When you easily can predict how opponents will react, you can set a persuasive agenda that is unparalleled. We watched this in action in the state of the union address last night where President Trump has pushed the Democrats to go full tilt. I love watching this strategy in play because it’s useful on a smaller scale for people who understand the basic concepts here.
Let’s talk about the framework in which President Trump is operating: the Democrats have pushed the narrative that he is LITERALLY HITLER for several years, forcing that comparison to be so commonplace within their ranks, it makes them have to disagree with LITERALLY EVERYTHING he says. After all, you can’t compromise with LITERALLY HITLER, cuz we all know what happens if you do.
It’s a powerful rhetorical grenade, not for the Democrats (as most people find such comparisons exhausting at best), but for President Trump to use.
And he did so to great avail last night with imagery of holocaust survivors, world war two veterans, victims of anti-semitic attacks, and heroes who took down anti-semitic killers, all who President Trump PRAISED and appeared to support President Trump. The imagery in the minds that sticks is “This guy is the Anti-Hitler.”
And you watched as Democrats reacted tepidly. They knew they weren’t supposed to applaud. They knew Trump is LITERALLY HITLER… so what was he doing? But they were forced to clap because if they didn’t, they would have a very, very bad look. You can see it in their body language and expressions that the cognitive dissonance they suffered was very difficult for them. It was absolutely beautiful to watch.
And the polls agreed. 76% according to the very hostile CBS News poll approved of the speech, which means the real number is even higher. No one could be opposed to what Trump was saying made America great. If you are opposed to it, well, you might actually be a Nazi.
It was brilliant visually as a display, of course, especially in contrast to Virginia Governor Northam, who was shown in a picture with a KKK hood. This made powerful visuals again in Trump’s favor as several of the Democrats chose to wear solid white together. The link is clear in many Americans’ minds, and it was a bad look for Trump’s opponents. Moreover, because of Northam’s insane defense of post-birth abortion (which we will call infanticide from here forward), Trump used the visuals of the white KKK Democrats and holocaust to hammer the point that late term abortions are Nazi-level murder. It went beautifully.
And it forced the Democrats to oppose his agenda despite this powerful imagery on his side, pushing them into more extreme positions. Let’s look at what he proposed:
- Banning late-term abortions (unlike Nazi Germany who tried to “abort” quite a bit of the population)
- USA is not a socialist country (unlike Nazi Germany the imagery reminded us)
- No endless wars (unlike Nazi Germany)
- Negotiating and peace (Unlike Nazi Germany)
- Healthy respect for God (Unlike socialist soviet Russia)
The points are very simple things pretty much all Americans can get behind, and the Democrats already fell right into the trap.
The response was canned, not even listening to or anticipating the speech, nor making any adjustment. Abrams rambled about her own life personally, as if she were some sort of victim because she lost an election. It fell utterly flat and gave no real contrast other than saying Republicans are bad. But we just were filled with imagery that Republicans love the things that we all agree made our country great. The economy is good. It looked very bizarre, and she may have just been made a sacrificial lamb because no one else wanted the job.
Second, Kamala Harris, a presidential candidate for the Dems, immediately made a post about “politicians shouldn’t tell women what to do with their bodies” – but in conjunction with late term abortion. Polling shows that about 29% of the populace thinks abortion should be legal “no matter what”. If you look at polls, around 20-30% believe ANYTHING, but it means the vast majority of Americans want limits. Late-term is a sensible limit and a bad optic for the candidate, because she can get blasted with pictures of fully formed babies, and most people agree that killing fully formed babies is bad.
Trump forced her into this position by taking a very reasonable position, and got his opponent to react because LITERALLY HITLER. And that is expert persuasion at work. The question is, how far are the democrats going to go to keep up their rhetoric? I can’t wait to watch and see.
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Stacey Abrams is known in Georgia for advocating (in private meetings with donors) total gun confiscation.
I have a busted TV and didn’t view either the S. O. T. U. or any response, but I and tens of thousands of Georgia gun owning citizens are aware of how extreme she and her supporters are.
Just another moron who is conned by a con man. Part of a cult whose cult members can not use Critical Thought and bend to the persuasions of a cult leader. No one is calling Trump Hitler but his actions mirror that of fascists. He talks and gesticulates like Mussolini. He uses construct like Hitler. Like calling legitimate news reports Fake News, demeans his opponents, calls for legal actions against his political opponents, denigrates institutions, blames a class of people for something, and the list goes on. Pendants want to say “Promises Made, Promises Kept”. I’ll remember that when he is on the Golf Course which he has done so often where he so often had chided Obama for. Or how he promised he’d be in the Whitehouse and never leave. I’ll remember that when he is in Florida or Bedminster NJ, Or how he talks the talk about illegal immigrants but had no problem having them as employees until they were reported in the news. Or how he rails those for manufacturing in China. The place where many Trump products are in fact made.
He is both President and a Father Figure. As such the human mind puts a level of trust in that figurehead and will ignore some facts. Well the preponderance of true grit facts are overwhelming. Like how he mistreated the mayor of San Juan Puerto Rico after complaining “People are dying here “. Truth be told, she was right. The death toll in Puerto Rico was staggering. The facts are we have a compromised President who cares more about money and personal wealth then the US Democracy. He tells people what they want to hear and they believe him. They set aside their intellect and layers of protection and just blindly say “Yes”. In one group he says one thing and another group he’ll say something else. No president has made more lies than has made. Recently Intelligence Chiefs where in front of Congress and made their assessments. A C-SPAN televised and recorded event. Yet Trump said the exact opposite and they were taken out of context. Seriously ? We heard it with our own ears and seen them with our own eyes. The President creates false narratives every day, multiple times per day and the public fails to use Critical Thought and ask the major questions and just “accepts”.
In the monologue I am replying to, you like to compare to Natzi’isms. The fact is Democracy has flaws. All ‘isms have flaws. All ‘isms have positive constructs. If there are positive socialistic constructs that help the common US citizen that’s a good thing. Applying Socialistic constructs in a democratic form of government is not a problem. Communism, not socialism was the problem. Son’t com[pare abortions to Natzi’ism. They killed because you were a member of a race, because you had a weakness, they murdered millions and followed a fascist leader tell them false narratives. The fact is a baby is the womb is a parasite until it is able to breathe outside the womb. Unlike the Natzis who killed those already born, living and participating in life, you want to compare that to abortion. This is a singular persons choice. It is THEIR body carrrying around that fetus and it is THEIR CHOICE when to abort. The ONLY legal questions are about late stage development where the fetus is near or about fully formed and can exist outside the womb. That is not to be compared with Natzi’ism. We should also not call democratic socialistic constructs names and denigrate those constructs while Trump is in the Pocket of a former USSR KGB agent and Making the former USSR Great Again and following his narratives and his agenda.
When you have a so-called Democratic Leader allowing chants of “Lock her up” associated with a political rival, the hairs on the back of your neck should stiffen and the Critical Thought of who that so-called Democratic Leader is what he stands for should be questioned. You fail to see the first through the trees and I feel sorry for you. Worse, you and other followers need to wake up and remember what Ben Franklin did for a living and what he did for making the USA possible. Go back to the roots of the US Democracy and what it stood for versus having a King. Those who fail to learn the lessons of the past and condemned to relive them in the future. History repeats itself. While you are using Natzi’isms in your monologues, remember how Hitler came into power through a democratic process. Learn the constructs and his methodologies and compare them to other fascist leaders and then use that as a comparison to how Trump acts, what construct and methodologies he uses. Don;t walk blindly — Open your bloody eyes !