this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2024
275 points (97.3% liked)

politics

19246 readers
3464 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them basement dwellers. On a hospital visit one time when people were dying in the ICU, he was mad that the cameras were not watching him.”

She continued: “He used to tell me: ‘It doesn’t matter what you say, Stephanie, say it enough and people will believe you.’”

She repeated a story she has told before: that during the January 6 insurrection, she asked Melania Trump whether she could tweet that there was “no place for lawlessness or violence”, and the first lady gave a one-word reply: “No.”

top 12 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Rooskie91 55 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Damn and I thought I'd never be able to agree with the man.

Also, the thing he said, "It doesn't matter what you say, say it enough and people will believe you."

This is true! They've done studies on propaganda and the determining factor on whether or not people believed it is usually volume. If you perceive a lot of social pressure to change your beliefs to fit into a group you want to be a part of, you're more likely to change your beliefs. So yah know, keep churning out those leftie memes and content!!

[–] 14th_cylon@lemm.ee 11 points 4 months ago

the determining factor on whether or not people believed it is usually volume.

It is also exactly how advertisement works - even on people who are *not affected by it at all"

You have just seen coca cola logo for a millionth time and no matter what factual information you may find about the company, it is still "coca cola vs some random noname".

[–] P1nkman@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

"If you manipulate the data, then the lie will sell itself" - Ren, Money Game Part 3

[–] Rapidcreek@lemmy.world 30 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Today the cultists will be wearing “Proud Basement Dweller” Tee Shirts.

[–] thegr8goldfish@startrek.website 3 points 4 months ago

With mushrooms stapled to their crotches.

[–] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 25 points 4 months ago (1 children)

to be fair, i also mock his supporters

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago

Never knew Trump and I had so much in common, but to be fair, he would be a basement dweller had he not been born ricu

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

If it's good enough for his role model...

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

This is unfair! Many people who dwell in basements are decent, hardworking "woke" individuals who can't afford the penthouse because of real estate tycoons like Trump! (Or rather, not like, because successful.)

[–] Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

“It doesn’t matter what you say, say it enough and people will believe you.”

The sad reality of the world we live in is that this is a true and correct statement. It is a statement that allows propaganda to even exist. And if there is anything Trump is a master at, it is exploiting this to ridiculous degrees. If there is anything Trump could teach a class at, this is it. It's probably the one and only thing he's ever learned in his life.

This is why he uses small, easy to understand buzzwords that can be repeated over and over and is easy for even the dumbest person to understand. "No Collusion". I'd be willing to bet that neither Trump nor about 80% of his followers even know what collusion means. But they've heard the term so often that it doesn't matter; they don't need to know what collusion is. They just need to know there was none of it. "Election Interference". "Biden Crime Family." "Perfect Phone Call." Same basic process. The list goes on and on and on and on.

This is why his go-to response when he's not getting media attention is to say or do something outrageous. "Kamala turned black". He said it exactly one time. How many times was it repeated over every network, independent media source, tweet, and social media outlet in existence? Hundreds, if not thousands. How many saw them, over and over and over? Millions. It doesn't matter how ridiculous it sounds. As a result of it, there are now people out there who now believe that Kamala Harris is not and was never black. Because Trump said it once, and the Jesse Waters and Sean Hannitys and the Laura Ingrahams of the world have been repeatedly saying it ad nauseum ever since.

And he knows it puts his opponents in a bind. Once his believers start falling for his garbage, his opponents have one of two options available to them. The first is to completely ignore him, which Trump successfully uses as "evidence" that he was "right". "See? They're prosecuting me! I told you if they prosecuted me, the entire judicial system is rigged!". The other is to go out of your way to try to prove Trump's statements false, which usually results in them either directly or indirectly deferring to Trump anyway in order to "appear fair." Again, look at our judicial system as a prime example. Either way, Trump wins. Either he'd have been able to get the DOJ to stay off of him due to his cries of political persecution, or he gets to go through the court system's "easy mode" in order to "appear fair".

And while all this is going on, who is all the attention focused on? Trump. Which allows the man to spew more nonsense and repeat the cycle again. And again. And again. And the media plays right into it. Including us. Don't believe me? As I type this, of the top 20 posts of this heavily left leaning community, 12 of them are about Trump, with 3 of them showing his picture in the thumbnail. By comparison, only the bottom two out of 20 mention Harris directly, and only one shows a picture of her.

He uses this tactic because it fucking works. He has admitted to using this tactic as far back as 1987 in his own book:

“The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration—and a very effective form of promotion.”

[–] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 months ago

incidentally, trump isn't the first...

His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.

https://phdn.org/archives/www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/documents/osssection3pt1.htm