=================

“It didn’t work,” said the King. “The cloak of invisibility didn’t work.”
“Yes, it did,” said the Royal Wizard.
“No, it didn’t,” said the King. “I kept bumping into things, the same as ever.”
“The cloak is supposed to make you invisible,” said the Royal Wizard. “It is not supposed to keep you from bumping into things.”
“All I know is, I kept bumping into things,” said the King.”

—

James Thurber

============

So.

While this is about business in general it certainly taps into entrepreneurs & entrepreneurial attitudes and what happens once a business transitions from startup to ‘gravitas.’

Unreasonableness is very often a matter of perspective. In addition. being unreasonable is often not being some innovative disruptor but rather someone who prioritizes progress over, well, everything else.

Regardless. My favorite unreasonable example on this has to do with successful entrepreneurs. Unreasonable is status quo for becoming successful, yet, once successful, the people around the entrepreneur owner will most likely see the unreasonable as  unreasonably risky (this creates some tension). In this situation the biggest issue is often the entrepreneur is comfortable doing things which may appear to have never done before, but once a business is up and running the team tends to seek things that have been done in the past <or “proven practices & things” from the past> to develop action plans.  In this situation I am usually the jerk who says “most business success, in general, typically has a layer of idiosyncrasy <and context> that begs the ultimate question – can it really be copied?”

(I usually answer my own question: no)

Look. Here is a thought <to be applied with business book learning before you run off implementing everything you read> … as Henry Kissinger pointed out when discussing learning from history … “if you are seeking examples and exact  parallelisms by studying history you will be disappointed. The study of history is the study of analogies.” However, all that said, I actually found an interesting business book. There is a relatively short book called ‘The Art of being Unreasonable” from a guy named Eli Broad.

I liked it for 4 reasons.

1. It was pretty short – I love it.

2. He suggests that rather than be a pioneer it is often better to be second with a new idea. – I love it.

3. He suggests that the best diversification may not be into an industry related to your own. – I love it.

4. The premise of the entire book is that the world has always been shaped by unreasonable people <ultimately they are the ones who force change>. – I love it.

The book did get me thinking and some thoughts which relate to the art of being unreasonable.

Business people often confuse safe with smart.

Safe may not be smart … because it is … well … just safe. Typically safe means less return <combined with less risk of course>. In fact it often translates into less return than the initial idea because it is … well … simply an extension of what is <smaller increments of growth>.

That (in simplistic terms) doesn’t mean bad return but rather diminishing return. Because it is, well, safe <okay … you get the point about safe>. Safe is hedging your bets. It is a sound strategy depending on what you would like to achieve. And it is a reasonable thing to do.

The book’s point is that isn’t what an entrepreneur <or business builders in general> is all about – being reasonable. They simply get convinced to do so by those around after their initial unreasonable-driven success (or sometimes they simply fear losing that has been gained).

Here is a silly thought. Maybe an unreasonable thought.

Entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs. To ask them to be anything other than what they are is fraught with peril.

As Broad points out there is a safe path (extension into a related industry) or a comfortable path (one that is an extension of him). By the way I love the distinction between safe and comfortable in this sense because to some people <me could be included here> safe can make some leaders uncomfortable, conversely, some leaders are quite comfortable with risk.

Now. I am not as smart as Eli.

But I have coached several businesses in a similar fashion. It makes them uncomfortable (the leader group) and excites the one (the leader). I often find myself negotiating between the desires of the organization formed behind the success of the leader/entrepreneur … and the entrepreneur themself.

It is an odd experience.

I would say in my experience that the entrepreneur gets dragged down into the dismal depths of the “reasonable” decision making organization. The main argument is businesses inherently desire to protect their success once they have shifted beyond the intial building. Now. I also admit I often walk away shaking my head in disappointment as the one who “built” defers to those who “protect” an investment under the guise of a “mature business people.”

