A "False Flag Op" (or "Black Flag") is an operation under a false identity. For example, every time there's a mass shooting, pro-gun advocates claim that it was set up by the Federal Government. Why? So that the Federal Government has an excuse to take everyone's guns!
Conspiracy advocates love the idea of Black Flags - Bush did 9/11 (or allowed it to happen), Roosevelt knew about Pearl Harbor in advance and let it happen, etc. And Black Flag operations have been used throughout history to great effect.
We've already seen stirrings of Black Flags in this campaign against Trump. For example, do you really believe these guys were members of the KKK?
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| The Black Hand of the KKK reaches far and wide |
Or this guy?
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| Sheriff KKK endorses Trump! |
Note that this all happened before the whole "David Duke supports Trump" thing. There's no way to know if any of these people were acting in concert or were feeding off of each other's energy, but the timing and build up are obvious.
Now, the David Duke thing gained some traction, but it also gave Trump an even bigger (even YUGE-er) piece of our Distributed Thoughtware. Up until Super Tuesday, it was "Donald Trump" this and "Donald Trump" that and "Is Donald Trump" etc.
I think we can do better. It's time for Rainbow Polka-Dot Flag Ops.
The Donald Trump Paradox is that every time someone talks about him, he gets bigger. He says something racist? Bigger. He says something sexist? Bigger. He walks out on a debate? Everyone talks about it, he gets bigger.
The Distributed Thoughtware is caught in a processing loop. All available mental resources are dedicated to Trump, whether trying to figure him out, trying to tear him down, or trying to point out why someone else is a better candidate than him. The only way to break the loop, the only way to crash the program, is to do something so ridiculously ludicrous that it seizes every person's processing power.
The only thing that can stop Trump is something so huge, so unbelievably ridiculous, that it sucks the air away from him just as effectively as he sucks the air away from other candidates.
The Rainbow Polka-Dot Flag Op would not be recognizably political. We don't need Rubio donning a feather boa and running around Miami - that puts the ball back in Trump's court. We need someone to announce free Fusion energy and for the media to talk about nothing but that. We need someone to drape the Eiffel tower with a floral pattern. We need 500 gallons of Jello to spill onto downtown LA.
Now, the David Duke thing gained some traction, but it also gave Trump an even bigger (even YUGE-er) piece of our Distributed Thoughtware. Up until Super Tuesday, it was "Donald Trump" this and "Donald Trump" that and "Is Donald Trump" etc.
I think we can do better. It's time for Rainbow Polka-Dot Flag Ops.
The Donald Trump Paradox is that every time someone talks about him, he gets bigger. He says something racist? Bigger. He says something sexist? Bigger. He walks out on a debate? Everyone talks about it, he gets bigger.
The Distributed Thoughtware is caught in a processing loop. All available mental resources are dedicated to Trump, whether trying to figure him out, trying to tear him down, or trying to point out why someone else is a better candidate than him. The only way to break the loop, the only way to crash the program, is to do something so ridiculously ludicrous that it seizes every person's processing power.
The only thing that can stop Trump is something so huge, so unbelievably ridiculous, that it sucks the air away from him just as effectively as he sucks the air away from other candidates.
The Rainbow Polka-Dot Flag Op would not be recognizably political. We don't need Rubio donning a feather boa and running around Miami - that puts the ball back in Trump's court. We need someone to announce free Fusion energy and for the media to talk about nothing but that. We need someone to drape the Eiffel tower with a floral pattern. We need 500 gallons of Jello to spill onto downtown LA.
We need a series of coordinated, non-political strikes of ridiculousness to snap us all out of the political mindset. We need ridiculous distractions so huge that no one thinks about Trump, or even the presidential race.
Alternately, we could attempt to shift the narrative from Donald Trump to Fascism. Not by directly calling Trump a fascist (oh man, has that not worked). I'm talking about fleets of Zeppelins bearing the Iron Cross floating above major cities. I'm talking about mailing out fake 'Deportation Notices' mailed out from the 'Committee on Un-American Activities.' Simply calling Trump Hitler 2.0 won't work because it is demonstrably false. Giving the masses a sense of creeping Fascism - that "It Could Happen Here!" might tip the balance.
SuperPacs, I'm looking at you. Any candidate who did this directly would be torpedoed, but a SuperPac who did this "totally without the knowledge of Senator Cruz" while giving him advanced knowledge could pull it off.
Rainbow Polka-Dot Ops. Think about it.
