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Evaluating the Political Chess Board (Trump is Godzilla, Hillary is Tokyo)
blog.dilbert.com ^ | May 19th, 2016 @ 10:38am | Scott Adams

Posted on 05/19/2016 10:44:39 AM PDT by Trumpinator

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Scott Adams' Blog Top Tech Berkeley Start-ups Evaluating the Political Chess Board

Posted May 19th, 2016 @ 10:38am in #Trump #clinton2016

Trump has pulled ahead of Clinton nationally in both the new FOX poll and the Rasmussen Poll. And Trump passed Clinton in favorability according to the newest national poll on that topic. The Megyn Kelly interview (including the hyping of it ahead of time) marked Trump’s third-act turn.

By the way, Anderson Cooper of CNN said last night that CNN finds the FOX polling to be reliable and transparent, in case you wondered.

Meanwhile, Clinton is losing one primary after another to a dehydrated dandelion in her own party. That doesn’t bode well for the coming cage fight with Godzilla.

And Godzilla hasn’t even started to punch hard. He’s still looking at the opposition research and humming. So that’s coming.

Clinton is planning to appear on Ellen with the all-female cast of the new Ghostbusters movie. That’s what overplaying the woman card looks like. One wag on Twitter put it this way:

The New York Times did its best to make Trump look like a sexist, but they only succeeded in destroyed their own credibility when their star witness outed them for making up stuff.

Clinton surrogate Ed Rendel said something that was probably harmless in person, and in the proper context, but taken out of context by outragists it sounded like he was saying Clinton supporters are mostly ugly women. That didn’t help.

Clinton’s team continues to churn out anti-Trump hit pieces that ask you to imagine President Trump in office. By November, voters will think Trump has been running the country for a year and it looked a lot like the Obama administration. That’s called “graduated exposure” and it’s a well-understood psychological phenomenon. The Democrats are working overtime to make Trump feel less scary while believing they are doing the opposite.

Now imagine Clinton and Trump selecting VPs. If Clinton picks a woman, she overplays the woman card to destruction. If she selects a beta male, it will seem cringeworthy to the sexist public. If she selects an alpha male it will annoy her base without gaining a single vote. Clinton loses on every path.

Meanwhile, Trump can pick a man or a woman and it will look natural. No VP will overshadow Trump’s energy. All he needs is a running mate that is competent and a little bit interesting.

Trump announced his list of potential Supreme Court Justices. Republicans seemed to like the list, which makes Trump seem more mainstream even if you don’t like the names on the list.

A jet on the way from France to Egypt has disappeared, and terrorism is the assumed reason. That plays to Trump’s strength, as does every act of terror everywhere.

Trump has gone a few weeks without creating any new provocations on the scale of his 2015 self. The longer he proves he can moderate his behavior to fit the situation – as he did in the Megyn Kelly interview – the more people trust that he isn’t crazy.

Trump’s insults are now understood to be more than random hate. They are weapons-grade persuasion that have been engineered and then A-B tested at rallies. The “Crooked Hillary” harpoon is already doing its damage. If history is our guide, the nickname will bleed her out before November.

Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, knows how to win. The Clinton campaign doesn’t show the same level of talent, at least in terms of persuasion. Clinton’s logo (the big H) looks like a hospital sign. And their “Love Trumps Hate” slogan is two-thirds “Love Trump.” Any trained persuader knows people put more cognitive weight on the first part of sentences.

I’m teeming with confirmation bias, but from my kitchen counter, I don’t see how it can go any direction but a Trump landslide from here.

I’ll remind readers that I have disavowed all of the candidates. My political views don’t line up with any of them. My interest is in Trump’s persuasion skills.

If you think this blog has too many words with vowels, you should see my book. That thing is full of them.


TOPICS: Politics
KEYWORDS: clinton; dilbert; trump
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To: Trumpinator

“With a purposeful grimace and terrible sound, he pulls the spitting high-tension wires down.” - Blue Oyster Cult


21 posted on 05/19/2016 11:10:18 AM PDT by Mich Patriot ("The problem with quotes found on the Internet is they are often not true." - Abraham Lincoln)
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To: All
I want this printed on a tee shirt. Or maybe sand-blasted on Hillary's behind.

Trump’s insults are weapons-grade persuasion that have been engineered and then A-B tested at rallies. Trump's “Crooked Hillary” harpoon is already doing its damage. If history is your guide, the nickname will bleed her out before November.

