The Next President is...

[disgruntledemployee]

1 hour ago, brabus said:

So you heard it, but did not listen to it - there’s a difference. To address this single point you (and that article) have cherry picked out to try and use as some beacon of “mental faculty loss,” Trump was talking to the cadets about the importance of momentum - finding it, keeping it, and if you lose it, recognize that and pivot. He used an allegory of a businessman he knew who lost momentum, made poor decisions whilst doing so, didn’t recognize it early enough, and thus he basically tubed his life. It was long winded (as Trump can be) and could have been shortened with the same allegorical effect, but the valid message in the allegory is clear…unless one wants to be a politically-motivated hack and try to completely misrepresent it by cherry picking a couple words and talking about it without any context. 
 

Trump is a loud mouth and showman, we all know that, but along the lines of public speaking and mental faculties, this speech was 1000x better than Biden or Harris could have given. And that’s not so much a compliment to Trump as it is stating how incredibly bad the other options were…but I digress.

Maybe you should give the speeches. Or maybe stand next to him and say, "What the President meant was..."

[Lord Ratner]

1 hour ago, disgruntledemployee said:

Maybe you should give the speeches. Or maybe stand next to him and say, "What the President meant was..."

Wait so is your argument now that it's cognitive decline similar to Biden, or that he's just lying during a speech? If it's the latter pardon me for being bored by something that every politician from Thomas Jefferson to Trump has engaged in rather enthusiastically.

[disgruntledemployee]

18 minutes ago, Lord Ratner said:

Wait so is your argument now that it's cognitive decline similar to Biden, or that he's just lying during a speech? If it's the latter pardon me for being bored by something that every politician from Thomas Jefferson to Trump has engaged in rather enthusiastically.

You posted a thought-out explanation of what Trump was trying to convey.  Nice analysis, you put some thoughts into it.  Since you seem to good at this type of work, maybe you should stand next to him and do it live.  Get it?

And yes, I think there is noticeable cognitive decline too.

[disgruntledemployee]

Not surprised Trump/staff would do this.  All part of just saying shit because enough believe him regardless.  I can't wait for oval smack downs on chem trails, lizard people, and flat earth shit.

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/trumps-image-dead-white-farmers-came-reuters-footage-congo-not-south-africa-2025-05-22/

 

[brabus]

12 hours ago, disgruntledemployee said:

Maybe you should give the speeches. Or maybe stand next to him and say, "What the President meant was..."

Not required, it was crystal clear what he was talking about for anyone who has the capacity to listen. 

[BFM this]

On 5/25/2025 at 9:54 AM, disgruntledemployee said:

Maybe you should give the speeches. Or maybe stand next to him and say, "What the President meant was..."

No-one has to.  It's obvious at this point.  If whatever media you choose is headlining something that rhymes with "fine people on both sides", it's 99% certainty that checking the surrounding two minutes or less of tape will yield the polar opposite of the narrative being peddled.

[lloyd christmas]

2 hours ago, BFM this said:

No-one has to.  It's obvious at this point.  If whatever media you choose is headlining something that rhymes with "fine people on both sides", it's 99% certainty that checking the surrounding two minutes or less of tape will yield the polar opposite of the narrative being peddled.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading/listening/watching content discussing the science of manipulating people’s brains to create “social mania”.  In the last 10-15 years there have been countless examples of the herd believing and amplifying whatever the new mania is overnight.  Some examples being the #metoo movement, BLM, systemic racism, Covid lockdowns, Nazi’s, trans, Biden’s cognitive ability, Russia Russia Russia, etc.  It really is fascinating to read how the media and politicians exploit the natural instincts in human beings to fear things and in turn negatively react to emotional stimulus.  It is pure propaganda and it is extremely effective. Dan Crenshaw (who I don’t care for) did a podcast with Arthur C Brooks about it.  I’ve linked it below.  It’s a fantastic listen and worth the hour and a half of your time.  Lionel Shriver has written extensively about this as well.  I’ve posted a link to one of her articles.