What many business people don’t recognize is that building & protecting are different skills. Or, actually, they probably do but inevitably decisions need to be made that become a battle between comfortable and uncomfortable … and the seemingly reasonable and the unreasonable.

Last thought.I am not suggesting the unreasonable is always the path to walk because sometimes the unreasonable is really unreasonable <undoable, impractical, insane>.

However, there is an art to being unreasonable. An art that can lead to stunning success if it is fostered properly and encouraged <even if it is uncomfortable>.

The point?

Never totally disregard the unreasonable option & idea. It may not feel safe nor may it feel comfortable, but it may actually be one or both when viewed correctly.

===

“Even as we learn how this happened and who’s responsible, we may never understand what leads anybody to terrorize their fellow human beings like this.

Such violence, such evil is senseless. It’s beyond reason.  But while we will never know fully what causes somebody to take the life of another, we do know what makes life worth living.

The people we lost in Aurora loved, and they were loved.

They were mothers and fathers. They were husbands and wives, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, friends and neighbors. They had hopes for the future, and they had dreams that were not yet fulfilled. And if there’s anything to take away from this tragedy, it’s the reminder that life is very fragile. Our time here is limited, and it is precious. And what matters at the end of the day is not the small things, it’s not the trivial things, which so often consume us and our daily lives.

Ultimately, it’s how we choose to treat one another and how we love one another.”

–

President Obama after Aurora shooting

===

<originally written & posted October 2, 2015 and again on November 5, 2017 and, yet, appears relevant today>

The shooting at the community college in Oregon.

As the president said last night … we seem to be having this conversation far too often in the United States.

Any shooting of innocent people is bad.

Unexplainable shootings seem worse. And because they seem unexplainable we seem to want to go back and reverse engineer information and try and explain the action of someone who does something which seems unexplainable to the everyday schmuck like me <to be clear … reverse engineering is 99% accurate … its predictive engineering that is less accurate>.

The reengineering always seems to offer possible solutions … and yet … offer no solutions at all.

And, yet, moments like this make us want to do something … to say something … to solve whatever this something is. All the while serious looking overly somber news people all over the country, as well as an obviously aggravated President Obama, comment on and lament what can only be called a tragic situation. That is all good … but what none of these people seem to nail down is a cohesive strategy to address fundamental reasons for the amount of gun violence that has somehow seeped into the everyday American Life.

Please note I said ‘cohesive’ because the voices shouting seem anything but aligned:

One shouts ‘its guns!!!’ <gun control issues>.

One shouts ‘its mental health !!!’ <psychological profiling and privacy issues>

One shouts ‘its domestic terrorism !!! <implying it is some thoughtful effort to change something>

<and a few oddly, and slightly absurdly, shout ‘its Obama’s fault !!!’>

How about we put all the ‘ones’ together and think about a common strategy.

McTague hand drawn relationship on Gun Issue

What do all of these events have in common?

There is a gun.

There is an individual.

There is society <the environment in which the gun and the individual reside>.

Gun control.

I get steamed at both sides on the gun control discussion. Freedom to own a gun does not absolve the freedom from ‘responsible gun ownership.’ On the other side … eliminating guns is just not feasible.

While I certainly don’t have all the political answers I do admit that some aspects of calls for more gun control resonate with me <all the while fully understand that Americans are hardly agreed on the issue with less than 50% wanting stricter gun laws but a majority want better background check>.

And I do know that “a feeding frenzy of new gun legislation is not the answer.” What I do know is that I would rip up all gun control legislation <I believe it is something like over 200 things> and start from scratch.

–      I want responsible people who accept the significant responsibility that comes along with owning a gun to be able to own a gun.

It doesn’t seem absurd to demand some level of ‘prove responsibility’ to own a gun. Force registration at police offices or military facilities. Prove you know how to handle a gun <all guns you may have>.

–       Any weapon the military uses for military action shouldn’t be in the hands of the everyday citizen. Period. Full stop.

