George Lakoff Profile picture
Jan 3, 2018 14 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Trump uses social media as a weapon to control the news cycle. It works like a charm. His tweets are tactical rather than substantive. They mostly fall into one of these four categories. Image
The tweets either get his framing established first, knowing that whoever frames first tends to win. Or when things look bad for him, he diverts attention or attacks the messenger. And when he wants to test public opinion, he puts out an outrageous trial balloon.
Each tweet gets his message retweeted so he dominates social media. Reporters, social media influencers, and many others fall for it hook, line, and sinker. Every time. They retweet, share, and repeat his messages ad infinitum. This helps Trump tremendously.
They may think they’re negating or undermining him, but that’s not how human brains work. As a cognitive scientist, I can tell you: repeating his messages only helps him.
First, it focuses all attention on Trump’s antics. This makes his nonsense seem like the most important thing in the world. It’s called the “focusing illusion” – and it’s a large part of why he got elected in the first place. It makes him larger than life.
Second, constant repetition of his Trump’s messages embeds them deeply in the brains of millions of people. Whether it’s locking up his opponents or threatening nuclear war, he has the power to control tens of millions of brains via tweets. He focuses them on his chosen topics.
Third, the constant attacks and outrage increase his credibility with his base. He can portray himself as a victim of the “establishment” – under constant attacks (which he provokes with tweets). He acts, his opponents only react. He is in heroic control.
I understand the desire to portray Trump as childish or deranged. But do you deal with a child or a deranged person by sinking to their level? Do you mock and scorn them, or trumpet their ridiculousness on the front page? No.
Imagine if we took a different approach to Trump’s social media antics. Imagine if we put them in a small, quiet corner of the newspaper. Imagine if they were only a minor throwaway item at the end of the newscast. Imagine greeting them with calm clarity, not instant outrage.
Imagine keeping a steely focus on what actually matters: the dismantling of our government; Republicans robbing the middle class and poor to pay off the rich; Robert Mueller’s criminal investigation into the Trump Organization’s betrayal of America.
Imagine if we took back OUR power from this disgraceful man. Imagine if WE decided what was important, rather than dancing to Trump’s tune. Imagine if a tweet were just a tweet (or evidence in a criminal case), rather than the dictator of our reality.
We have the power stop him. But we must stop letting him control our media -- and our minds. It’s time to give Trump a Twitter Time Out. Let’s shrink him down to size. Let’s take this weapon out of his hands.
Think of Trump as a puppeteer, his tweets as the strings,
and anyone who retweets/shares him as the puppet. Cut the damn strings!
Two items trending on Twitter right now. One is what Trump wants you to focus on. But THIS is the REAL story he wishes to distract from. Please read it, share it, and keep it real. Release the transcripts! nytimes.com/2018/01/02/opi… #TrumpRussia

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More from @GeorgeLakoff

Jul 30
🧵Why the Democratic Party is the party of freedom:
The traditional idea of freedom is progressive.
America has been a nation of activists, consistently expanding its most treasured freedoms:
theframelab.org/understanding-…
🇺🇸The expansion of citizen participation and voting rights from white male property owners to non-property owners, to former slaves, to women, to those excluded by prejudice, to younger voters.
🇺🇸The expansion of opportunity, good jobs, better working conditions, and benefits to more and more Americans, from men to women, from white to nonwhite, from native born to foreign born, from English speaking to non-English speaking.
Read 9 tweets
Mar 6
12 Traps for Democrats to Avoid🧵

1. The Issue Trap: Don’t get trapped in issue silos. Unite around common values such as Freedom and a government Of, By and For the People.
Full Link at FrameLab: theframelab.org/p/twelve-commu…
2. The Poll Trap📊: Leadership is about leading, not following. Instead of simply echoing polls, Democrats must also guide the polls. Remember: “Republicans don't follow polls, Republicans try to change the polls.”
3. The Laundry List Trap📝:: Voters base their choices on values, connection, authenticity, trust, and identity, not lists of policies.

Policy matters, but it must always be framed in terms of moral values.
Read 13 tweets
Sep 1, 2023
🧵Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of all freedom. But not all speech is the same. Not all speech qualifies as “free speech.” As the indictments pile up against Trump and his co-conspirators, he has tried a ridiculous defense based on “freedom of speech.”
According to his cockamamie theory, free speech means he can say whatever he wants, regardless of the consequences. He falsely equates his leadership of the criminal conspiracy to destroy American democracy with the act of having a mere opinion or belief.
But cognitive linguists have long understood that there are different kinds of speech, and that some kinds of speech constitute “speech acts.” Speech acts are instances of speech that constitute action.
Read 7 tweets
Dec 22, 2022
🧵 Elon Musk sees his Twitter takeover as part of "a battle for the future of civilization."

His $44 billion purchase of Twitter had one key goal: to buy as much of your brain space as possible.
Yes, there's a method to his madness. georgelakoff.substack.com/p/twitter-ceo-…
The world’s richest man has little interest in “free speech.” What he wants is the power to control what the public hears, and to shape reality by turning the so-called “digital town square” into a privately-owned propaganda machine.
With American democracy under threat, Musk’s Twitter is giving us a clear glimpse of the world he would like to see. It’s a world that empowers dictators, fascists, white supremacists, Nazis, disinformation and misinformation.
Read 6 tweets
Dec 20, 2022
Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter gives him direct access to tens of millions of brains, and he is making a zealous public effort to change and control those brains by flooding them with hate and misinformation.

georgelakoff.substack.com/p/algorithm-wa…
He creating an echo chamber that forces everyone to engage the extreme conservative ideas in order to make such ideas seem mainstream. He’s shifting the discourse to favor election deniers, racists and insurrectionists …turning Twitter into a social media version of Fox.
Musk has become Twitter’s dictator, changing the rules to suit his whims, banning accounts he doesn’t like with much of a rationale. He has vast control over what we hear/see on this powerful media platform. He’s a powerful new weapon in the conservative communications arsenal.
Read 5 tweets
Dec 13, 2022
Freedom is the most crucial idea in America.

We all cherish and support freedom, yet the very meaning of the word is disputed.

Freedom means different things to different people, depending on their moral worldview. axios.com/2022/12/12/wes…
Over time, our definition of freedom has been expanded to include a greater number of people, and our freedoms have expanded in a progressive direction.

We have seen an expansion of citizen participation and voter rights, opportunity, worker rights and public education.
All of these have helped to expand freedom for a greater number of Americans.

What radical Republicans aim to do is reverse many of these hard-won gains and go back to the time before these progressive freedoms were established.
Read 6 tweets

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