The implication here is that Machiavellian-type leaders innately or expressly know how to use emotion and underlying assumptions to foster opinions and transform them into entrenched attitudes, which are then cemented and largely unchangeable. An example is Donald Trump’s references (with no intended political bias from the authors) about undocumented Mexicans as “rapists and criminals”, Haitians being from “shithole countries” and about some women as “dogs”. For groups of people that align with some of Trump’s views, these references add emotion to their opinions, and then have the potential to transform these opinions into entrenched attitudes which become very difficult to change. Once transformed into attitudes, no attempt by experts or opposition leaders from out-groups will counter these statements. Facts and figures will have no impact (Marcel Danesi, 2020).
Pre-empt, deny and deflect
Denisi describes this technique well, which he calls “verbal weaponry: The main weapons are deception, denial, and deflection. Their utilization can be seen in several combative gambits: blame the blamer, deny any wrongdoing, deflect attention away from oneself, call one’s attackers names that will vilify them, and deflect attention away from oneself by casting doubt on the actions of others”. Trump is a master at this type of military verbiage. He will blame anyone who attacks him as being guilty of the same crime of which he is accused or else conceal the truth by constant denial”.
Trump’s frequent use of the phrase “many people say” allows him to deflect, and later deny, challenges to his comments about something or someone else (“I did not say that. It was someone else”) while still clearly placing the message in the minds of his followers. An example is a comment he made about Hillary Clinton’s emails “Many people are saying that the Iranians killed the scientist who helped the U.S. because of Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails,”. Using this technique, it is easy for him to deny that he was the originator of misinformation.
Repeat the story over and over
As Hitler described in Mein Kampf, “The intelligence of the masses is small. Their forgetfulness is great. They must be told the same thing a thousand times”. Trump has used the power of repeatability very effectively to strengthen his messages. His months long repeating that the election was “stolen” is consistent and unwavering. As Danesi reminds us of a quote frequently attributed to either Adolf Hitler or his minister of propaganda George Goebbels, “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.”
While this strategy was directed by Hitler to the world of people, it is also found in the world of physical and biological objects. We find that nature is actually rather “lazy” when it comes to the design of trees, animals and even the movement of celestial beings. Mother Nature provides one structure for the needles of a pine tree and uses this same structure in the design of the pine tree branch and even the entire tree. We find the same replication in the design of bird and bee limbs. These replicating structures are called fractals.
Scientists who focus on complex systems identify an accompanying process called the “strange attractor.” A form of replication is found in the pull of some entities to the powerful replicating behavioral patterns to be found in neighboring entities. An avalanche pulls in neighboring rocks and other materials as it crashes down the mountain side. Birds tend to replicate the flight pattern of neighboring birds. That’s what we witness when watching (and marveling at) the intricate flight of the birds while they are flocking.