22 posted on 05/19/2016 11:13:57 AM PDT by Liz (SAFE PLACE? A liberal's mind. Nothing's there. Nothing can penetrate it.)
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To: Trumpinator
you called. . .


23 posted on 05/19/2016 11:14:22 AM PDT by Godzilla (3/7/77)
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To: Jim 0216

Nothing kills Godzilla, that’s why they keep making more movies. Godzilla even ends up saving the world from other monsters. Godzilla may be more appropriate than the author thought.


24 posted on 05/19/2016 11:36:55 AM PDT by dangerdoc ((this space for rent))
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To: Objective Scrutator

Funny, he went through a period of being a bitter old liberal. Maybe he’s on meds now.


25 posted on 05/19/2016 11:38:02 AM PDT by dangerdoc ((this space for rent))
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To: Objective Scrutator

Funny, he went through a period of being a bitter old liberal. Maybe he’s on meds now.


26 posted on 05/19/2016 11:38:10 AM PDT by dangerdoc ((this space for rent))
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To: Trumpinator

27 posted on 05/19/2016 11:53:24 AM PDT by Bobalu (Government treats you like a milk cow. If things get tough, they will treat you like a beef cow)
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To: Jim 0216

Godzilla is always the good monster. Please use your geek references correctly.


28 posted on 05/19/2016 12:03:32 PM PDT by Trumpinator ("Are you Batman?" the boy asked. "I am Batman," Trump said. youtube.com/watch?v=HZA9k7WAuiY)
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To: chuckee

So does everyone.


29 posted on 05/19/2016 12:03:56 PM PDT by Trumpinator ("Are you Batman?" the boy asked. "I am Batman," Trump said. youtube.com/watch?v=HZA9k7WAuiY)
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To: Godzilla

NICE!


30 posted on 05/19/2016 12:12:41 PM PDT by Trumpinator ("Are you Batman?" the boy asked. "I am Batman," Trump said. youtube.com/watch?v=HZA9k7WAuiY)
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To: Trumpinator
All modesty aside, to all of my online dating candidates who want to know what I look like, let me just say that I'm voting for Trump....

That should tell you all you need to know. ;^)

31 posted on 05/19/2016 12:16:27 PM PDT by MissNomer
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To: Trumpinator
It does kinda look like his hair.


32 posted on 05/19/2016 12:22:52 PM PDT by BushCountry (Studies show that one out of three Liberals are as stupid as the other two.)
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To: Trumpinator

Yes, well, I guess I don’t have enough geekitus or whatever. Godzilla is the good guy? Oh well. Then who are all those Japanese people running away from as comically depicted in Jurassic Park II?


33 posted on 05/19/2016 1:01:52 PM PDT by Jim W N
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To: Jim 0216

It’s OK you don’t get it....


34 posted on 05/19/2016 1:05:30 PM PDT by Trumpinator ("Are you Batman?" the boy asked. "I am Batman," Trump said. youtube.com/watch?v=HZA9k7WAuiY)
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To: Trumpinator

Maybe not, but I still think Hillary looks more like the ugly lizard Godzilla than Trump.


35 posted on 05/19/2016 1:12:01 PM PDT by Jim W N
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To: Jim 0216
Godzilla is the good guy?

Not really. But he is not the bad guy either.

More like a force of nature who returns balance to what is askew but a bunch of stuff gets torn up.

Necessary but there is a heck of a clean up afterwords.

I do think that Trump as Godzilla might be apt.

36 posted on 05/19/2016 1:14:22 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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To: Jim 0216

Clinton is an enemy of Godzilla like the Smog creature.


37 posted on 05/19/2016 1:16:27 PM PDT by Trumpinator ("Are you Batman?" the boy asked. "I am Batman," Trump said. youtube.com/watch?v=HZA9k7WAuiY)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Maybe, but I still think Hillary looks more like the ugly lizard Godzilla than Trump.


38 posted on 05/19/2016 1:16:42 PM PDT by Jim W N
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To: Trumpinator

The thing about Scott Adams. He has a sense of humor, a wit. Makes you laugh at the politicians.

And the humorless politicians can’t stand that.

Which is why I love Scott Adams.

Sir Scott the Mocker. Go!


39 posted on 05/19/2016 1:22:06 PM PDT by StAntKnee (Add your own danged sarc tag)
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To: Jim 0216
Maybe, but I still think Hillary looks more like the ugly lizard Godzilla than Trump.

I disagree


40 posted on 05/19/2016 1:27:45 PM PDT by Godzilla (3/7/77)
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