There’s Method To This Madness …

Posted on by under Election 2024, Free Press Issues, Political commentary, Social commentary

Have you found it difficult to concentrate lately, had periods where you just wanted to shut out the political carnage and breathe normally?  I call it ‘mind bounce’ when my head goes in 15 directions at one time and I cannot seem to focus on a single topic for more than 30 seconds!  I don’t want to read or write or even hear about Donald Trump!  I would pay money for a week without hearing his name or seeing his ugly mug on my news feed!  But no matter where you turn, there he is.  And that, my friends, is intentional.  Robert Reich has more on this topic …

How Trump is exploiting our scarcest resource

And making Biden disappear

By Robert Reich

13 January 2024

Donald Trump is a master of exploiting our scarcest resource, with significant consequence for the 2024 election.

What’s that scarcest resource — the one thing you cannot get more of even if you had all the money in the world, which is rapidly becoming your most valuable asset?

Your attention.

Our brains can take in only a limited amount of stimuli at one time. Sure, we can multi-task. But there’s limit.

When I drive on an open highway with little traffic, I can easily talk with a friend at the same time. But when traffic intensifies and I have to make decisions about how to get where I’m going, I need quiet because I have to concentrate.

All conscious sensations (sight, touch, hearing and taste) are filtered through to our brain’s thalamus, and then to our cerebral cortex where we make sense of the cacophony. Whether we’re aware of it or not, we’re continuously filtering — choosing what to pay attention to and selectively processing it.

But demands on this scarce resource are growing. We commonly refer to them as demands on our “time” but they’re really demands on our attention.

They’re not only from spouses, children, parents, friends, and employers — people who deserve our attention, whom we want to pay attention to — but from increasingly enticing and provocative sensory gusher of social media, podcasts, music, films, videos, emails, texts, and ideas.

Algorithms are learning quickly how to precisely tailor these stimuli for each of us — to arouse our curiosity, hunger, hopes, and fears, and satisfy our deepest cravings to be loved, amused, nourished, and excited. Advances in AI and virtual reality will make them even more personally alluring.

Those seeking our attention — advertisers, marketers, and politicians — are facing increasing competition to grab it. When they succeed, our attention shifts away from everything else.

This is why attention is becoming such a scarce resource. The more it’s attracted to one stimulus, the less of it we have for others.

Donald Trump is as devious and dangerous a politician as America has ever produced, largely because he knows how to grab and keep our attention. He wants to make it difficult for us to focus elsewhere.

It’s not so much what he says but how provocative it is, and how that provocation is amplified in the media. Provocation is the point.

I’m not suggesting that what Trump says is unimportant, but that a key to understanding his demagoguery is to see how he uses agitation to claim attention.

Some of us are outraged by what he says; some of us, amused; some of us, fearful; some of us, thrilled. But all of us are paying attention. (How many times have you asked or been asked: “Did you hear what Trump said today?”)

Schooled in reality television and New York tabloids, Trump is a master at provocation and agitation.

Notwithstanding his attacks on the media, top media executives love it because they’re also competing for attention and Trump gives them the means.

As the 2016 presidential race heated up, Leslie Moonves, CEO of CBS, said the Trump phenomenon “may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS,” adding, “Who would have expected the ride we’re all having right now? The money’s rolling in and this is fun. . . . I’ve never seen anything like this, and this is going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It’s a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going.” [Emphasis added]

In 2016, Trump received more coverage than any presidential candidate in American history. As president, he continued to dominate the news, for much the same reasons. Now, as a candidate for president once more, he’s doing it again.

Trump will use his upcoming criminal trials — just as he is using their preliminary processes — as further opportunities to claim our attention. He’ll vilify prosecutors, judges, Democrats, and the Justice Department. He’ll find ways to link his alleged persecution to allegedly lax treatment of Mexican Americans, Muslims, and undocumented immigrants. He’ll extol authoritarian rulers who aren’t subject to such treatment. He’ll denounce the press, and, of course, Joe Biden.

The real danger for Biden is not that he will have to defend himself against the charge that he is persecuting Trump.

