Scott Adams: In his own words
Comedian Kathy Griffin got into some hot water for a staged photo of herself holding a realistic-looking severed head that looks like President Trump. I won’t reproduce the photo here. It is disturbing. People asked me what it all means in terms of persuasion, if anything. I’ll tell you. Disclosure:…
Read MoreBy now, most of you know President Trump tweeted an unfinished message including a funny typo with the nonsense word “covfefe” late last night. He kept the tweet posted for hours while the Internet had its fun. My hypothesis is President Trump was composing a tweet and got interrupted. Maybe he…
Read MoreDuring the presidential campaign, President Trump famously suggested going after the families of terrorists. That would be strong persuasion. The downside is that it is also a war crime. So Trump backed off on “going after the families.” Or did he? On his overseas trip, Trump demanded that the Palestinians stop…
Read MorePresident Trump just gave ISIS its new name [archive]: Losers. (Short for Evil Losers). If you think that’s no big deal, you’re wrong. It’s a big deal. This is – literally – weapons-grade persuasion from the most powerful Master Persuader of our time. As I have taught you in this blog, President Trump’s…
Read MoreIf you have been reading this blog and following me on Periscope, you know I announced I was going to use my own powers of persuasion to nudge climate scientists into doing a better job of communicating their side of things. The climate models are the least-credible thing scientists do,…
Read MorePersonally, I enjoy watching Sean Spicer spar with the press. It’s good entertainment. But press briefings don’t make sense in 2017. And they certainly don’t make sense for a Trump presidency. I’ll tell you why. The role of press briefings is to create two complementary illusions. The first illusion is…
Read MoreWhen I am listening to advice from others, 99% of the time I exhibit a short attention span. The other 1% of the time the advice is worthy of a listen. In that rare case, I can listen all day. Given the situation I just described, would you say I…
Read MoreI saw this quote on CNN.com today: “The episode is the latest woe for Trump, whose administration is engulfed in a series of scandals linked to Russia.” A “series of scandals linked to Russia”? Would it be equally accurate to characterize it as a series of stories manufactured by the media, none…
Read MoreDo you remember the time you changed a stranger’s political opinion on the Internet by using your logic and your accurate data? Probably not. Because that rarely happens. If you were paying attention during the past year, you learned facts don’t matter to our decisions. We think they do, but…
Read More[Whencast is no longer online, so there is no recording to embed here]
Read MoreWhat do Bernie Sanders’ hair and CNN have in common today? They are both saying, “Comey” every time you look at them. The news coverage of Comey’s firing has become excellent entertainment. This is the biggest cognitive dissonance cluster bomb we’ve seen since election night. This one has everything. For starters,…
Read MoreIf scientists can make climate prediction models that are reliable (or so they tell us), why can’t they do the same with Muslim immigration predictions? Predicting the average temperature on Earth ten years from now is hard. There are too many variables. But predicting the outcome of immigration policies probably…
Read MoreYears ago I coined the term Confusopoly [archive] to describe any industry that benefits by keeping consumers confused. For example, mobile phone carriers know their offerings are too confusing for consumers to compare one company to another on cost. That is clearly intentional. If consumers could compare offerings it would drive profit…
Read MoreI’m watching this week as the so-called “Resistance” movement changes their attack on Trump from “Russian Puppet” to “Trump is crazy.” This has the look of a coordinated change. Watch how often you will see “Trump is crazy” articles and commentary in the coming weeks as the Opposition Media tests this new line of…
Read MoreIt is illegal to bribe a president. But it is totally legal to pre-bribe one. Here’s how a pre-bribe works. When a president leaves office, you offer the ex-president an enormous speaking fee. Let’s say $400,000. The ex-president does the speech and banks the money. The ex-president has no power…
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