Political Theatre category archive
Stimulus–>Response 0
Robert Epstein, former Editor-in-Chief at Psychology Today among many other accomplishments, offers a construct for understanding why Donald Trump does and says what he does and says. The concept is “sympathetic audience control”; it does not refer to the individual’s controlling the audience, but rather to the audience’s affecting the individual.
Everyone, of course, is affected by this to some degree. We behave differently at the in-laws than at the neighborhood watering hole, differently in church than at a party or in a business meeting.
Epstein suggests that Trump manifests an extreme version of sympathetic audience control.
I find this completely consistent with Trump’s behavior as observed and reported daily; follow the link to determine whether or not you find his argument persuasive.
Here’s a bit (emphasis added):
Aside:
In a similar vein, Dick Polman mourns the death of truth.
Tabloid Tactics 0
Professor Robert Strong theorizes that Donald Trump’s political success is related to his mastery of super market check-out aisle marketing. A nugget:
War and Mongers or War 0
Thom and Juan Cole discuss whether it’s thinkable that Donald Trump may join with the Neocons to foment a war with Iran so as to turn the focus away from his own conduct.
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
The Raleigh News and Observer reports that Rufus Edmisten, who served on the staff of the Watergate Committee, hears a familiar ring in contemporary events. A snippet:
“I think they’re trying to outdo Watergate,” he said of President Trump’s advisers and associates and the president himself. . . .
“If some of the people around Trump would read the Nixon-Watergate playbook, they wouldn’t be doing this foolishness. Instead they are expanding on it,” he said.
Do please read the rest.
Suffer the Children 0
The Trump administration has created a predators’ paradise by ripping children from their parents and putting them on the counters of old Walmarts.
Russian Impulses 0
Shaun Mullen sums up this week in the Kremlin Kowtowing.
The Rally Crasher 0
(Typo fixed.)
Trolls and Polls 0
Thom and Joe Madison discuss Republicans’ trollish behavior.
Cult Cargo 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Jeremy Sherman explores the fascination of cults, focusing on the Cult of Trump. A snippet (emphasis added):
Cults come in all ideological flavors – left, right, religious, spiritual, philosophical. What they have in common is that deck of fake trump cards, cheap-trick ploys for feigning infallibility, invincibility, and unassailability so members can make everyone else wrong for not agreeing with them.
