
The Immigration Ban Is a Headfake, and We’re Falling for It - jkw
https://medium.com/@jakefuentes/the-immigration-ban-is-a-headfake-and-were-falling-for-it-b8910e78f0c5#.ay10k1tfp
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tomhoward
Dupe of
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13525405](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13525405)

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junto
Some of the things Trump has said are scarily effective. The Mexico wall being
a great example.

He turned the debate to who will pay for the wall. The argument about whether
there should be a wall or not became a mute point. The slight of hand is
impressive.

He plays the part of an idiot, but he is anything but.

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minitech
Just to let you know for the future, it’s a “moot point” and “sleight of
hand”. (Unless that’s intentional and I’m not getting it.)

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junto
no, the wonders of autocorrect on the new and not improved Android gesture
typing. Thanks! :)

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matt4077
This is a conspiracy theory on the level of the birth certificate myth.

\- Nothing in the administration's actions, or the individual actors' history
would lead an observer to the conclusion that they're capable of executing a
complex and coordinated plan. One example is the press release for Holocaust
Memorial Day: it was probably an amateur mistake not to specifically mention
jews. But they're now defending that as intentional, repeating it, and getting
critiqued in the harshest possible terms even by right-wing zionist groups.
There is no universe in which a dictatorial Trump would not profit from the
support of jews in the US and Israel.

\- This "theory" could also apply to almost any policy initiative whose
legality is questionable.

\- The idea that it's a staged event to distract from a reshuffling of the
National Security Council is laughable. Nobody (unfortunately) cares about him
braking a tradition of keeping the national security side, and the partisan
political side of the White House somewhat separate. That's because the
majority of people already think everything in government is party politics –
the idea of professionals acting with motives beyond Breitbart and HuffPost is
laughed at[0]

Don't fall for this stuff:

\- It's easily attacked, and you lose credibility

\- Protests are actually more effective than you might think. Even the widely-
mocked Occupy has made the 1% vs 99% narrative pervasive in political
discussions, probably laying the foundation for Sanders' success. Neither the
Arab spring nor the Ukrainian revolution, or the protests leading to German
reunification had the power to topple regimes willing to use violence, but
they did (not saying that they all ended well, only that they had the power
the effect change)

\- This administration is terrible under pressure, see that Holocaust thing
above. Continuing protests will create more and more visible failures. His
approval ratings are already down, meaning that his voters do react to his
failures. The business world, who started out trying to remain neutral, is now
almost universally opposed. The bureaucracy is encouraged to sabotage him,
leak, refuse, or simply walk away with all the expertise he needs.

\- If the current level of backlash is sustained, Trump will not be president
in half a year. He is desperate for approval (c. f. inauguration crowd) and
will just walk away.

0: examples if you're skeptical: Roberts voting for Obamacare, or possibly the
State departments "dissent memos", if it could be shown that there are people
signing both the current one as well as the one criticising Obama on Syria)

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timthelion
I don't see how the protesters hurt the situation. And I don't see how paying
for newspapers helps it. I think that the protesters actually are a good
thing. Protesters have caused revolutions before:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Revolution)

And if everyone is out of work protesting, and the protesters, using the shear
weight of their bodymass, were able to surround the airports and not let
anyone in or out, or surround the whitehouse (I'm sure there are tunnels, but
running away doesn't look good). Then a protest, even a peaceful one, can be a
very effective weapon.

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panic
I think this article was written as a justification for the writer's own
inaction more than anything else. Protesting the Muslim ban doesn't mean we
can't also challenge changes to the National Security Council. Working
together on one issue makes us more aware of other issues, and any victory
provides momentum toward further victories.

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partycoder
By probing the extent of his power he might end up in a position vulnerable to
impeachment.

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baq
this is the second time I see this strategy described. first time a few days
ago on scott adam's blog: [http://blog.dilbert.com/post/156532225711/the-
persuasion-fil...](http://blog.dilbert.com/post/156532225711/the-persuasion-
filter-and-immigration).

TL;DR trump is not an idiot, he's a very accomplished persuader, he's written
a book about how he persuades, he does what he described in it in front of
everybody without even trying to hide it and it still works exactly as he
wants it to.

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liberte82
The way he lied about it raining during his speech to the CIA seemed almost
like a way of sending a message - "See how well I lie? I can get away with
anything."

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liotier
Not quite a "headfake" but indeed it is all about testing our response. This
is called Lean Fascism: [http://blog.koehntopp.info/index.php/255-lean-
fascism/](http://blog.koehntopp.info/index.php/255-lean-fascism/) \- "
_Political positions are no longer backed by theory and no longer subject to
political discourse and societal control. They are simply being implemented,
sometimes even purposefully badly crafted, in order to measure societal
reaction_ "

~~~
devoply
This has been going on in the US for a very long time. This is nothing new.
Nothing Trump is doing is new or that different. It's just when the policies
are applied State side people are like oh my God. When the policies are
applied to other people or other countries, it's like oh yeah business as
usual. George W. Bush destroyed at least one stable country, like completely
destroyed it, and ruined the relatively stable lives of millions of people all
in the name of saving them from a bad dictator. Obama killed scores of
innocent people. But that's business as usual. It was a matter of time until
your chickens come home to roost.

And it this point there is little that can be done about what Trump's going to
do. Too little, too late as were. If people were more passionate before about
actually defending human rights of all people, then maybe we would not be
here.

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mozumder
So, where does a general strike or an economic boycott fit in, being more
disruptive than protests and all?

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koonsolo
Like an old colleague of mine said: If you're in doubt whether someone is a
complete idiot, or a super sophisticated genius, it's probably the first one.

~~~
liberte82
I think we make the mistake of underestimating Trump because we are accustomed
to rating intelligence on a linear scale. We look at only one dimension of it.

Could Trump learn calculus and do well on a math test? I highly doubt it. I
doubt he understands half the words he reads in the New York Times.

But is he intelligent in his cunning - is he masterful at persuasion and does
he possess a deep intuitive understanding for power dynamics? Does he
understand how words make people _feel_? All evidence points to yes.