If someone has military experience, then maybe they have earned the right to own an assault like weapon. But I would also make the Military responsible for military trained people who own these guns.

–       Ammunition used for hunting or ammunition for non military use.

That’s the only kind of ammunition you can have.

–      No more concealed weapons. If you have one, show it.

If I am a non gun owner I want the opportunity to decide to not be near a gun if I want to. If I am a gun owner I want to be fully aware of who else has a gun around me. If I am a police officer I want to be able to see who has what and who doesn’t.

I am sure I am missing something but this whole situation and discussion aggravates my sense so much I leaned in with what I would call the basic common sense thoughts.

The individual <and mental state of mind>.

The flippant “it’s not the gun, it’s the person’ argument is downright silly. Please, PLEASE, everyone just accept it is a symbiotic relationship.

One cannot live without the other.

Next.

The flippant “it’s a mental health issue” … well … suffice it to say “yes” … and then point out if you truly believe we can profile everyone in the entire united states, evaluate them on some set of ‘possibility criteria’ and then track them … well … you are on drugs <which is a completely different issue>.

We cannot institutionalize everyone, or anyone, who has thoughts of suicide, moments of anger at society <or some aspect or group they focus their anger on> or even people with depression and some inclination of some public display of their overall dissatisfaction with Life.

Professional health needs to suck up their pride, and differences, and come up with some basic assessment tool. By the way … has anyone ever heard of ‘social media tracking?’ I can almost guarantee that 90% of all Americans leave an internet footprint … and 99% of the assholes who pick up a gun and shoot some innocent victims certainly do.

I would subjugate one of my privacy freedoms, as a citizen, if the professional health industry said ‘we have a specific assessment tool which will be scanning all online activity which reflects indicators of mental health issues tied with possibility to pick up a gun and kill innocent people.’

C’mon. I have probably met a half dozen social media tracking companies with some technology that tracks words and clicks and even your breathing <it seems> to such a point I am pretty sure they can accurately tell me when I will need to go to the bathroom.

For fuck’s sake. Amazon knows what I want before I want it … certainly we can come up with a tool like this.

Beyond the professionals … there is … well … people … uhm … you & I <and their relationship with potential ‘tragedy creators>. I don’t want to go back to Soviet communism where neighbors reported on neighbors to the KGB … but … for cryin’ out loud … if we simply raised our hands for the people we were 80% sure needed some help … at minimum … they get help … and even better … we cut down on these tragic events by 80%.

To be clear on that last point … perfection may be sought … but will never be attained. Evil does win on occasion <whether we like it or not>.

Society.

Let me begin with …

The picture emerging of Mercer is of a killer who had an interest in mass shootings, having reportedly recently posted on a blog about a gunman who killed two US journalists live on air in August.

He described Vester Flanagan as a man who “wanted the world to see his actions” before adding: “Seems the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight.”

Oh. Let me add …

In the usual rush to offer up some breaking information, news reports were embellished with unconfirmed details about the massacre and the assailant that did little but fuel a contagion of fear.

Sigh.

I sometimes think we are our own worst enemy. Regardless. Let me tell ya one thing I know for sure … if someone wants to commit suicide and leave a legacy <be in the limelight> that people will remember forever … just do it, or something, in front of today’s media <and then the entertainment industry will run with it from there with TV specials, movies, docudramas, whatever>.

The core of much of the entertainment industry in America – movies, TV shows and, yes, I consider today’s cable news as entertainment <albeit disturbing entertainment> – is based on killing and violence. We glorify the violence & the violent at the same time as we are saddened by it.

In addition … while we depict the violent as ‘evil’ we just as much showcase them as misguided or ‘faults of society’ <not forcing any accountability or personal responsibility for actions on the asshole who actually pulled the trigger>.

The consequences of this is that our society breeds a sense of ‘victim’ even for the purveyor of the tragedy.

