Get Your "Offical" Trump Card Now! (bottom left card)

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Joe Guy
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Get Your "Offical" Trump Card Now! (bottom left card)

Post by Joe Guy »

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Donald Trump wants his supporters to carry 'Trump Cards'

Donald Trump wants his supporters to carry "Trump Cards."

Trump's PAC sent two emails on Wednesday asking supporters to get on board with carrying the red-and-gold cards, which look like credit cards and bear the former president's signature.

"The card you select will be carried by Patriots all around the Country," the first email said. "They will be a sign of your dedicated support to our movement to SAVE AMERICA, and I'm putting my full trust in you."

The Trump team said in a follow-up email, "We're about to launch our Official Trump Cards, which will be reserved for President Trump's STRONGEST supporters."

"We recently met with the President in his Florida office and showed him four designs," the email continued. "Originally we were planning on releasing just one design, but when President Trump saw the cards on his desk, he said, 'These are BEAUTIFUL. We should let the American People decide - they ALWAYS know best!'"

The emails did not outline exactly what entitled one to carry a "Trump Card." Clicking on the link to vote for a design led to a fundraising page.

The Trump team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

The "Trump Card" is the group's latest fundraising merchandise. In an email on July 26, it announced it was selling signed photos of Trump for $45.

Trump has hinted that he might run for president in 2024.

The journalist Michael Wolff, the author of three books on Trump, recently told Insider that he thought Trump still didn't know he lost the election last year.

"Now, whether he has managed to successfully convince himself or whether from the get-go he was so focused on hearing what he wanted to hear, he is absolutely certain," Wolff said. "Absolutely certain that he won the election and that if he did not win it, it could only be that it was stolen from him."
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BoSoxGal
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Re: Get Your "Offical" Trump Card Now! (bottom left card)

Post by BoSoxGal »

The journalist Michael Wolff, the author of three books on Trump, recently told Insider that he thought Trump still didn't know he lost the election last year.

"Now, whether he has managed to successfully convince himself or whether from the get-go he was so focused on hearing what he wanted to hear, he is absolutely certain," Wolff said. "Absolutely certain that he won the election and that if he did not win it, it could only be that it was stolen from him."
Ah, the joy of having elected a seriously mentally disturbed person as president.

It will be interesting to see if he manages to pull off a comeback like his idol Adolf did.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan

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Bicycle Bill
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Re: Get Your "Offical" Trump Card Now! (bottom left card)

Post by Bicycle Bill »

At least he didn't decide to call it "The Covfefe Card"....

I guess these could be considered a form of "medical alert" card.  Anyone in possession of something like this is obviously suffering from a severe mental illness and should be considered a hazard to themselves or others.
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Yes, I suppose I could agree with you ... but then we'd both be wrong, wouldn't we?

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Crackpot
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Re: Get Your "Offical" Trump Card Now! (bottom left card)

Post by Crackpot »

You know what these lunatics would be saying if almost anyone else was shilling this identity card?
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.

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Joe Guy
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Re: Get Your "Offical" Trump Card Now! (bottom left card)

Post by Joe Guy »

The scariest thing about the card is that on each one it says, "Authorized by President Donald J Trump".

He really does think he is still president as he continues to attempt to convince everyone that the 2020 election was stolen.




Who would believe something as ridiculous as that?.....

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Sue U
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Re: Get Your "Offical" Trump Card Now! (bottom left card)

Post by Sue U »

There's a fascinating interview in Salon on the evolutionary psychology of propagating misinformation and its use in social conflict; some excerpts:
A terrifying new theory: Fake news and conspiracy theories as an evolutionary strategy

Social scientist Michael Bang Petersen on why people believe outrageous lies — as a tool in violent group conflict

By Paul Rosenberg
Published August 8, 2021 12:54PM (EDT)

***

The traditional narrative is, 'Well if you believe false things, then you must be stupid. It must be because you haven't really made an effort to actually figure out what is going on." But over the last few decades, more and more research has accumulated that suggests that's not the case. In fact the people who are responsible for spreading misinformation are not those who know the least about politics. They actually know quite a lot about politics. In that sense, knowledge doesn't guard against believing things that are false.

***

[ I]n human conflict it's often between two groups, and the members of one group, are cooperating with each other against the other group. That means there might be certain advantages, within one group, to spread misinformation and spread falsehoods, if that can give them an upper hand in the conflict with the other group.

***

When you want to mobilize your group, what you need to do is find out that we are facing a problem, and your way of describing that problem needs to be as attention-grabbing as possible before you can get the group to focus on the same thing. In that context, reality is seldom as juicy as fiction. By enhancing the threat — for example, by saying things that are not necessarily true — then you are in a better situation to mobilize and coordinate the attention of your own group. The key thing is that it may actually be to your group's advantage that if everyone is in agreement that we don't like these other guys, then we make sure that everyone is paying attention to this other group. So by exaggerating the actual threat posed by the other group, you can gain more effective mobilization.

***

Humans are constantly focused on signals of loyalty: "Are they loyal members of the group?" and "How can I signal that I'm a loyal member?" There are al sorts of ways in which we do that. We take on particular clothes, we have gang tattoos and all sorts of physical ways of expressing loyalty with the group.

But because we humans are exceptionally complex, another way to signal our loyalty is through the beliefs that we hold. We can signal loyalty to a group by having a certain set of beliefs, and then the question is, "Well, what is the type of belief through which we can signal that we belong?" First of all, it should be a belief that other people are not likely to have, because if everyone has this belief, then it's not a very good signal of group loyalty. It needs to be something that other people in other groups do not have. The basic logic at work here is that anyone can believe the truth, but only loyal members of the group can believe something that is blatantly false.

