Posted on 11/14/2016 8:54:58 AM PST by Yo-Yo
Anti-Trump protesters believe they are fighting the good fight to stop a racist, homophobic, sexist monster. But about half of the country – the half that I’m in – is in a different movie. In our movie, we selected a new president and half of the country is in cognitive dissonance over it. Assuming the protesters are the ones experiencing the illusion, and not us, how can we release them from their zombie-like existence so they will stop blocking traffic?
I’ll tell you the general approach.
The main thing you have to do is violate the frame. Clinton framed Trump as a monster, and now protesters are locked into that illusion. If Trump does things that can be construed as monster-like, the illusion is strengthened. But every time he violates that framing, the illusion gets a crack. If it cracks enough, it breaks.
For example, half the country thought Trump was going to eliminate every good thing about Obamacare. But recently the public learned that Trump wants to keep the most popular provisions and just “fix” the rest of it. That violates the monster frame. But it isn’t enough by itself. You need more violations.
Picking Reince Priebus for Chief of Staff was a good step because it makes Trump seem presidential and flexible. That’s another violation of the monster frame. But a small one.
Unfortunately, picking Steve Bannon as chief strategist adds confirmation bias to the monster illusion because Clinton’s team polluted Bannon’s brand during the election. Bannon adds confirmation bias to the monster illusion. I assume Bannon is a great strategist or else Trump wouldn’t risk keeping him.
Yesterday on Sixty Minutes Trump said gay marriage was already settled by the Supreme Court, and Trump is okay with that. That’s a crack in the illusion that Trump is anti-LGBTQ. But not enough. And Trump’s selection of Pence to run the transition team supports the monster theory because Pence has some anti-gay history that needs fixing.
The obvious next move for the Master Persuader involves asking Pence to “evolve” to Trump’s positions on all LGBTQ matters. Everyone expects a VP to pretend to be a full supporter of the President’s policies. That gives cover for Pence to update his LGBTQ views because…
- Religious conservatives will dismiss it as mere politics, believing Pence privately holds views that match their own.
- Anti-Trumpers will see a major violation of the monster frame.
- I will explain it all later as Trump doing “pacing and leading” to bring the Republican Party toward the center where it is strongest. Because that’s what is happening.
Trump has lots of other ways to crack the monster framing in the coming months. He can say more about his “New Deal” ideas for helping African-Americans. He could flip a foreign leader from a critic to a friend. He could come up with some ideas on lowering college costs. He could say more about his plan NOT to deport undocumented citizens who have obeyed the law since coming to this country.
He has lots of levers. Expect him to push one lever after another until the monster framing cracks. By summer the story will be that he’s the most flexible and centrist president in our history.
It is worth noting that Trump and Clinton had very different unframing challenges. If Clinton had won, her job would have been to convince the public she isn’t crooked. But you can’t do that simply by doing some honest things in public. We expect that even crooked people do honest things when watched. Clinton literally had no path to remove her “crooked” label.
But Trump has a more solvable framing problem. Clinton’s team labelled him a racist, homophobic, sexist. Trump can violate that frame enough times to break it over time. But it will take a lot of cracks. You’ve already seen several. Expect more to come.
If I were in Trump’s place I would look for a bigly frame violation and soon. The public is already primed for him to “moderate” away from his campaign promises. This is the time to do it.
In summary, you can’t prove you are honest by NOT stealing something in public. But you can prove you are not a monster by saving a kitten from a tree in public. Monsters never do that sort of thing. This idea is so true that it became the title of the best book ever written about movie script writing: Save the Cat.
Watch for Trump to saves some kittens – as many as necessary – until you can’t hold in your mind the frame that he’s a monster. Enjoy the show. The Master Persuader is just getting started.
how can we release them from their zombie-like existence so they will stop blocking traffic?
SEND THEM TO VENEZUELA where they can truly be equal to the rest of the population.
. .
There are no brains.
> how can we release them from their zombie-like existence so they will stop blocking traffic
Put the pedal to the metal.
Well written. I like this guy.
Won’t be this easy. The media and the global left have their supporters hypnotized and in a constant state of fear and fight or flight hyperarousal. They cannot de-hypnotize themselves.
How to break an illusion? This dummy seems to think that Trump should appoint a bunch of liberal Democrats to all the important offices, just like George Bush.
That really made the media love Bush, didn’t it?
Why is it necessary to subordinate principles (specifically Pence's normative Christian ones) to the cause of unblocking traffic? How about conservatives/republicans try a different take? In the realm of government, enact principle-based laws and structures and then sink or swim (and persuade) based on the results.
Trump will pardon Hillary Clinton. At least a conditional pardon absolving her of any crimes committed while she was Sec of State. There’s a big crack.
Agreed. I was pissed off about this clown’s desire to “fix” Pence’s thinking about a behavior God calls disgusting.
Bingo! Departing from Constitutional principles is how we got where we are. See Jefferson's thoughts on this subject:
"I am not among those who fear the people. They...are our dependence for continued freedom. And to preserve their independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds...our people...must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses; and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they (the British) now do, on oatmeal and potatoes; have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers to account; but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers....This example reads to us the salutary lesson that private fortunes are destroyed by public, as well as by private extravagance. And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from the principle in one instance, becomes a precedent for a second; that second for a third; and so on, till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery, to have no sensibilities left but for sinning and suffering. Then begins, indeed, the 'bellum omnium in omnia,' which some philosophers...have mistaken for the natural, instead of the abusive, state of man. And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression." - Thomas Jefferson
I'm stealing that...lol
Look, the best way to break a magic mirror or rose colored glasses is with a BIG HAMMER. Let’s try that and see what happens.
This will take care of itself, nothing needs to be done except enforce the law. If protestors stay within the law, they are fine.
They also are hurting their own cause and should be left alone to do so as long as they go about it lawfully. Annoying people doesn’t bring them to your side.
Let them have at it, they are losing every day they do these activities.
But can you even break an illusion with delusional people?
Bannon being appointed has really unhinged the straight-jacket crowd over at the DNC/MSM.
I do not find it appropriate at all to rub shoulders with killers. Such appeasement is evil.
..well, it's a line almost verbatim from Hillary's script.
Isn't that the way corruption ALWAYS sets in for Republicans? Succumbing to this pathetic belief that "If we come off as more like the Democrats, they'll stop hating us"?
I mentioned this to my dad but one thing which would go a long way is to formulate a plan to fix Flint’s water problem. Find a way to do it quickly, and under budget.
I think Trump has the acumen to do that. It’s it necessarily the highest priority? No, probably not, but he did win Michigan and it would be a very visible symbol of what he is all about.
Yes, that was definitely a miss from Scott Adams, who I enjoy reading. Pence not compromising his views would strengthen the idea that Trump picks people for their ability first and foremost.
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