Stumped was written during the election cycle before Trump won the nomination and before he was elected president. And while the book focuses on Trump’s rise to power what makes it unique and worth studying is not Trump but rather it’s lesson in persuasion and politics. Stumped: How Trump Triumphed was written by J. M. Carpenter who runs a blog over at The Masculine Epic where he writes about persuasion, influence, and masculinity.
More and more I’ve discovered how essential it is to understand human nature, politics, persuasion, and how to make them all work together in your favor. We live in the age of the persuader where those who can best harness these abilities will achieve the most power. Which peaked my interest in this book. Politics from a left wing/right wing talking head view is for morons to pretend like those in control give a shit about them but politics viewed from a meta and marketing standpoint is fascinating. This book analyzes Trump’s rise to power the marketing and persuasion principles he used to what made his timing perfect.
The Masculine Monster In The Beta Sea
It’s been a very long time since America has had a truly masculine leader. And for all his faults Trump does a good job of representing himself as masculine and strong. This masculinity makes helped him to stand out from the other candidates such as Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, or Marco Rubio. If you had a gun held to your head and was asked who you wanted leading you in battle and were given the choice between Trump, Cruz, Rubio, and Bush who would you choose. Okay yeah “Pull the damn trigger” might be the best option but aside from that you’d likely pick Trump.
J.M. talks about how on a tribal level Trump represents many of the tribal leader qualitites that people naturally gravitate to. He also points out that humans are by no means rational actors but make their decisions based on emotions, something that many people tend to forget especially in the political realm. Humans are not controlled by reason and logic but by their base animal like instincts and the tribal instinct is one of the strongest. People react positively to Trump’s boldness on a visceral level.
Dominating Space
Next J.M. talks about a very important political concept and that is dominating space. Dominating space essentially means to will yourself to power and dominating the world around you. Trump does this very well. He is always taking ground and always on the offensive. He plays by his own rules which are the rules that are going to benefit him the most. Trump is great at keeping all eyes on him and dominating the media. For example in the primaries most Republican candidates talked about their plans in relation to Trump.
Trump dominated their minds. You can also see this on issues like immigration, even if you disagree with his stance. While the other candidates were talking about weak willed minor changes to immigration Trump talked about building a wall, deporting illegals, and even how “Mexicans are rapists” who do you think is dominating that topic of conversation and taking up that space in the public’s mind. Trump makes big promises and bold but sometimes foolhardy remarks (though they keep the attention on him) to dominate space.
Frame, Attack, Counter Attack
This in my opinion was the best chapter of the book. It talks about how Trump can take things that would sink other opponents (for example “Grab em by the pussy”) and change them to a strength or have it ignored completely hence earning him the nickname “The Teflon Don”. You’ll notice that Trump wisely never apologizes which would admit defeat and encourage more attack. Apologizing is like throwing blood in water full of sharks. In addition to never apologizing Trump also is always on the offensive. Someone attacks him and he either reframes it as a positive or simply attacks the other person holding frame.
Trump’s strong frame is also another source of his popularity and rise to power. Another example of this is Trump’s name calling. Immature sure but also effective as it appeals to people’s baser emotions (the one’s they are controlled by) for example “low energy Jeb” or “little Marco” or “crooked Hillary”. And here you thought name calling was ineffective. If it appeals to a visceral emotion then it can be every effective.
Sales, Entertainment, & Politics
Throughout the book J.M. talks about some of other Trump’s other uses of his selling and persuasion abilities to help sway the crowd to his favor. Things such as charisma, rewarding his followers, and making them feel good. Making use on an in-group and an out-group taking advantage of human’s strong tribal loyalties. Trump also is a master of using new forms of communication and demonstrating social proof through them. Whether it’s his nearly 50 million followers or his huge rallies.
Trump makes sure that he uses these as social proof for others to feel comfortable getting on “The Trump Train” and “Making America Great Again”. Speaking of which J.M. also breaks down why Trump’s slogan is so effective and compares it to others in the race. Trump also uses his personal brand and his knowledge of good offers to help persuade people to his cause. J.M. spends around half the book explaining Trump’s persuasion skills and how you can use them yourself.
The Political Climate
J.M. also talks about the political climate and how Trump picked the perfect time to run, something he’s been saying he’ll do for awhile. J.M. talks about previous elections and even breaks down every election that America has had and why each side won in each election, a brief but powerful overall view of how politics work and what it takes to win. J.M. also analyzes that growing distrust of the ruling class and how people like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders could represent the future of American politics for better or for worse.
Even with all of Trump’s sales and persuasion skills he still had to take into account the environment in which he was running. Something everyone would be wise to do. Get a lay of the land before charging in. The revolts against globalism gave Trump another enemy to rally people against as both sides left and right are sick of the current political regimes in both parties whether Hillary or McCain the voters are looking for an alternative. And it was in this that Donald Trump made his entrance.
Stumped: How Trump Triumphed
This book is a great read about a very important topic. No not the 2016 election but rather influence, persuasion, and how to play the political game. Things that are timeless and essential for every man to learn especially in today’s day and age. Persuasion is only going to become more powerful there will be a greater and greater disparity between those who understand it and those who do not as time goes on.