There is a selection pressure to develop beliefs or develop a psychology that scans for beliefs that are so bizarre and extraordinary that no one would come up with them by themselves. This would signal, "Well, I belong to this group. I know what this group is about. I have been with this group for a long time," because you would not be able to hold this belief without that prehistory.

***

But there's another aspect that's very important when it comes to group conflict, because another very good signal that you are a loyal member is beliefs that the other group would find offensive. A good way to signal that I'm loyal to this group and not that group is to take on a belief that is the exact opposite of what the other group believes. So that creates pressure not only to develop bizarre beliefs, but also bizarre beliefs that this other group is bad, is evil, or something really opposed to the particular values that they have.

***

[W]hat we are arguing is that a lot of beliefs don't really exist for navigating the world. They exist for social reasons, because they allow us to accomplish certain socially important phenomena, such as mobilizing our group or signaling that we're loyal members of the group. This means that because the function of the beliefs is not to represent reality, their veracity or truth value is not really an important feature.

***

"The Deadly Ethnic Riot" is an extremely disturbing book. It's this systematic review of what we know about what happens before, during and after ethnic massacres. I read this book when I became interested in fake news and misinformation circulating on social media, and this was recommended to me by my friend and collaborator Pascal Boyer, who is also an evolutionary psychologist. Horowitz argues that you cannot and do not have an ethnic massacre without a preceding period of rumor-sharing. His argument is exactly what I was trying to argue before, that the function of such rumors is actually not to represent reality. The total function of the rumors is to organize your group and get it ready for attack. You do so by pointing out that the enemy is powerful, that it's evil and that it's ready to attack, so you need to do something now.

One of the really interesting things about the analysis of rumors in this book is that, if you look at the content of the rumors, that's not so much predicted by what the other group has done to you or to your group. It's really predicted by what you are planning to do to the other group. So the brutality of the content of these rumors is, in a sense, part of the coordination about what we're going to do to them when we get the action going — which also suggests that the function of these rumors is not to represent reality, but to serve social functions.
GAH!

ex-khobar Andy
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Re: Get Your "Offical" Trump Card Now! (bottom left card)

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

Interesting. I'm not sure I buy it as something new. For example Saddam Hussein lied to the world about having WMD - he didn't of course but it helped his image and therefore leverage in the region. Sadly people who should have known better believed him and acted accordingly. That's the same as a cat trying to look bigger than he is when confronted with a chipmunk bent on mayhem.

And then of course if you want to unite your people against an enemy you tell them that they really will not liberate you from the dictator's chains but will rape you and your daughters as soon as they get closer than the horizon.

Fake news wielded by people who knew what they were doing has long conferred an advantage. And because as animals we are conditioned - i.e., evolved - to follow authority (our parents tell us don't eat that it'll give you gut rot; snakes are generally bad actors) and that is why most of us survive. We don't need the evolutionary approach of (say) turtles - make 1000 babies in the hope that 1 will survive long enough to propagate the species' genes. So we follow authority because it's in our best interests.

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Sue U
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Re: Get Your "Offical" Trump Card Now! (bottom left card)

Post by Sue U »

ex-khobar Andy wrote:
Mon Aug 09, 2021 5:20 pm
Fake news wielded by people who knew what they were doing has long conferred an advantage. And because as animals we are conditioned - i.e., evolved - to follow authority (our parents tell us don't eat that it'll give you gut rot; snakes are generally bad actors) and that is why most of us survive. We don't need the evolutionary approach of (say) turtles - make 1000 babies in the hope that 1 will survive long enough to propagate the species' genes. So we follow authority because it's in our best interests.
I think humans have a natural tendency toward authoritarianism because it is easier than having to figure out stuff for yourself. If there is some diktat instructing the correct way to act in any given situation it's simply a lot less stressful to know you are right because you follow the rules and meet social expectations. And to the extent that is a generational transfer of knowledge that may facilitate survival it's a lot more convenient than having to try every mushroom or study every snake individually. But that is different from what Petersen is arguing here. He is saying there is evolutionary advantage and social utility in conveying and believing patently *false* information, especially in the context of socio-political group dynamics. It facilitates focus, cohesiveness, identity, differentiation, mobilization and dominance. The dominance issue I find particularly interesting, because you can really see it in the Trumpists; it essentially boils down to them saying "We know it's not true, you know we know it's not true, but we're going to say it and believe it anyway because fuck you."
GAH!

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Re: Get Your "Offical" Trump Card Now! (bottom left card)

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

I don't think I am arguing against Petersen. We are conditioned to follow authority. There is an obvious evolutionary advantage when that authority is right as most of them are, most of the time.

There are many examples of authorities being (IMO) undeniably wrong. The various monotheistic myths for example. And I am well aware that many multi-theist religions did and continue to spin similar stories in the name of social cohesion. There is no doubt in my mind that the single most unifying force for communities in the last few thousand years has been religion. AND the single most divisive force, because by definition it creates an 'us' (believers) and a 'them' (non-believers). Evolution favors the survivors, by definition. Whether that is growing a stronger beak or a thicker carapace or the ability to create a more effective shield or explosive or fireship, those who evolve survive.

Evolution does not give you the ability to discern the correctness of your mentor's advice. One does not determine for oneself that cobras (or dragons or guys in dark clothing hitch-hiking while carrying a chainsaw) are inherently dangerous: by the time you have discovered that by trial and error you probably won't be passing that gene on to future generations. So we have evolved to follow advice from those we trust but we have not evolved to determine the truth of that advice.

Petersen's argument seems to be that there is an inherent evolutionary argument in following fake news. I'd put it slightly differently: there is an inherent evolutionary advantage in the ability to identify and follow a leader. The fact that we are around to discuss it means that we survived and won the evolutionary jackpot.

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