Society?

Shit. Well … we just need to be better dammit.

<sigh>

If not us then who?

Look. The champions for gun ownership point out that the Constitution of the country gives people the right to own guns. I would suggest those people think contextually with regard to that thought … at the time America had no standing army … just citizen militia. Everyone was expected to pick up their gun in defense of this new nation we had just created.

Basically, at that time, everyone served in the military.

I would suggest to the people who suggest ‘more guns’ that maybe if we had a mandatory one year military service <or community service if you do not want military> for everyone then everyone would be properly trained as well as properly assessed.

–

note:

The Swiss require part-time military service from each male citizen between the ages of 18 to 34. Women may serve voluntarily. In a nation of eight million people, about 20,000 soldiers a year attend basic training for 18 to 21 weeks

–

Do I truly want that? No.

Do I truly believe it would resolve a shitload of the issues we have now with regard to guns and violence? Yes.

I am all for maintaining our constitutional rights, but, please, PLEASE, could gun rights people think about the context in which the constitution was crafted.

In the end.

I am all for responsible people owning hand guns. That is their choice and, as a country, we deemed that as one of our inviolate rights.

I am all for responsible mental health profiling.

I am all for a responsible society.

What I am NOT for is irresponsible quibbling and inaction after a shooting tragedy. It is a complex issue that demands something more than a pithy simple solution soundbite. It is a complex issue that demands we do something because that is what adults do to protect their children.

I am sure I am missing something and I am relatively sure I will come back and rewrite portions of this but this topic makes me so angry and so sad at the exact same time I just gotta stop for now.

====================

“We miss out on the value of the message itself as a vehicle for driving virality.”

–

Jonah Berger

==================

“Say something meaningful in an interesting way.”  

–

Bruce McTague

<author of “the shortest business book ever written”>

===================

So.

This is about how we have a simplification crisis.

Ok.

This is actually about how we have an oversimplification crisis.

This crisis is making us … well … stupid.

Ok.

This crisis is actually making us stupider.

Look.

What I mean is that in a world in which we know that everything is complex, and more often than not, more complex than our own pea like brains can handle, we unerringly swerve toward simplistic headline conclusions and oversimplifications and absurd bullet point conclusions. We have hollowed out communication of the truly meaningful parts.

This surface skating intellectualism just makes us stupider.

Now.

We may convince ourselves we do this simply as a mental survival technique but I would argue, and I do, that it actually is the opposite of a survival technique … it is destructive behavior. It is destructive in that it destroys the overall thinking of what is actually a population quite capable of being intelligent, if not intellectual.

Yeah.

It makes us stupider.

I thought about this the other day because I have conversations with some incredibly smart and talented people who know a shitload more about more things than I could ever imagine and this topic came up. I note the smartness of these people to highlight how unusual it is that I can say something that actually can make a group of these people stop, be silent and then go “hmmmmmmmmmm.”

It is a rare thing.

And, yet, it happened the other day.

How did it happen? After some extensive conversation on North Korea, global trade challenges, Trump <of course> & foreign policy we opened the discussion to “what is the biggest challenge facing us …”

I spoke up & my thought drew some <thoughtful> silence.

I said “oversimplification.” <insert group silence afterwards>

To me … oversimplification misleads and creates bad decisions and, worse, creates bad thinking <which leads to bad opinions, attitudes and thoughts>. To me we have created this oversimplification shithole we currently reside in. And I offered a couple reasons why I believe this is happening <I did this because if you can identify the issues you can find solutions>:

We have convinced ourselves we do not have time for complex

Going back to the ‘destructive behavior’ thought I shared earlier …  oversimplification is anything but efficient. It actually demands more time in a variety of ways. The two simplest ways it does so is <1> the time we over invest attempting to isolate the simplest version of what is anything but simple and <2> the amount of time & energy we have to invest explain everything beyond the simplistic tripe initially offered, to thwart misguided behavior & reactions to the oversimplified offering & to redefine the oversimplification into bifurcated parts of the oversimplified whole.