The problem is, there are real negative effects on our society and how we interact with each other.  Police officers have been killed due to policing hoaxes, 2 people were just shot and killed in DC by a guy shouting Free Palestine, Trump was nearly assassinated, etc.  The endless race hysteria has created “black fatigue” which hurts race relations.  At the very least, this mess puts people in boxes and those that believe the hysteria rarely, if ever admit they fell for the hoax.  “a social frenzy seldom subsides because its agitators announce they were addled, just as the masses of ordinary people caught up in the derangement seldom acknowledge having been led astray. Everyone simply moves on, only to become consumed by something else.”  - Lionel Shriver.  We see this time and time again with people on this very board.  People leave or never post again rather than admit they were wrong. Those that stay, often double or triple down on their opinions even when faced with the eventual historical truth.  
 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hold-these-truths-with-dan-crenshaw/id1498149200?i=1000634300667
 

https://unherd.com/2024/04/how-to-spot-the-next-mania/

 

Edited Monday at 06:52 PM by lloyd christmas

[Pooter]

On 5/26/2025 at 11:59 AM, lloyd christmas said:

I’ve been doing a lot of reading/listening/watching content discussing the science of manipulating people’s brains to create “social mania”.  In the last 10-15 years there have been countless examples of the herd believing and amplifying whatever the new mania is overnight.  Some examples being the #metoo movement, BLM, systemic racism, Covid lockdowns, Nazi’s, trans, Biden’s cognitive ability, Russia Russia Russia, etc.  It really is fascinating to read how the media and politicians exploit the natural instincts in human beings to fear things and in turn negatively react to emotional stimulus.  It is pure propaganda and it is extremely effective. Dan Crenshaw (who I don’t care for) did a podcast with Arthur C Brooks about it.  I’ve linked it below.  It’s a fantastic listen and worth the hour and a half of your time.  Lionel Shriver has written extensively about this as well.  I’ve posted a link to one of her articles.

The problem is, there are real negative effects on our society and how we interact with each other.  Police officers have been killed due to policing hoaxes, 2 people were just shot and killed in DC by a guy shouting Free Palestine, Trump was nearly assassinated, etc.  The endless race hysteria has created “black fatigue” which hurts race relations.  At the very least, this mess puts people in boxes and those that believe the hysteria rarely, if ever admit they fell for the hoax.  “a social frenzy seldom subsides because its agitators announce they were addled, just as the masses of ordinary people caught up in the derangement seldom acknowledge having been led astray. Everyone simply moves on, only to become consumed by something else.”  - Lionel Shriver.  We see this time and time again with people on this very board.  People leave or never post again rather than admit they were wrong. Those that stay, often double or triple down on their opinions even when faced with the eventual historical truth.  
 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hold-these-truths-with-dan-crenshaw/id1498149200?i=1000634300667
 

https://unherd.com/2024/04/how-to-spot-the-next-mania/

 

Interesting that the only “manias” listed are the ones the left succumbed to.  Conveniently absent are: stop the steal, Obama birtherism, Benghazi, but her emails, pizza gate, qanon, vaccines cause autism, wind turbines cause cancer, the great replacement, white genocide, the war on Christmas, satanic panic, immigrants eating dogs in Ohio.. to name just a few of the right’s greatest hits. 
 

Turns out, sniffing out manufactured manias and herd mentality is only hard when the propaganda aligns with your pre-existing biases. It’s actually super easy to tell when the “other side” is acting crazy. These guys haven’t discovered anything or improved their BS detection skills at all. Any discussion of groupthink that doesn’t acknowledge it going in both directions is fundamentally un-serious.  

[lloyd christmas]

2 hours ago, Pooter said:

Interesting that the only “manias” listed are the ones the left succumbed to.  Conveniently absent are: stop the steal, Obama birtherism, Benghazi, but her emails, pizza gate, qanon, vaccines cause autism, wind turbines cause cancer, the great replacement, white genocide, the war on Christmas, satanic panic, immigrants eating dogs in Ohio.. to name just a few of the right’s greatest hits. 
 

