My brain is a jumble of thoughts today, probably because it was exposed to 90’ of Trumpian Word Salad and I am sure the RDA for that is very low. I was following along via my Facebook stream and Twitter, peeking into the liveblogs here as I could. In other words, I was insulated from most of the pro-Trump postings because, well… I don’t have many of those, and the ones I do on Facebook are unfollowed and I have to look specifically to see what those folks are saying. Instead I had K1 relaying what she thought, some very interesting discussions on friends’ pages who don’t usually “get political”, and a whole lotta funny stuff on Twitter.
Today, though… after checking and seeing my unfollowed people generally exclaiming how Trump “won”, I read a Vox article Mr. Brillig found, Donald Trump’s strange speaking style, as explained by linguists. A couple of bits from the article:
Trump’s speeches aren’t meant to be read. Their seeming incoherence stems from the big difference between written and spoken language. Trump’s style of speaking has its roots in oral culture. He rallies people through impassioned, targeted conversation — even if it doesn’t always follow a clear arc.
[...]
[George] Lakoff, for his part, has an explanation for why Trump’s style of speaking is so appealing to many. Many of Trump’s most famous catchphrases are actually versions of time-tested speech mechanisms that salesmen use. They’re powerful because they help shape our unconscious.
[...]
"For listeners who identify with Trump, there is little they need to do but claim what they’re entitled to," she [Kristin Kobes Du Mez] says. "No need for sacrifice, for compromise, for complexity. He taps into fear and insecurity, but then enables his audience to express that fear through anger. And anger gives the illusion of empowerment." (emphasis mine)
That explains a lot of why his supporters cannot be shaken. His entire method is designed to appeal to people’s emotions, to encourage them to buy what he’s selling- in this case, himself. And they feel empowered because he gets them angry. It’s a simplistic yet (clearly) effective method.
My conclusion from is that we can’t sway these voters with dry repetitions of facts, because that doesn’t appeal to his base. If we’re to have any impact AT ALL, it has to be via the same mechanisms of oral repetition giving either anger (at Trump) or comfort for their fears. No, I don’t know how to do that, because if I had, I’d have had better luck talking to my kids when they were younger. But laying out facts in a chart and assuming once they see it they’ll understand how foolish Salesman-in-Chief wannabe Trump truly is, just isn’t going to happen.
What are your takeaways from last night? Did you watch the debate? Will you watch the next one on October 4th? What are your friends saying? Hang out in the comments after you take a stroll down Top Trio Lane, where Top Comments, Mojo and Pictures are here thanks to you!
TOP COMMENTS
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From dabug:
This comment by AKALib is deadly serious, and I think right on - it makes me want to watch the debate again with this comment in mind to check it out!
From Tamar:
Great comment from Inland on Ted Cruz.
