Part 1—It's not necessarily wrong: First, a bit of disclosure.
We've never read the Dilbert cartoon. Until yesterday, we didn't know the name of its creator.
Today, we do know that name—Scott Adams. We know it because of an on-line report in the Washington Post, which explains why Adams thinks that Donald J. Trump will win November's election.
Apparently, Adams thinks Trump is going to win by a large margin. In the passage shown below, the Post's Michael Cavna provides a basic outline of Adams' view.
Cavna's report appeared in March. It offers this overview:
CAVNA (5/30/16): ...Adams believes Donald Trump will win the presidency. In a landslide.Has Donald J. Trump "turned the game around" in the manner of "a master persuader?"
Adams, in other words, believes that Trump himself has turned the campaign game around. On the stump, the real-estate mogul is not running on the knowledge of his numbers or the dissection of the data. He is running on our emotions, Adams says, and sly appeals to our own human irrationality. Since last August, in fact, when many were calling Trump’s entry a clown candidacy, the “Dilbert” cartoonist was already declaring The Donald a master in the powers of persuasion who would undoubtedly rise in the polls. And last week, Adams began blogging about how Trump can rhetorically dismantle Clinton’s candidacy next.
Adams, mind you, is not endorsing Trump or supporting his politics...And he is not saying that Trump would be the best president. What the Bay Area-based cartoonist recognizes, he says, is the careful art behind Trump’s rhetorical techniques. And The Donald, he says, is playing his competitors like a fiddle—before beating them like a drum.
Most simply put: Adams believes Trump will win because he’s “a master persuader.”
In many ways, he has. That doesn't mean that he will "win in a landslide" this fall. We'll be surprised if he does. He may not win at all.
Still, Trump has "turned the game around" in certain dangerous ways. In our view, it's important to note a related fact:
In doing this, Trump has been playing on some of the ways the mainstream press corps had already "turned the game around" over the past thirty years.
Has the mainstream press "turned the game around" over the past thirty years? For the most part, liberals haven't been allowed to read, hear or think about this important question.
As part of an obvious code of silence, the tribal leaders we liberals trust have refused to discuss this topic. They've disappeared the basic facts which show how this game has been played.
Their names are Drum and Chait—and also Maddow, Hayes and Blow. They have refused to discuss the behavior of their upper-end press corps colleagues over the past thirty years.
Drum, Chait, Maddow, Hayes and Blow are viewed as trustworthy liberals, but they're also engaged in a long-running code of silence. For these reasons, the typical liberal knows very little about the way the mainstream press had already "turned the game around" before the arrival of Trump.
We recommend Cavna's report. He lists six things "Candidate Trump is doing to win campaign hearts and minds, according to Scott Adams."
All six points are worth considering. The press was involved in all these behaviors before Candidate Trump came along.
Who will win November's election? We have no idea. That said:
In the next few days, we'll review the points Cavna makes in his Adams Report. We'll visit the logic of Superman comic books and "reality TV" shows. We'll ponder the 1962 film, The Manchurian Candidate.
In that famous and fascinating film, "poor, poor Raymond" Shaw has been successfully brainwashed. That film was fiction, of course.
In the real world where we actually live, distant cousins to "brainwashing" actually do affect hearts and minds and voters' basic perceptions. Over the past thirty years, distant cousins to such techniques have in fact taken wide hold in the silly, gong-show-based world of the "mainstream press corps."
Increasingly, our political discourse has become "narrative all the way down." In his efforts since last June, Candidate Trump has been surfing behind that undiscussed, brain-damaged culture.
Will "Crooked Hillary" go down to defeat this fall? Yes, that really could happen. The silence of the career liberal lambs has helped create the comic book world in which Donald J. Trump's comic book pitch actually could take hold.
Tomorrow: "Willing to do and say anything"
IMHO Scott Adams' six points are true about Trump, but they're true of all successful politicians. E.g.
ReplyDelete"And isn’t that essentially, in turn, what Trump is doing? He is acknowledging the suffering of some, Adams says, and then appealing emotionally to that."
I agree. But, recall that one way Bill Clinton appealed to people was to feel their pain.
In short, the question should be whether Trump does these things more than other candidates. I think he does.
You are missing the point. Nothing Trump has done would matter without Drum and Chait.
DeleteThat said, also Maddow, Hayes, and Blow.
Three of Adams' six points are about the treatment of facts. That's where the media has aided and abetted Trump. So, yes, Trump would not have been able to gain the hearts and minds of voters without collusion from the media, which has behaved as if facts did not matter and emphasized Trump's emotional messages at every opportunity. Liberal and conservative media have been indistinguishable in this, especially Maddow, Matthews and the others who gave Trump so much air time from the start.
