Is Donald Trump an evil genius? A mad hypnotist? A dark sorcerer? According to Dilbert Comic writer and trained hypnotist, Scott Adams, Donald Trump is a “master persuader” By deftly pushing “linguistic buttons” Trump is able to assert dominance and swagger. What we figured were the crude rantings of a vulgarian could be just that but with more than a dash of black magic.
Scott Adams says he became attuned to Trump’s mastery during the first debate. Megyn Kelly had her bravura turn, confronting Trump on his robust history of chauvinism. Rather than hem and haw and evade, Trump didn’t bat an eye. Before Kelly could finish her “gotcha” Trump blurted out with a rascally smirk: “Only Rosie O'donnell.” The hushed crowd bust out, purging all that tension. When faced with accusations of misogyny, Trump succinctly picked the perfect target of casual conservative misogyny. In the blink of an eye.
No focus groups. No ground game. Apparently, the attention span of a ten-year-old with ADHD (there is hope) Trump’s strategy, if you can call it that, is intuitive: Find a weakness, find a rhythm, and attack, attack, attack. After bullying Jeb Bush for weeks on end, Jeb finally got a joke in. Trump gave him a low five, and Jeb -establishment beloved Jeb, former governor Jeb - went for it like a ten-year-old dork finally embraced by the bad boy. Trump one upped him, and Jeb, in his best gee willikers voice, went “good one!” The orange alpha was untouchable.
Of course, us good folk are immune to his peculiar charm. We look down on the euphoric Trumpkins. We watch them like bizarre animals from National Geographic. “How primitive their rituals are?” “Look, honey, it talks!”
But, are we really any better? I have to admit, as awful as Trump is, I can’t get enough! It's cruel performance art without the promise of a return to normalcy. It's a roller coaster ride without a seat belt. It's a public roll on the pleasure pain axis. Think I’m alone? How much time do you think about him? Be honest. He’s got something.
And, if there’s one silver lining from this grotesque farce it's that it affirms the mysterious power of charisma. You cannot quantify it. You cannot reduce it to safe sociological formulas. Basic rationality and liberal ethics go limp in its shadow. The Trump spectacle reveals us to still be the hairy apes in 2001: A Space Odyssey. For all our evolution, we pet in wonder Donald’s “yuuuuugggeee” monolith.
