It
is fortunate that the American public has a short attention span. If
you want an idea to persist it must be reiterated over and over lest
a thousand competing messages displaces it. Propagandists know this
nature very well. Message mavens know to that three magic words are
all that can be successfully conveyed at any one time. “Where’
the beef?” became a viral catch phrase long before things going
viral was even a thing. Millions of people still recall Carl Sagen
saying “billions and billions” even if they don’t remember or
ever knew who Sagen was. Google capitalized on “Don’t be Evil”
in their earliest days of existence. “Just do it.”
The
problem is… actually the saving grace as I am going to explore…
is multiple messages cannot exist in the same time and space. This is
why “lock her up” was displaced by “send her back.” The
message of Make America Great is alternated with Make America Safe by
the orator at his bi-weekly rallies. He cannot afford to pause or
stop his rhetoric lest the heat dies down and the momentum be lost.
Social
media has become a boon to such propaganda first because it is free.
Second, eager listeners can parrot the message to an even wider
audience. And Third you can pay someone to create auto response bots
to make the message look more widely spread than it really is. The
repetition of the simple message echoes for days or even weeks as the
bot and the faithful followers retweet the messages. At some point
the radius of that social media network reaches its limit and the
message is only bounced back and forth within that radius. The impact
of this phenomenon is not to be dismissed, but echoes do die out. In
Pentecostal services, the minister makes The Call and the
congregation makes the Response in what is referred to as Call and
Response. Imagine that. The minister quotes a Scripture and asks “can
I get a witness?” a half dozen or so eager parishioners stands up
with arm up stretched and shouts Hallelujah and/or Amen. And the
cycle repeats like the instruction on a bottle of shampoo: Wash Rinse
Repeat. Again, the three words. However enthused is the congregation,
as soon as the minister stops the calls, the responses cease too.
Until the next service.
Donald
Trump employs such a protocol in his regular rally gatherings. He
doesn’t need to initiate the first “Send her back” chant. He
has already primed that pump with tweet for the few days leading up
to the rally. There is always a few zealous people in the audience
who are more than willing to show their leader that he has a loyal
following. The whole process is an exercise in Stochastic
manipulation. He never has to start the chant, thereby being able to
show it was spontaneous. His reactions are certain proof that he
approves and is pleased with the behavior.
He
has the ability to schedule as many rallies as he wants to further
his agenda and attempt to be reelected for a second 4 years. Even
though no other President in US history has ever used his office in
this manner, he is not above doing anything he wants to without
regard to the consequences. It is as I often write, a Tuna! Scheme,
one where the buying and selling of everything in paramount and
without concern for the consequences.
Donald
Trump acts like the CEO of a large corporation (actually he is one)
where everything outside the core enterprise is an “externality”
to be ignored. Mining corporations consider injured miners and
retired miners as external to their purpose of mining. They are to be
discarded when their usefulness is depleted. Trump’s political base
will be likewise jettisoned at the moment they do not serve his goal
of attention seeking and aggrandizement. He loves himself more than
any other thing. This probably stems from not being loved by anyone
before.
His
adoring base are the useful idiots referred to by economist Ludwig
von Mises and put to practical purpose by Vladimir Lenin. The
Useful Idiots have their place but are completely expendable in the
end.
At
some point, either on January 21, 2021 or 2025 the natural processes
of the succession of power will wipe Donald Trump from the Oval
Office, if not before due to infirmity or impeachment. Very quickly
his base will return to football and beer. Many of them will have
died of their own decay. The short attention spans will be following
other irresistible mantras. They will hold no sway in America much
longer.
What
will persist is the Federal Court appointments. They will have the
longest lasting influence on American society. Even all Wrecking Crew
appointment to cabinet positions and to heads of Federal agencies
will soon be turned over to people who will act consistent with the
purposes of their agencies and that of the President.
While
the political landscape appears to be quite bleak right now, the
human behaviors which have allowed this perversion the great ideals
of America will also be the ones that swing the pendulum back the
other way.