DeleteBill Clinton never behaved as if facts didn't matter. He has been the ultimate wonk when it comes to details and facts. That's part of what made him such a good president. Hillary is like him in that respect.
DeleteConservative media has nothing to do with this.
DeleteDrum, Chait, Maddow, Hayes and Blow are viewed as trustworthy liberals, but they're also engaged in a long-running code of silence. For these reasons, the typical liberal knows very little about the way he or she has been turned into poor, poor Raymond Shaw.
Chris Matthews literally put together a one hour infomercial masquerading as a "documentary" right before the primaries started. It was replayed multiple times on the liberal MSNBC.
DeleteShameless is not adequate.
Shameless MSNBC to Air Donald Trump ‘Documentary’ Hosted by Chris Matthews
Matthews, who headlined an hour-long “documentary” infomercial on Trump and has excitedly praised Trump’s “phallic” buildings, clearly has a thing for strong-men that overrides the matters of principle and substance that he pays lip-service to. While it’s no fun to watch, Matthews is a useful warning sign that many more Americans like him are susceptible to Trump’s appeal. LINK
You can throw any irrelevant person into the mix you want, but it boils down to Drum and Chait. And, of course, Maddow, Hayes, and Blow.
Delete"Nothing Trump has done would matter without Drum and Chait."
DeleteBecause you're an immense douchebag, you imagine that (and your other contributions) are clever and damning of Somerby's analysis.
Pretty sad when one thinks about it.
Spoken like a typical dumb liberal rube @ 2:31. You can pretend to defend Somerby but you are really applauding the silent liberal lambs whose careers helped create the comic book world in which Donald J. Trump's comic book pitch actually could take hold.
DeleteWhen Matthews says he gets a thrill up his leg listening to Trump that's when libs should be worried.
DeleteAnonymousMay 31, 2016 at 11:37 AM -- I agree. Bill Clinton was really good at policy. He's very smart and has a great memory. Of course, he sometimes lied. E.g., his denial of sex with various bimbos.
DeleteIt's perhaps noteworthy that he remained popular after the exposure of his lie to the country about never having sex with "that woman, Miss Lewinsky". Maybe the country doesn't mind being lied to. Maybe Trump's shifting statements and positions don't bother most voters.
Scott Adams is a men's rights advocate. Trump would have special appeal to him. He may appear to be a dispassionate analyst of Trump's style but I think he also resonates to Trump's message about women (symbolized by Hillary and her candidacy).
ReplyDeleteThat Alpha/Beta male terminology is a give away:
"Writes Adams: “Identity is always the strongest level of persuasion. The only way to beat it is with dirty tricks or a stronger identity play. … [And] Trump is well on his way to owning the identities of American, Alpha Males, and Women Who Like Alpha Males. Clinton is well on her way to owning the identities of angry women, beta males, immigrants, and disenfranchised minorities."
Adams is not important. We never knew his name or even heard of Dilbert cartoons before.
DeleteWe have heard of Superman. In the real world where we actually live distant cousins say it is Drum and Chait who are to blame. Also worth considering: Maddow, Hayes, and Blow.
Dilbert was read by people who work in cubicles at high tech companies, like those in Silicon Valley where Adams lives.
DeleteOur liberal journalists should be helping liberal candidates and promoting progressive interests, not helping Trump get elected.
Drum lately has been talking about Hillary's voice, echoing the sexist Trump attack where he says he cannot stand her screaming. Drum doesn't see what it wrong with saying that same thing. Drum thinks only men should scream and Hillary shouldn't open her mouth unless it is pretty. We've seen what Blow does in supporting conservative attacks on the Democratic nominee. Maddow and Hayes have bent over backward NOT to help HIllary and to promote Trump. Why are they doing this?
Adams is almost as old as Somerby. Since Somerby is a professional comedian I am not buyiung his denials about knowledge of the comic strip.
DeleteBecause Picasso is a painter, I don't buy his denial about knowledge of Norman Rockwell. Have you ever heard the word genre?
DeleteDid Rockwell and Picasso ever meet?
Deletehttp://www.chacha.com/question/did-the-painters-norman-rockwell-and-pablo-picasso-ever-meet
"In the next few days, we'll review the points Cavna makes in his Adams Report. We'll visit the logic of Superman comic books and "reality TV" shows. We'll ponder the 1962 film, The Manchurian Candidate."
ReplyDeleteCan we have an update on any remodeling going on in the Kitchens of Meredith Vieira too, please?
Why are you here if you don't value what this blog has to say? You are annoying the people who do care about it.
DeleteMayhaps you should meditate on the vacuity of your cranial cavity.
