The Trump Drama

The Trump Drama

It has finally happened. An American president that nobody wanted post-factually, yet was elected by the people with a sufficient majority, settles in the White House with his family and takes over world domination. Worldwide, there is a great outcry, dismay is written on the faces of statesmen! Instead of cheering crowds, protesters line the path of his victory parade. Day by day, the global public has been observing how the US president works. Far more radically than expected, he signs one decree after another. First, he takes away women's right to self-determination of their bodies, builds a wall around his territory, and directs refugees back home under the eyes of the Statue of Liberty! What is happening in America, the cradle of democracy? Why is everyone outraged only now? Wasn't this drama foreseeable in advance? How could it happen that Donald Trump could become president? That is the central question that we should answer as quickly as possible before making the same mistake again. From the perspective of communication science, there are three phenomena that come together to explain the Trump drama. First: People are manipulable! Neuroscience has explained it to us for a long time, and Trump's PR strategists have paid close attention. People do not decide rationally, but rather initially purely emotionally. Trump's electoral success is primarily a manipulation success of the Trump communicators. In order: The human brain is - in a simplified way - divided into three areas (cf. Sawetz, 2015: 331). Into the reptilian brain: This is about 300 million years old and the oldest part in the evolutionary history of our brain. Our primal instincts are stored there. A sensory stimulus like light, noise, etc. activates the reptilian central and checks: Do I need to fight, flee, play dead - or is everything fine and I can relax again. Depending on the judgment my brain reaches in a fraction of a second, gates open in the reptilian brain and the stimulus is forwarded to the limbic brain (cf. Sawetz, 2015: 186). The limbic brain is about 30 million years old. Our emotions that we have learned in this context are located there. Not only in this life, but emotions can also have been inherited. What feeling does the sensory stimulus trigger in my limbic brain: anger, sadness, fear, joy, worry, euphoria? Depending on this - at this point where this emotion sits, the gate opens into my 10 million years old neocortex, and I finally have the opportunity to decide soberly and rationally what to do next. An example: I hear a woman's screaming voice. The sound is sent as a sensory stimulus through my ears to my reptilian brain. Check: "Do I need to flee, fight, play dead?" No, I see: "It's just a woman screaming." The gate opens, and my emotions check: "Why do I know this? Oh yes, this woman reminds me of my sister!" If I connect this screaming with a situation that I find sympathetic, the stimulus is forwarded to the neocortex central, and I decide: "Oh, this woman needs help. I'll go to her and ask what's wrong." If the screaming reminds me of a negative situation, I get stressed, and the stimulus is forwarded to another region of my neocortex. My decision might be: "She's screaming again, that stupid cow. I'm going to tell her to stop immediately!" Human decision-making is never purely rational but always shaped and filtered by our primal instincts and emotions. Trump's Ingenious PR Strategy When looking at the US election through the logic of our brain - who then elected Trump to the White House? One thing is clear: it was certainly not a rational neocortex decision. The PR strategists of the current president knew about the findings of neuroscience and ruthlessly used them for their purposes. And Trump was a perfect protagonist for this. What was the PR strategy that made Trump a world ruler? What is the Trump recipe? Take a protagonist who has great potential for irritation. He must be loud, flashy - in short: The reptilian brain expects a large amount of sensory stimuli. Then we emotionally evaluate this sensory stimulus: Great irritation! Wonderful, because it increases attention. The brain is stressed and needs more energy to cope with it. The stimulus is stored in the limbic brain and leaves its traces there. Depending on the context in which I have experienced a person similar to the protagonist, I will decide where to forward the stimulus into the neocortex. Does "angry shouting, flushed face" mean to me: "He is committed and authentic!" Then I will evaluate the event rationally accordingly. Does it mean to me: "This guy has no self-control and reacts uncontrollably!" I will decide differently. The more often I receive such similar sensory impressions from the protagonist that irritate me time and again and thus bind my attention, the more the protagonist leaves his marks in my world of thought. The US strategists' smartest trick was to play the whole range of sensory impressions. They even reached those men and women for whom Trump was never an option from the beginning. They targeted the most primal instinct, the sexual drive. Under the campaign slogan "grab them by the pussy," it was clear: "This is really going too far! This man with this view of women is not electable!" However, the survey results showed a different picture. The support for Trump increased! Especially when the affected women were shown: all models, each more beautiful than the other. Didn't perhaps some limbic brains think: "Hmm, I would also grab that lady?" Surprisingly, the poll numbers among women also rose. At the same time, more and more women in the media euphorically exclaimed: "Trump could have any woman. That's a compliment for a woman if Trump grabs her!" Wait, did we understand that correctly? "Grab them by the pussy" is the new accolade for a woman? A questionable view of women that not only the former First Lady Michelle Obama publicly criticized. After all, it brought Trump ratings. The limbic brain continued to be highly irritated by all these media impressions, and Trump once again left his sleazy traces. People are Getting Dumber A second phenomenon that allows people like Trump to become presidents should not be overlooked: We are getting dumber! Scientifically speaking, this is referred to as the "Knowledge Gap" or the knowledge gap hypothesis (cf. Kubicek/Welling, 2000: 501). This means that the gap between those who have received a broad education is widening compared to those with low educational levels. It is worth noting that our brain function declines if we do not continuously use our brains. Similar to a muscle that is spared, the decrease is an energy efficiency measure of our brain. Modern media consumption behavior favors this phenomenon. The frequent consumption of 140-character short messages, chat communication with emoticons, and like buttons consume much less brain capacity. Why should we exert an oversized brain structure if it only costs energy? The organism reacts as always in human evolution and breaks down what is too much: Quickly and decisively, we switch sides in the knowledge gap. And when we notice it, it is too late! Those who want to read a multi-page professional article after a long time will have difficulties because the brain is no longer accustomed to this form of concentration, and reading becomes an effort. The Ostrich Strategy Paves the Way for Trump A third phenomenon that scientists call "Cognitive Dissonance" (cf. Festinger, 1957: 3) was long observed in Trump. "It cannot be what must not be," was the inner attitude of the election observers. People look for arguments that correspond to their ideas and confirm what they think (want) - regardless of the facts. Objective perception is overridden. Individuals move in their "bubble," in the circle of their social media friends who all have the same opinion as themselves. The fact that the preselection of their own "bubble" is not objective and therefore cannot reflect the "real reality" is overlooked. Google goes a step further and only shows us the search results that it deems relevant based on our cyber history. Access to everything else and foreign is increasingly lost. We lose our judgment because we lack the basis for decisions. These are the three approaches that explain how the Trump drama began. What do we learn from this? How can we do better in the future? Conclusion: Pay Attention and Improve! It is utopian to believe that we could escape all these influences and henceforth only make "reasonable" decisions. In a globalized world observed by the media, where even presidents now engage in public Twitter exchanges, we lack the personal access to perceive world events up close. However, it is important that we are aware of this: Our decisions are filtered and guided by our drives and emotions. Media and communication experts exploit this effect deliberately and consciously. That is their job! For our own protection, however, we should try to interpret the signs early on: With people who irritate us with their strong sensory appearances, caution is advised! A loud crowd shouting "traitors to the people! Lying press!" with flushed faces and chanting is directly marching into our limbic brain to nest there. Quick check: What emotion is triggered in me? Fear, panic, joy? Even if it seems absurd, a second look at the situation, combined with the question: Who benefits from putting me in this emotional state is often worthwhile. Even if we don't want to admit it, can we exclude it with