We do this destructive behavior because we have convinced ourselves that we all have shorter, and shortened, attention spans.

We do this destructive behavior because we have convinced ourselves that people best retain “one thing.”

We do this destructive behavior because we have convinced ourselves in our perceived “never enough time” world we have to topline everything <to fit everything in>.

We do this destructive behavior because we have convinced ourselves that in a blizzard of nonstop things constantly vying for our attention the only way to capture someone’s attention is in some pithy soundbite.

Basically we have convinced ourselves that hollowing out an idea and a thought actually benefits not only the idea and the thought … but us! This is fucking nuts. Absolutely crazy.

Unfortunately, and truthfully, some things are just too complex to communicate in a sound bite or in 3 seconds or less. No matter how brief and simple you want to make it … well … it is neither brief nor simple. It is complex and sometimes the opposite of brief.

It isn’t just about telling a story.

Nor is it just about finding influencers to broker the story.

Nor is it just about practical value.

Nor is it just about emotion.

Unfortunately … it is a combination of those things. Yeah. Effective communication is … uhm … complex.

We have convinced ourselves that simple & simplicity is reflective of common sense.

I admit.

I have never been shy about calling bullshit on the simplistic tripe being spewed under the guise of ‘expert advice’ or ‘common sense.’

That said. I will suggest no topic has  been tortured more by common sense than simplicity.

Common sense suggests the simplest thing is the best.

Common sense suggests it is easier for a person to remember one thing and one word.

Common sense suggests in a complex world we humans crave simplicity.

Common sense suggests in a busy world we only have time for simplicity.

Common sense suggests a lot of nonsensical bullshit.

I will not argue that making something as simple as it can be is good but … well … simplistically … oversimplification is misleading and ultimately creates bad less-than-informed decision making AND thinking.

We have used this common sense simplicity bullshit for one simple reason — it serves us well in challenging the most established legitimate rule of Life & things. And that rule is “the world is complex.”

We embrace simplistic solution after simplistic solution, all labeled as ‘common sense ideas’, which are often counter to what an expert would suggest <which is often deemed “too complex”>…  only to find 90% of the time common sense was not only just simply wrong but also made us stupider.

I have written about simplicity and the complexity of finding the simplest way to communicate the complex many times and as I do so today I would remind everyone of what Jonah Berger offered us for a nifty sound bite compilation of sound bites to create a sound bite philosophy:

Here are his STEPPS for making anything go viral:

–          Social Currency: We share things that make us look good (even if that means pictures of our cat).

–          Triggers: Easily memorable information means its top of mind and tip of the tongue.

–          Emotion: When we care, we share.

–          Public: Built to show, built to grow.

–          Practical Value: News people can use.

–          Stories: People are inherent storytellers, and all great brands also learn to tell stories. Information travels under the guise of idle chatter.

And while this Berger thought is about “making things go viral” it is actually about finding the simplest way to communicate complex shit in a way that it is actually retained in a cognitive way.

I would also note that this dos not reflect “one simple thing”, it does reflect the complexity of reality and the mind and it reflects how to … well … help make us less stupider.

Ah.

Cognitive way.

As in “we actually understand what it is we heard, saw or read.” That is an important thing to ponder because over simplification cheats cognitive value as well as the value of whatever it is you have to offer people. Simplicity may be “memorable” but it doesn’t really lodge itself in anyone’s mind & memory in any meaningful way.

In fact.

The less depth you offer in your oversimplification the more you are at the mercy of the mind that decides to remember you. What I mean by that is if you don’t provide the depth the mind will create some perceptions around whatever it lodges in the pea like brain.

Uhm.

This means the pea like brain lodges only what is actually the brain’s perceptions of what to remember and not what you <a> know to be true, <b> think it may be important for that mind to know or <c> want the brain to store away in its mind.

