I have to say I'm quite convinced that trump's groupies are ensnared in a learning trance - and I think you've just explained how. Given the overwhelming absence of continuity or coherence within trump's spoken word word-salad performances, fans would certainly need to attend, and then not attend, and then attend, and then not attend and so on to infinity. And within trump's cognitive catastrophe one would have to focus - beyond all human ability - in a futile attempt to extract 1 micron of logic or actual thought. The Guardian piece below is my evidence...
One technique that I would add to Thom's list is placement or the use of physical space. I can give two examples from my experience.
The first is from my days as a trail lawyer with jury trials. As we prepared for trail, we would map out the key points for our case and relate those to each witness' testimony. We would develop a "theory of the case" that was to thread through from opening statements to closing arguments.
Usually we would be behind a podium when examining witnesses but we would have some freedom of movement often around handing a witness a document or pointing to a large exhibit. When making a key point we would always try to return to the same place. That was an anchoring technique for the jury to focus on the key points in our theory of the case.
When teaching executives, I use a similar model. Usually in-person executive education is conducted in either a U-shaped setting or in rounds. In a similar manner to trying a case, I move around the room and interact with different members of the class. This helps to hone attention because we are all taught in elementary school to pay attention to the teacher. By moving around this creates both a prompt towards attention--"Am I going to be called on?"--and the spatial effect.
I learned this technique from two law professors who were very skilled at this technique.
Thom Hartmann - bomoh of the communications dojo.
I have to say I'm quite convinced that trump's groupies are ensnared in a learning trance - and I think you've just explained how. Given the overwhelming absence of continuity or coherence within trump's spoken word word-salad performances, fans would certainly need to attend, and then not attend, and then attend, and then not attend and so on to infinity. And within trump's cognitive catastrophe one would have to focus - beyond all human ability - in a futile attempt to extract 1 micron of logic or actual thought. The Guardian piece below is my evidence...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/06/donald-trump-speech-analysis
One technique that I would add to Thom's list is placement or the use of physical space. I can give two examples from my experience.
The first is from my days as a trail lawyer with jury trials. As we prepared for trail, we would map out the key points for our case and relate those to each witness' testimony. We would develop a "theory of the case" that was to thread through from opening statements to closing arguments.
Usually we would be behind a podium when examining witnesses but we would have some freedom of movement often around handing a witness a document or pointing to a large exhibit. When making a key point we would always try to return to the same place. That was an anchoring technique for the jury to focus on the key points in our theory of the case.
When teaching executives, I use a similar model. Usually in-person executive education is conducted in either a U-shaped setting or in rounds. In a similar manner to trying a case, I move around the room and interact with different members of the class. This helps to hone attention because we are all taught in elementary school to pay attention to the teacher. By moving around this creates both a prompt towards attention--"Am I going to be called on?"--and the spatial effect.
I learned this technique from two law professors who were very skilled at this technique.