The danger is that Trump will capture so much of the public’s attention that he will appears to be the more dominant and stronger candidate, and Biden will be left with so little attention that he appears to be the more submissive and weaker of the two. If Trump dominate the battle of attention, Biden will effectively disappear.

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16 thoughts on “There’s Method To This Madness …”

  1. Thank you for sharing and from across the big pond, this is giving Trump too much honor.

    Trump is not the cause of the current political climate, a consequence of the polarizing atmospheres created by Pat Buchanan and Newt Gingrich, has given rise to the incompetent authoritarianism embodied by Donald J Trump.

    Since the 1960s, divisions, injustices, paralysis, and inequality have grown, impacting society amidst technological and industrial changes. A sizable portion of the population has been left behind or refuses to adapt to the modern organized society, creating an untenable daily struggle.As George Packer notes in ‘Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal,’ economic inequality is tearing America apart. To me the conclusion is warranted, if not Trump, another more intelligent populist would have risen to tap into the authoritarian predisposition of part of the electorate. See John W Dean and Bob Altemeyer “Authoritarian Nightmare.”

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you! You are quite right … Trump is not the cause, but rather a symptom of the current socio-political climate. And you’re also right that where we are today can be traced back to Newt Gingrich.

      The real irony is that those who feel they’ve been ‘left behind’ or who are suffering due to the wealth inequality here are voting for the very ones who will continue to widen the income disparity gap. Ignorance seems to play a large role. They think they actually want an authoritarian government, yet most seem not to have read the history of Germany in 1933 and beyond. We’ve fought long and hard for civil rights for Black people, for women’s rights, and now they would gladly reverse every bit of the progress we’ve made. I don’t understand it. But you’re right … if not Trump, then they might have chosen another populist who actually knew how to think and speak, who was actually intelligent. Meanwhile, the majority in this nation actually do NOT support authoritarianism, Trump, or any of the Republican agenda, however with such dirty tricks as gerrymandering and restrictive voting laws, the minority has the louder voice. Hence, in 2016, Trump lost by 2.8 million votes, yet won the Electoral College. Is it any wonder voter apathy is a big problem?

      Liked by 1 person

      • Dear Jill, thank you for your interesting comment. I think should not be blind to the fact that also in the 1930’s there we those who believed in a path forward to a autocratic system in the U.S., thankfully this never materialized. But all the same this is a different phase, not only for the U.S. but also for our global village.

        I have made a posting on my blog, a critical observation about the house America build, city on the hill, in need of maintenance, which you might wish to read.

        Deterioration of the Shining City:

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  2. I also have concentration problems, driving to the wrong destination has happened a couple of times. As far as Trump is concerned he is for me an entainment as much as I understand the difficulties he causes for the US. I understand if he wins he is going to terminate trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand and I expect he will eventually try to ruin much of the world’s economies including the US. Those very smart leaders from China, Russia and North Korea he talks about are just waiting for this idiot who has a smelly BO to win the election, to remove the US from NATO membership, annoy the traditional allies and mismanage the US military before these bosom buddies screw us all over.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Indeed, that’s why Putin worked so hard to help him get elected the first time! And yes, Trump has already said he will withdraw the U.S. from NATO and from the Paris Climate Accords, so it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he terminates trade agreements with our allies. He also made a statement recently that he would NOT come to the aid or defense of our allies if they were under attack! Some friend, eh? This is why I’ve long said that he is a threat not only to the U.S., but to the entire globe.

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    • Agreed … up to a point. Remember that old saying, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”. I’m sick of all the attention the media gives him, and I don’t bother listening to or reading his latest rant, but I do pay attention to the gist. And no, my friend, you could NEVER be like him!

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Jill, free publicity. He loves it and exploits it. In the White House, his focus was on the twice daily news feeds. If he got bad press in the morning, he changed the paradigm by announcing a change of some sort.

    It is all about sales schtick. It is a say anything modus operandi which is why he does not mind being called a liar. With his sales schtick, he has been lying since he could talk.

    Keith

    Liked by 4 people

    • Yep, the same concept as the toddler or young child who wants attention … ANY attention will do, so if they have to break a glass or pee on the rug to get attention, they will. I’ve long said that Trump has a toddler mentality. Unfortunately, the media feeds his ego and gives him an outsized voice these days.

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