Con Man or Hitler?

Heads are exploding at CNN as pundits try to define Trump’s repeated offers to help African-Americans as typical Hitler behavior. As my regular readers know, what we have here is a perfect trap for cognitive dissonance. The anti-Trumpers have created an identify for themselves – and in the media – as…

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The Direct Democracy President

To many people – if not most – Donald Trump looks like the type of candidate who would become a “strongman” president, ignoring the advice of experts and the opinion of the people. That’s the persuasion framework that Clinton has created in your mind, probably with the help of the…

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Trump’s Regrets

By now, most of you know that Trump expressed “regret” at saying things in the past that might have hurt people. Most viewers interpreted this as an apology, of sorts. Trump? Apologize? I have some thoughts on this, in no particular order. 3rd Act This is the so-called 3rd act that I have…

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Trump Won the Week (Persuasion-wise)

As the media has reported, the media caused Trump to have a few terrible weeks following the Democratic National Convention. To be fair, Trump made it easy. They turned his casual comment about Islam’s gender issues (based on Mrs. Khan’s silence) into an imaginary insult to a fallen soldier. And…

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Trump’s Foreign Policy Speech

Let’s talk about Trump’s foreign policy speech from a persuasion standpoint.  Trump read from the teleprompter and acted more “presidential,” whatever that means. And he softened his position on Muslim immigration to “extreme vetting.” That was a good strategy for rebranding himself as less scary, but I doubt many people will watch that…

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Trump Prediction Update

As you know, Donald Trump has been sinking in the polls, thanks to the Clinton campaign adopting Trump-like persuasion tactics and framing the GOP nominee as an unstable, racist maniac. That approach is working, and time is running out for Trump to change things. Should I update my prediction of…

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Drug Testing Presidential Candidates

Would you feel safe voting for a presidential candidate without knowing which prescription drugs he or she is taking? I asked the question on Twitter and got this result so far. If you said it is safe, perhaps you have never been around people taking powerful prescription drugs. Many meds…

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Gingrich, Pence, and Monitoring Mosques

Monitoring Mosques People are outraged because Newt Gingrich suggested that the U.S. government should start monitoring mosques to thwart terrorism. Outrage is a perfectly reasonable response to Gingrich’s proposal if you’re dumb enough to think the government isn’t already monitoring mosques in the U.S.  How do I know the government already monitors…

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Cop Killers Versus Racists

Trump’s biggest problem in this election so far is that most racists appear to be on his side. At least it looks that way to the public. That awkward perception allowed Team Clinton to brand the Trump campaign as the racist team. Clinton’s strategy of racial politics has been effective….

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How Not to Buy a Chevy Truck

I’ve been trying for several months to buy a Chevy Truck, for a variety of functional and recreational purposes.  It turns out you can’t do that. Yes, I was surprised too. To be fair, I do see people buying Chevy trucks all the time, but I call them victims, not…

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Trump’s Glide Path

Is it my imagination, or has Trump been relatively non-controversial lately? Do you remember how Trump got lots of free publicity in the past year by saying approximately one outrageous and controversial thing each week, like clockwork? And do you remember how you thought his outrageous approach could never be…

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When Persuasion Turns Deadly

Some of you watched with amusement as I endorsed Hillary Clinton for my personal safety. What you might not know is that I was completely serious. I was getting a lot of direct and indirect death threats for writing about Trump’s powers of persuasion, and I made all of that…

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The Crook Versus the Racist

Do you remember the detailed policy proposal that came out of the Clinton campaign last week? Neither do I. I’m not saying it didn’t happen. I’m just saying that if Clinton said something about her policies, I didn’t notice. The Clinton campaign has wisely ditched facts and reason for pure…

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The Humiliation of the American Male in 2016

Perhaps the biggest unreported story of this presidential election is the humiliation of the American male. Unless I’m blinded by confirmation bias – which is entirely possible – it seems to me that the humiliation of American men is now institutionalized in the media. Check out this commercial for dishwasher detergent….

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Gawker Goes Bankrupt

Gawker recently decided to declare bankruptcy, thanks to the good works of Peter Thiel and Hulk Hogan, among others. But don’t celebrate the death of Gawker yet. Bankruptcy is a rescue plan, not a funeral. Gawker is looking for a buyer to keep it in business. Ziff Davis has already shown interest….

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