DeleteMayhaps you should stick your reproductive organ up your own hindmost cavity.
DeleteDoes vacuity facilitate meditation? Do they go hand in hand. or hand in glove if you prefer? Or if they shoe doesn't fit, why kick a slow metaphor where the sun is a hard star to find?
DeleteSomerby...A Man Who Has Proven For Decades He Cannot Be Surprised
ReplyDelete2016
"Has Donald J. Trump "turned the game around" in the manner of "a master persuader?"
In many ways, he has. That doesn't mean that he will "win in a landslide" this fall. We'll be surprised if he does. He may not win at all."
2003
"Here at THE HOWLER, we’ve never doubted that Saddam had WMDs. In fact, we’d be surprised if he didn’t. We think antiwar types set themselves up for a fall when they crow about the lack of quick discovery."
Actually, since they didn't find WMDs we can assume that Somerby was surprised, so your heading that says "A man who has proven for decades he cannot be surprised" is clearly wrong.
DeleteWhy does this bother you? Everyone has opinions. Some correct, others not.
I think you are KZ and that you are off your meds again, back here annoying people with trivialities that matter a whole lot to you and not at all to other people. Wouldn't you be better off reading a blog that doesn't seem to annoy you so much?
No, they would not be better off reading any other blogs. These are the type of people who are certain of their certitude twisting themselves in knots for ??? I don't know. Since I actually blew up nerve agents in Iraq in 1991, it WAS surprising we Rumsfeld couldn't find one WMD shell in the North, East, West or South some such ?!? They are unreasonable people that have no ability to discuss these topics reasonably because there can be no "grey area" in their certitude or "grey area" in between their ears. More like onions and blocks. And I sent this UNCLASSIFIED! LOL.
DeleteToo bad they didn't tell you about wearing your mask when you were over there in '91.
DeleteBut I don't really think you are KZ.
HRC didn't tell anyone in Obama Administration she was using a private server stashed in her Chappaqua basement. The only reason the public knows about this now is because of Select Committee on Benghazi investigation into her mishandling the situation and erroneously blaming the youtube video for the dead Americans. If HRC figured what she was doing was allowed by State Department and didn't need to check with them first for permission, why did she keep the private server secret from even POTUS Obama? Why did she instruct her underlings to never talk about the private server?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/us/politics/hillary-clintons-use-of-private-email-at-state-department-raises-flags.html?_r=1
Get the cigarettes and firing squad prepared. Point PROVEN! /not
Delete@1:57
DeleteWhat, no blind fold? The point is obvious. People do not hide things from their boss that are permissible under the rules of their employment.
The old "/not" gave me a chuckle. Too few even remember the craze when it swept televised comedy. I bet Somerby does, though.
Deletecicero,
DeleteYou seem to be misinformed about the email issue. Hillary did not keep her private email a secret from Obama, nor did she instruct anyone to never talk about it. Here are all the facts on the matter:
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/briefing/factsheets/2015/07/13/email-facts/
The public has not been served by knowing about her private email, it is of absolutely no consequence.
I imagine it is likely she also did not use government issued toilet paper when she used the restroom while at work, perhaps opting instead to bring in her own stash of Charmin. This is the level of your discourse.
Again, you mischaracterize what POTUS Obama knew about HRC's peculiar interpretation of rules.
DeleteNBC 60 Minutes: President Obama Didn't Know About Hillary Clinton's Private Email Server.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PpSTlnUEWQ
In one meeting, one staff member raised concerns that information sent and received on Secretary Clinton’s account could contain Federal records that needed to be preserved in order to satisfy Federal recordkeeping requirements,” the report noted.
The staff member recalled that the director said Clinton’s personal system had already been reviewed and approved by legal staff “and that the matter was not to be discussed any further,” according to the report’s language.
“As previously noted, OIG found no evidence that staff in the Office of the Legal Adviser reviewed or approved Secretary Clinton’s personal system,” the next line of the report reads.
The other staff member who raised concerns said the director stated that the department’s mission is to “support the Secretary and instructed the staff never to speak of the Secretary’s personal email system again.”
The IG and FBI do not share your opinion about all this being of no consequence.
It's of no consequence to the public. It may influence future protocol within the State Department, but really OIG and FBI are just bending to republican pressure, there is no issue. In fact during the Bush Administration more than 90 staff in the State Department alone used private email for official business, who knows how many across the entire administration. No republicans were concerned about that even though it posed a much greater security risk. This illustrates how this whole issue is nothing more than scheme by republicans to falsely push a negative narrative on Clinton.
DeleteAgain, Clinton never instructed anyone to not talk about it. Read your own quote from the OIG report.
