<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title></title><style type="text/css">p.MsoNormal,p.MsoNoSpacing{margin:0}</style></head><body><div style="font-family:Arial;">DaveW did not claim Trump was a great communicator — he did (attempt to) cite Scott Adams' book, <i>Win Bigly,</i> where Adams, who considers himself a great communicator, argued that Trump was the same and that was why he was going to win the election against Hillary — which he did.<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">Steve adds: <i>"I believe it is duplicitous and divisive to claim he is "a great communicator" That implies both depth and breadth, that he is listening to a broad swath of the country and he is speaking to a broad swath."</i><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">Adams argues, and I completely agree, that this is exactly what Trump did in 2016, does today, and will continue to do in the future. A broad enough swath to win in 2016 and attract 40 million votes in 2020.<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">I said in 2016 (when I was also predicting Trump's win) that it was a huge mistake for Democrats and the Media then, to focus on the 1-10 percent of Trump supporters who were certifiably wacko and card carrying members of the "Basket of Deplorables," and pretending the 90-99% did not exist and did not have legitimate and perhaps even reasonable reasons for supporting someone — for policy and philosophical reasons — that they found to be despicable as a person.<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">In this post, I believe SteveS is perpetuating that mistake.<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">While ranting, may I remark that the social media and tech platforms essentially removed themselves from rule 230 protection (when it gets to the courts) by banning Trump and Parler. Modifying 230 is a bipartisan objective, but it will be real interesting to watch the rhetorical contortions the Dems will have to perform when considering actual legislation.<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">davew<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">On Sun, Jan 10, 2021, at 10:57 AM, Steve Smith wrote:<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> I didn't take the bait on Friday's vFriam when DaveW (as I remember)<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> claimed that Donald J Trump was "a great communicator". (same as<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> Reagan was credited by his fans and perhaps more reluctantly his<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> detractors?)<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> <br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> I suppose Trump is very effective at one mode of transmission of his<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> ugliest sentiments, which I find to be at best a very degenerate form of<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> CO mmunication.<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> <br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> Whatever skills he has for "reading a crowd" and reflecting back that<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> which serves his purposes feels more like Neurolinguistic Programming<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> (NLP) than "communication".<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> <br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> I believe it is duplicitous and divisive to claim he is "a great<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> communicator" That implies both depth and breadth, that he is listening<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> to a broad swath of the country and he is speaking to a broad swath. <br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> Perhaps by a twist of interpretation, you *can* claim that he has his<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> finger on the pulse of those he whips into a seditious and<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> insurrectional frenzy as well as those he cannot so instead whips into<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> what has been called "Trump Derangement Syndrome" (TDS). His apparent<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> ability to instigate TDS in virtually everyone (type A or type B) is<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> somewhat unique... though authoritarian figures around the world have<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> done it for millennia? <br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> <br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> One (DaveW?) could also argue his sublime ability to give clear<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> direction/orders to his underlings (e.g. Michael Cohen, et al) without<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> ever actually saying anything indictable. This is the stuff of Crime<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> bosses, right? Very effective communicators within a very narrow (and<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> useful to them) context.<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> <br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> DaveW's assertion on Friday provided me the perspective and motivation<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> to look a little deeper into the question of just what makes Trump's<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> style of communication so dangerous. The previous post with the<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> Politico article about Sedition vs Insurrection came to me from that<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> unconsciously I think.<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> <br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> - SteveS<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> <br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> <br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> <br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 <a href="http://bit.ly/virtualfriam">bit.ly/virtualfriam</a><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> un/subscribe <a href="http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com">http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com</a><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> archives: <a href="http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/">http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/</a><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">> FRIAM-COMIC <a href="http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/">http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/</a> <br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">><br></div></body></html>