Thread by @RadioFreeTom

Watching Trump repeat his "no collusion, no obstruction" mantra, I was amazed at how stupid and mindless he sounds. But he knows marketing, and it jogged a memory in my head from many years ago about how stupid the average person in his demo really is. /1

I was in a focus group for a late 1980s ad campaign for some oldies station, K-101 or something. We were offered a few bucks to give our reactions to an ad. All men, 30-ish, including a goober in a mullet and a baseball cap of some kind. They showed us an ad for the station. /2

In the ad, a 35 ish guy comes home from work, quietly sneaks to his room, takes off his tie, and jumps around playing air guitar to classic rock. His tweener daughter looks through a crack in the door and says: "Mom! He's...doing it again" with an evil smile. Mom goes to look. /3

She smiles knowingly and carefully shoos away the girl and closes the door.
Ha ha. We all get it. The ad returns you to your, uh, male youth, and doing, erm, private things in your room. Yuk yuk. The ad ends: "K-101 plays the best classic rock!" /4

We roll our eyes. Groan. Yeah, we saw what ya did there. We smirk. We're asked what the *message* is. We all, in turn, say: "Uh, lost youth. Being naughty again. Playboy in the mattress," etc.
Except Mullet Guy. He's asked what the message is. He nods, joining the convo. /5

"K-101 plays the best music," he says. There's a silence in the room. Focus Group Leader waits a respectful moment. "Anything else?"
The guy thinks: "K-101 plays the best music, all day, all night." He totally took nothing but the literal top line. That's all he got. /6

A short convo ensues, as the other guys say: "You didn't think the girl kinda spying on him was sort of creepy?" "Mom, shutting the door...yanno?" "You think he was, uh, ashamed, a little, and that's the joke?"

Mullet Guy: "K-101 plays the best classic rock."
/7

Watching Trump, I realize: That's his demo. The dumbest guy in the room who only can process the top line. No imagery, no interpretation, just whatever the basic, low-syllable message is. "No collusion. No obstruction. No collusion. No obstruction. K-101 plays the best music." /8

Now, I know Super Geniuses like Scott Adams think this is some sort of masterful persuasion game, but in reality, it's just running a simple loop enough times until the smoothest-lobed person in the room can audibly repeat it without choking on their own spit. /9

This is why, as @TheRickWilson and others keep trying to warn Dems, this is not an election about policy. You are dealing with people who are shown a sly but obvious ad about whacking off at 15 but who can only process the K-101 slogan. That's all Trump needs and he's got it. /10

But it's horrifying that we now have an electoral base of some 60 million people who are all, basically, Mullet Guy. At least the marketing guys back then put some thought into that short ad, and tried to make it funny. Turns out, they were working too hard. Trump gets it. /11x