I imagine what I am talking about is some wacky version of awareness versus engagement … but that shit is bullshit too.

It’s all bullshit because we should be turning away from simplification and engagement and connection and simply focus on “say what you need to say to persuade someone to think or do what you want them to think or do.”

All the other bullshit just confuses things.

If I tell someone that ‘being noticed ‘ is the most important thing, than some asshat is gonna come up with some zany oversimplified shit that gets noticed but doesn’t effectively communicate one thing <let alone all the things you may have deemed truly important in the beginning>.

I admit … I balk at a lot of the bullshit offered online about simplification <and the importance thereof> because … well … it is an oversimplification which diminishes the importance of ‘communicating depth’ and increases the importance of ‘being noticed.’

I do not like that equation. Effective communication is not a binary choice.

Effective communication, as with almost everything, is a complex challenge in communicating a complex thing well – because if you can communicate a couple things well it actually increases the perceived value <which then inevitably creates a stronger “memory stamp” … with value attached!>.

Which brings me back to our oversimplification crisis.

I could clearly argue that in today’s fragmented messaging world where information multiplies at light speed and a day still remains 24 hours that we humans are constantly honing our “incoming thoughts” filtering mechanisms.

I could also argue that our filtering system, as it exists today, sucks. We have dumbed down our communication and thinking behavior to such a hollowed out status the majority of time we skate along the superficial irrelevant surface of reality.

If we are lucky, the ice doesn’t crack.

But the truth is that oversimplification only offers the thinnest of ice to skate on and inevitably we fall thru the ice … over and over and over again.

Uhm.

And in the business world falling through the ice is bad. It is, metaphorically, making a bad decision based on shallow thinking and paying for it.

Yeah.

I did say the biggest issue we face is oversimplification.

I said that because if I can solve this, if I can have smarter people communicating complex things more smartly and I can have more everyday schmucks understanding that simple solutions are more often like trying to place a square peg in a round hole … well … I think it unravels a shitload of other problems we face in today’s world.

I imagine I am arguing that if more people are less stupid and more aware of the reality of things the more effective & efficient we will be in addressing the difficulties reality tends to place in front of us.

In the end.

I will go back to where I began … “say something meaningful in an interesting way.”

There are no rules nor boundaries in this statement.

You use as many words, or as few, as you need to say … to say something meaningful in an interesting way with the intent for it to be understood … and, ultimately, persuade someone to think something. I would say that the hollower the communication the less true persuasion engagement occurs and, conversely, the fuller the communication the more true persuasion engagement occurs.

Period.

——————–

“I wish I had the courage not to fight and doubt everything… I wish, just once, I could say, ‘This. This is good enough. Just because I choose it.”

―

Chuck Palahniuk

===============

So.

Let me very clear upfront … while this piece will be on Russian involvement in the 2016 USA presidential election I am not discussing, nor suggesting, collusion or coordination of efforts between anything I will outline and the Trump campaign. The analysis of that will be done by greater minds than mine.

This piece is about what Russia did and the effect on the 2016 election. Let’s call this an analysis of the Russian marketing campaign to support Donald J Trump.

I have the fortune to exchange ideas, on occasion, with some highly qualified experts and several foreign policy thought leaders and all of them continuously grapple not with what Russia did but more so with how to talk about it. Which leads me to the horrible position that I find myself in <and I imagine any professional communications person with any significant experience is in>.

We know that Russia most likely influenced enough voters to have elected Donald J Trump.

There. I said it. The one sentence which seems to be on the lips of almost any credible thinking individual but never seems to be spoken. This has nothing to do whether I believe he is qualified or not … this is just a conclusion that anyone who knows shit about marketing & advertising has arrived at if they look at the campaign.

