1/ At first glance at the Guardian headline for the article, I cringed inside. "Feel the love, feel the hate--my week in the cauldron of Trump's wild rallies." theguardian.com/us-news/2018/n… But, actually the article is very insightful, though in a very different way than the writer
2/ the writer may have intended. And, it also shows you why it is extremely dangerous to broadcast Trump's rallies live because above and beyond the transmission of his lies and attacks, it is broadcasting emotions which are far, far more powerful in a Fourth Generation War in
3/ which the central objective is to delegitimize your opposition. In this case, the Trump/Republican Nationalist Party need to delegitimize the Democratic Party, DP voters, and liberalism. But, 4GW as a strategy comes directly from John Boyd's formulation of moral conflict.
4/ Boyd briefed that in addition to tactical, operational, and strategic levels of war, there are physical, mental, and moral, with moral conflict being the highest and most important. You could win a physical tactical victory, yet lose at the strategic moral level of conflict.
5/ Since Boyd was deeply concerned about moral conflict, he wrote those engaged in moral conflict against their opponent or enemy sought to create, exploit and magnify Menace, Uncertainty, and Mistrust. The aim was to instill in your opponent Fear, Anxiety, and Alienation in
6/ order to generate as much internal friction as possible. The purpose of generating greater friction was to destroy the moral bonds that permit an organic whole to exist. Moral Victory was the triumph of courage, confidence, and esprit de corps over Fear, Anxiety, and
7/ Anxiety. Conversely, Moral Defeat was the triumph of Fear, Anxiety, and Alienation over courage, confidence, and esprit de corps. Moral Victory depended upon Moral Values (any ones will do) and Moral Strength, which is a mental capacity. @guardian article is a synopsis of 5
8/ rallies and the dominant emotion at the rally. The 5 emotions that the writer distilled were: LOVE, HOPE, and STRENGTH, and, HATE and FEAR. This is a classic Fourth Generation Warfare formulation using Boyd's model of moral conflict. Trump raises cultural and/or existential
9/ threats through FEAR. He raises their levels of sense of Fear, Anxiety, and Alienation, but combines FEAR with HATE. But, then he does more. He bonds himself as their protector and savior with LOVE. They love each other. They are enraptured and transformed into one movement.
10/ Trump talks about STRENGTH. Whether it is economic statistics or destroying ISIS or their unity, STRENGTH can be used to overcome Menace, Anxiety, and Uncertainty. And lastly, Trump gives them HOPE. Whatever existential or cultural threat the Left poses, we see victory. And,
11/ the Guardian writer actually captured this moral conflict/4GW but did not realize it: BQ They carry with them a renewed love of their leader, reawakened fears about the mortal threats all around, strength in themselves and the rightness of their crusade,
12/ hate in their bellies towards those they call “un-Americans”, and hope that their worldview will prevail. EQ And this is why, IMHO, broadcasting Trump's rallies are dangerous. Yes, the lies, nativism, racism. But, it is the elements of Moral Conflict that is most dangerous.