You don't think a self-promoter as canny as Trump can't turn many of these ideas around and make them about him? My guess is about the only kind of thing that could stop hem dead is a *proven* connection to un-American entities, for a hypothetical the Mexican drug gangs, that could not be explained as "go along to get along" as his NY real estate business practices can be explained. And the proof would have to be solid as many of his supporters would just assume it's another baseless attack. The ongoing ridiculous attacks are just making his supporters assume that any attack is just as ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteAlso: 500 gallons is about 2 cubic meters. You would need to go a lot bigger to have any real impact.
Oh, I expect him to. He just won't be able to do it as effectively as he can with direct attacks. Donald Trump ranting about Jello just isn't going to be as effective as Donald Trump ranting about San Bernardino.
ReplyDeleteLol - I am bad at the maths. Would 500 cubic meters be big? I want enough to be a mess to clean up but not enough to kill people/destroy buildings.
Naw. I doubt he'd rant about it, unless it was connected to immigration or violence. More likely it'd be folded into the YUGE and American greatness threads of his narrative, boosting American exceptionalism because the stunt can happen, possibly with an admonition about cleanup costs and a good word for the fireman and cops that had to handle it (depending on the stunt). Oh, and he'd comment again on how his presence in the race is making people involved in the process again.
ReplyDeleteDon't think normal politico, think PT Barnum. He does appear to have a sense of humour, even if he's not the wittiest man on earth. He's not actually a fascist, he's essentially a mid-80s fringe democrat (His trade policy is close to that of Dick Gephardt in the 1988 primaries). This whole primary cycle is actually an excellent demonstration of Overton Window movement.
Assuming he gets sufficient delegates, his next step is going to be to extend a quiet olive branch to the parts of the GOP he thinks he can work with. He must know the GOP national convention is going to be critical, and he won't get past that without more GOP allies, if for no other reason than to keep the rules changes to a minimum. This will probably make the neocons fly off the handle even more, which would suit me.
Re: Jell-o. To switch to units you are probably more familiar with, 500 gallons is 2.5 cubic yards. Which is a square puddle 6 inches deep and a bit more than 6 yards a side. About the size of a large front entryway in some office buildings. It would also weigh a little less than an equal volume of water, so call it 4000 pounds or 2 short tons. A 6 oz. box of jello makes about 4 cups so it would take 808 boxes for a cubic yard, or 2020 boxes for the 2.5 cubic yards. At USD 1.44/box that is USD 2909, plus water, heating and refrigeration costs
For 500 cubic yards, it would cover a square area 22 yards a side if 1 yard deep. Which would be most impressive if blocking an intersection. Multiply by 200 for most of the other numbers: 400 tons, 404000 boxes, USD 581800. There are over 300 million boxes sold per year (9 to 10 per second), so it probably wouldn't cause any shortages or much of a price bump. Of course a single order that big would make people in the supply chain notice. You are unlikely to hide it.
Called it. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/03/21/trump-summit-high-level-republicans-huddle-with-frontrunner-on-capitol-hill/
DeleteRight, and there's an added benefit. The 24 hour news can talk about something other than Trump. Sure, he'll make his usual comments, but they'd have enough other people and expert to interview that the media won't need Trump to pull ratings.
ReplyDeleteTrump can talk about it. He just can't make himself the story.
I mean, it's all academic at the point. Trump's on track to take Florida and possibly eke out a win in Ohio and the opposition is no closer to consolidating around a consistent counter-strategy. Trump's all up in their OODA loop and there may not be time to change anything.
Also, I absolutely love your Jello math. Maybe if you disguise it as some sort of promotional event? Trying to break the world record for largest batch of Jello?
It is clearly some kind of performance art. I've always admired the work of Rick Gibson, he had an ability to almost effortlessly grab front page headlines. Most non-traditional performance artists are mostly wankers, but his work taken in the context of the rest of the front page of the newspapers then was special. Or maybe you had to be there.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Gibson
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2012/04/25/sniffy-the-rat-spared-from-becoming-art/
Interview with Rick Gibson in 1992
ReplyDeletehttp://www.odlt.org/interviews/rick_gibson_interview.pdf
Thanks John - I've been digging through similar material on headline-grabbing recently. Ever hear of The KLF?
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_KLF
So basically you're advocating dishonest dirty tricks? The ends justify the means, no doubt. Next up: murdering opponents!
ReplyDeleteYes. As a pacifist, I am 1000% in favor of murder. One thousand percent.
Delete