Because Obama did not know about the private email, does not mean Clinton kept it a secret it from him. Bush did not know about the same behavior during his term. Presidents are not concerned with that level of mundane activity. Your assertion is laughable.
Trump is going to win. And he should. "I'm going to continue to attack the press. I find the political press to be extremely dishonest." - Donald J. Trump, May 31, 2016
ReplyDeleteYes, he gets cheers from his crowds when he attacks the press. It doesn't matter much who he attacks as long as the crowd can vent its bloodlust at some designated target. Some reporters have said they fear violence when he whips up his supporters and directs them at the reporters covering the event. Of course he considers the press dishonest -- those that don't repeat his fantasies. When we lose the free press we will descend even more quickly into a fascist state.
DeleteAnonymous @ 1:09 comments on a blog he or she apparently does not read. We lost the free press long ago.
DeleteYes, Bob gets cheers from his readers when he attacks the press. It doesn't matter much who he attacks as long as the fans can vent their bloodlust at some designated target. They mostly like it when he attacks liberals, though. In fact, they turn their bloodlust on other commenters when those commenters complain he gives right wing journalists a pass.
DeleteWhen the press is utterly smitten with a candidate/POTUS (Obama), even when the love is unrequited, they never complain. With Trump the press gets ratings and ridicule. One might imagine that would be a fair trade-off.
DeleteCicero, to prove your point of the main stream media's (apparently unrequited) smittenness with POTUS, they completely failed to credit Trump's revelation that POTUS's birth certificate was phony, and that Obama, as a newborn, was able to fake being born in Hawaii. Not only that, they have completely failed to pursue the story of Cruz's father's participation in the Kennedy assassination.
Delete"Obama May Be Illegal to Be Elected President!" was initiated by an HRC volunteer in Texas, by the name of Linda Starr.
DeleteThe media failed to credit Linda for starting the birther movement. Does that make their idolatry of Obama any less?
Media pursuing Cruz/Oswald Enquirer story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF1ITUft92Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzG1c_z_pGc
But thank you for confirming the media surrendered to Obama and his administration. They don't even get upset with Gruber, Rhodes, and Earnest lying to them on a regular basis.
This garbage has been discredited (shown to be untrue).
Delete@7:52
DeleteThe folks (Media Matters, etc) who "discredited" the origin of the birther movement never addressed the actual story. They said HRC nor her staff started the story, but they never could dispute that the HRC volunteer Starr started the story.
Has Bob really had his head up his ascot for this long?
ReplyDeleteSixteen years ago, in an episode titled “Bart to the Future,” "The Simpsons" predicted a Donald Trump presidency.
Same episode has Lisa Simpson – who describes herself as “America’s first straight, female president” aka HRC- succeeding Trump in The White House. HRC will be Bernie's age by 2020.
DeleteLois Lane will be 90, but she is already dead.
Delete@Zak
DeleteNoel Neill, best known for her portrayal of Lois Lane in the film serials Superman and Atom Man vs. Superman, as well as the 1950s television series Adventures of Superman, is 95.
She'll turn 88 next month. I ought to know.
DeleteI was married to her.
@11:52
DeleteIf you're Hal Lierley you are certainly proof of life after death. He died in 1994.
If you were married to Phyllis Coates, you should know she is 89. She was an excellent screamer.
I don't know why Somerby is ashamed to admit he got the idea for this post by watching Bill Maher on HBO.
ReplyDeleteScott Adams gets all of his ideas for the Dilbert column from people who send them to him. He neither pays them nor credits them.
ReplyDeleteI have no respect for him at all.
"As Executive Producer of Under the Gun, a documentary film that explores the epidemic of gun violence, I take responsibility for a decision that misrepresented an exchange I had with members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL)," Katie Couric May 3, 2016
ReplyDelete“As I look back at it now, even though it was allowed, I should have used two accounts. That was a mistake. I’m sorry about that. I take responsibility,” HRC September, 2015
Love is never having to say you're sorry
And yet these are two examples of people apologizing -- other than that there is no similarity.
Delete11:52
DeleteThe similarity between liberals HRC and Couric is that the apologies came only after their secrets were publicized.
You mean like Donald Trump getting caught stiffing the Vets and having to scramble to make good after reporter did some digging? Then having a juvenile temper tantrum attacking media for the whole world to see what an unstable immature intemperate buffoon he really is?
Delete@mm
DeleteExactly! Remember, Trump only became a Republican (admits he never was and still isn't a conservative) last year. His sons (who obediently do whatever pop asks them to) had not even registered as Republicans before the deadline to vote in the New York primary.
Did you imagine I was going to defend Trump?
Good. There's hope for you after all.
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ReplyDelete