Turns out, sniffing out manufactured manias and herd mentality is only hard when the propaganda aligns with your pre-existing biases. It’s actually super easy to tell when the “other side” is acting crazy. These guys haven’t discovered anything or improved their BS detection skills at all. Any discussion of groupthink that doesn’t acknowledge it going in both directions is fundamentally un-serious.  

Thanks for the response Pooter.  I’m not one to get into internet arguments or go back and forth with people online. But, I’ll respond.  I honestly wasn’t trying to compare one side vs the other, I was simply trying to point out that there is some interesting science behind the manipulation of large groups of people through politicians and the media and that there are real negative, tangible consequences because of the manipulation and herd mentality.  With that said, I’m struggling to see how pizzagate, Obama birtherism, wind turbines cause cancer, the war on Christmas, satanic panic, or immigrants eating dogs are anything other than silly clickbait.  

Those headlines have not had a tangible negative effect on our society.  The other examples you listed have had more tangible negative effects on us. Americans died because of gross mismanagement and poor decision making by those in charge in Benghazi, much like the exit from Afghanistan.  Vaccines may or may not cause autism, however the truth is coming out about the vaccines.  And it’s not good.  Stop the steal references the 2020 election.  We should all be aware of how big tech, social media, legacy media, politicians and Hollywood coordinated to suppress one side of the political aisle while ignoring true scandals by the other including the laptop and the pay to play schemes the Biden's were involved in.  Hindsight is 20/20 and the truth always comes out.  Hillary’s emails and the facts surrounding that fiasco exposed the double standards in the legal system between regular people and those in power.  That’s tangible and factual. You and I would have been locked up for what she did.

BLM marches and the associated violence based on policing lies caused real destruction as well as setting race relations back.  Trans issues are very real. The massive increase in the trans population needs addressed.  Whoever or whatever is driving this for profit scheme needs exposed.  There are endless young people being physically altered permanently because of it. Jews are being harassed and now in at least one example killed over violent rhetoric on college campuses.

Yes, groupthink is an issue on both sides. No doubt about it.  I’m interested in the science behind it.  That’s all my original post was meant to highlight.  

Edited yesterday at 01:38 AM by lloyd christmas

[Pooter]

@lloyd christmas sorry my post wasn't meant to be a spear at you, more at Crenshaw.  He comes off really holier than thou like he's cracked some code of critical thinking and is now immune to groupthink. Except he only seems capable of identifying groupthink when it occurs among the people he already disagrees with.

As for the examples I provided, yes obviously there is a whole world of context surrounding each one. I would argue the same applies for BLM, trans, and all the woke left punchlines the right likes to oversimplify. My point was simply that at some time or another, the entire right wing in America was completely fixated on the issues I listed in a mass hysteria just like the left was with BLM or #metoo. And it was 100% due to the right wing media whipping them up into a lather about it. You think some republican in Kansas would have known a single thing about Benghazi if fox hadn't been shoving it down their throat every night for weeks straight? Of course not. 99.9% of people probably couldn't even tell you what country or even continent Benghazi is in.

So reiterating my point here, if anyone is going to have a conversation about identifying and preventing groupthink and media programming, they need to do better than just listing all the crazy shit their political opponents do.  The hardest groupthink to sniff out is the one happening on your own side, and only once people can do that have they actually obtained any level of critical thinking.

[disgruntledemployee]

@lloyd christmas 

 I took your post and article to mean exactly what you intended, any side digging in hard and propagating their spew.  My tin foil hat uncle is so far into conspiracies, I mess with him by saying, "That's what the Chinese want you to think."

I'll try to find it, but an investigative writer did a story on a '24 congressional campaign that was trying to set a spending record. Dude flew to the state, listened to all the ads, went to bars and chatted with locals, and almost everyone asked on who they supported and why, gave at least 1 buzzword/phrase from the ad blitz, regardless of the side they supported.  IDK if the writter asked how many changed their vote based on the ads, but the point was the ads do get inside our heads.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/11/election-results-donald-trump-kamala-harris-ads-montana.html

Edited 13 hours ago by disgruntledemployee
Found the story