Trumppaganda (Babel)

Yesterday Jim Acosta of CNN had his White House credentials revoked.  Press Secretary Sander’s cited as the reason Acosta’s inappropriate behavior of “placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job.” I watched the video several times and could not see Acosta doing anything of the sort. I did, however, hear Mr. Trump tell Acosta the following:  “CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them.  You are a rude, terrible person.  You shouldn’t be working for CNN.  The way you treat Sarah Huckabee is horrible.  The way you treat other people are horrible.”  Pointing and shaking his finger at Acosta, he said, “You shouldn’t treat people that way.”  This is Trumppaganda.

Trumppaganda is Trump’s modus operandi.  Repetition is a big part of it.  How many times has Trump criticized a journalist?  “Repetition,” writes Dr. Janet Johnson,  “triggers a person’s brain to accept what is being repeated as truth.  The more you hear a phrase/idea such as Fake News—the more normal the phrase and idea.  After hearing the phrase/idea repeatedly—you start to believe the phrase/idea as truth.”  The media repeats, repeats, and repeats whatever Mr. Trump says.

Here are a few of Trump’s techniques:

Name Calling:  (Low I.Q., Loser, Crazy Mika, Psycho Joe, Lying Ted, Little Marco, Crooked Hillary, Fake News).  Name calling is used to negatively “brand” a person (planting a seed of doubt in your mind) in a negative way.  Repetition is the key.

Scapegoating:  Transferring blame to another person without any proof, in order to deflect any scrutiny of himself or his actions, as in this tweet:  “The real story is that President Obama did nothing after being informed in August about Russian meddling….”  He is planting the seed of doubt and repeating it over and over again.

Diversion:  Diverting attention from real issues.  Sending out controversial tweets to derail the media’s reporting on what is really happening by making it secondary.  The midterm election news is overshadowed by the withdrawal of Acosta’s White House credentials.

Preemptive Framing:  Mr. Trump likes to shape stories his own way.  The Russian investigation is a “Witch Hunt.” He transfers blame and creates a new argument about the investigation being led by some “very bad and conflicted people.”  No proof is provided for what he claims is true.  Again, repetition plants the seed of doubt.  

Beware of Trumppaganda!  Babel!

Don't be buffaloed!