.

Very true. Which makes the whole political persuasion game an interesting combination of the subtle (tactics) and the crude (repetition).

Gideon300 said: "... merely a fairly successful attempt to boost his blog ratings and ..."

Just as does Trump, I think Adams understands how to structure his efforts into "win-win" situations.

He educates readers in the art of persuasion and in so doing enhances their opinion of him. A definite win-win.

I support Trump because he is world's better than Hillary or any Democrat. I appreciate Adams' opinion because it reduces my anxiety about Hillary winning.

If Adams benefits from the situation personally, I am all for it if it benefits ME. Any rational person should agree.

MortMan said: "... one aspect of persuasion that the left has long understood and the right has long neglected is the repetition of information."

I noticed a couple of years ago a characteristic of Rush Limbaugh that had previously escaped my notice. And that is the high degree of repetition as he expounds on a particular topic.

Radio broadcasting is typically a one-way conversation. In a two-way conversation, one can pick up subtle cues that the other person is following an argument. If necessary, one can explicitly seek confirmation of understanding with a question.

In a one-way conversation, one must make sure that the listener understands the question before one provides the answer; otherwise, the answer will be out of context and a waste of time.

Like Rush, Trump speaks to an audience using similar tactics. He will repeat the key point several times using slightly different phrasing. If, for example, he is illustrating how corrupt Hillary is, you will first hear him mention a couple of times the phrase, "crooked Hillary". He understands it will be a waste of time to describe her crookedness if some portion of the audience loses track of just who he is talking about.

Rush augments his speaking by having listeners phone in. This too helps him drive home his points by providing even more context for what he is saying.

My eight-grade teacher emphasized that "studying is the repetition with the intent to learn". Without the repetition the audience might hear something but they won't necessarily learn anything.

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