<note: this is easily provable … hire MillwardBrown, pay them $100k, give them all the voting information and attitude poll information and they could do a county comparison … they do this for marketing & advertising campaigns all the time to measure effectiveness>

Anyway. It took me a while to get there because the overarching narrative ‘cover’ for the election is, and always has been, “Russia never changed a vote or made someone do anything.” While every reasonable marketing person would debate the seeming lack of understanding in the concept of ‘ability to affect behavior through marketing’, it was easier for people to generally focus on the truth Russia never got into actual voting machines and changed votes.

This means it just took me a lot longer to get to the truth that many of my peers had already arrived at.

…. I did not want to know this ………..

Whew.

The truth. Russia changed votes and voting behavior.

What knowledge to have. What a wretched position to be in … to be a professional communications person and a believer in America democracy … that is the horrible position many of us find ourselves in.

Why?

Well. The majority of us know, if we view it through a professional lens, that the Russians communications <propaganda> effort most likely put Donald J Trump into the presidency … and we don’t know what to do and say about it.

Why?

Think about the outcome of this presentation. The main one would be that many people would believe Donald J was not a legitimate president or legitimately elected. And that would be … well … horrible. Horrible for the country, horrible for democracy and … well … just horrible. I, personally, feel a little less horrible because I still believe … 100% believe … and have written extensively that if the Clinton campaign had done a couple of things and maybe thought thru a couple of things they would have won.

All that said.

I could open this presentation by suggesting the Clinton campaign ran a slightly-less-than-effective-as-it-could-have marketing campaign but I could also showcase how the Trump campaign, in and of itself, did not do enough to win.

——- Clint Watts analysis of Russia Social Media Plan ——-

I would then have to point out that an overlaid Russian marketing campaign <which diminished Clinton to suppress behavior in her favor> made the difference at the finish line. As noted earlier, someone like MillwardBrown could prove/disprove this in ‘two notes or less.’

Anyway … before anyone argues with that premise please remember that with 136 million votes cast, Trump’s victory came down to a razor-thin edge of only 77,744 votes across three states: Pennsylvania (44,292 votes), Wisconsin (22,748 votes), and Michigan (10,704 votes) – all less than .7% difference between the two candidates … a less than full Michigan stadium … and, if reversed, Clinton would be our president.

The 2016 election result is really all about the fact that there was just enough movement in just the right places, with just enough increased turnout from just the right groups, to get Trump the electoral votes he needed to win.

Regardless. While I know from career experience advertising affects attitudes & behavior the rest, block by block, of the truth fell into place. But what make this conclusion truly horrible is … well … what do you do with that knowledge? It does no good to suggest the current president is illegitimate. None. Zero.

Look.

I am not making this up.

While others look at this in some vague “what could they do to make someone vote a certain way” I look at this from a marketing perspective where I have sat in meeting after meeting analyzing marketing campaigns and tactics to watch what levers <tactics & messages>have been pulled to get someone to do something they may not have considered doing before. Given that knowledge here were the 4 blocks which gt me there:

The first ‘block’ was, of course, when the US government warned us that 17 intelligence agencies <or 4 with others tentatively agreeing, or whatever number you want depending on your cynicism but suffice it to say the US Intelligence agencies are aligned in some form or fashion> agreed Russia was fucking within our election. They didn’t go into details but rather just said “they, they are doing this” <and did some behind the scenes stuff to deflect some things they did>.

I would also note that this is where “marketing doesn’t affect my behavior’ attitudes started digging in within the general population’s mindset … “I made my own decision” is what they say <naively I may add>.

The second ‘block’ occurred on November 6^th 2016 in an article called “Trolling for Trump: How Russia Is Trying to Destroy Our Democracy” .

——————-

… in addition to phishing and cracking attacks, these hackers are aided by honeypots, a Cold War term of art referring to an espionage operative who sexually seduced or compromised targets. Today’s honeypots may include a component of sexual appeal or attraction, but they just as often appear to be people who share a target’s political views, obscure personal hobbies, or issues related to family history. Through direct messaging or email conversations, honeypots seek to engage the target in conversations seemingly unrelated to national security or political influence.

These honeypots often appear as friends on social media sites, sending direct messages to their targets to lower their defenses through social engineering. After winning trust, honeypots have been observed taking part in a range of behaviors, including sharing content from white and gray active measures websites

Online hecklers, commonly referred to as trolls, energize Russia’s active measures. Ringleader accounts designed to look like real people push organized harassment — including threats of violence — designed to discredit or silence people who wield influence in targeted realms, such as foreign policy or the Syrian civil war. Once the organized hecklers select a target, a variety of volunteers will join in, often out of simple antisocial tendencies. Sometimes, they join in as a result of the target’s gender, religion, or ethnic background, with anti-Semitic and misogynistic trolling particularly prevalent at the moment. Our family members and colleagues have been targeted and trolled in this manner via Facebook and other social media.

Hecklers and honeypots can also overlap.

—————————–

The experts at WarontheRocks know their shit and I stored away their analysis.

The third ‘block’ occurred when a Bernie Sanders social media coordinator published a report of how he watched online trolls aggressively message against Clinton to Sanders supporters:

He <Mattes> put his expertise in unmasking fraudsters to work. At first, he suspected that the sites were created by the old Clinton haters from the ‘90s ― what Hillary Clinton had dubbed “the vast right-wing conspiracy.”

 But when Mattes started tracking down the sites’ domain registrations, the trail led to Macedonia and Albania. In mid-September, he emailed a few of his private investigator friends with a list of the sites. “Very creepy and i do not think Koch brothers,” he wrote.

Mattes and his friends didn’t know what to make of his findings. He couldn’t get his mind around the possibility that trolls overseas might be trying to sway a bunch of Southern Californians who supported Sanders’ run for president. “I may be a dark cynic and I may have been an investigative reporter for a long time, but this was too dark ― and too unbelievable and most upsetting,” he said. “What was I to do with this?”

By late October, Mattes said he’d traced 40 percent of the domain registrations for the fake news sites he saw popping up on pro-Sanders pages back to Eastern Europe. Others appeared to be based in Panama and the U.S., or were untraceable. He wondered, “Am I the only person that sees all this crap floating through these Bernie pages?”

And the final ‘block’ was an 84 page white paper issued by the cyber security firm, TrendMicro, which outlined how easy it was to implement a ‘fake news’ marketing campaign with costs & efforts taken by Russia to influence people not only in America but globally.

That did it for me.

Let me call my ‘4 blocks’ as the cornerstones of the building of proof. I am a marketing guy and an amateur behavioral studier with decades of experience and I can see a marketing campaign when there is one … and I can see when a good one is being implemented in ‘below-the-line’ tactics pushing & nudging & influencing people to do & think things … and I can see one once I have been presented the cornerstones of proof.

This is that. And this is a horrible thing to recognize.

Oddly enough … our founding fathers worried about this.

In constructing the Constitution the crafters were cognizant, and worried about, how easily people could be led, and led astray. That is why they constructed a three ‘power’ system <executive, judiciary & representative> to insure a President never had access to too much power. In some ways they assumed at some point in history American citizens would not choose wisely.

As a marketing guy I can honestly tell you that I have sat in hundreds of conference rooms viewing behavioral data pondering choice after choice people made that were reflections of “not in my best interest” … information that reflected time after time … people do not choose wisely.

While that is marketing stuff we should all remember what James Madison said … “liberties are more frequently lost by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power.” That is what the worst of worst marketing is about … making some people choose less than wisely through a gradual and silent encroachment into someone’s decision making process.

To be clear.

I think Trump is inept, incompetent and unqualified but this is not about that. This is about how Russia affected enough people’s attitudes to affect their behavior … and many of us quasi-experts, and many real experts, believe Russia conducted a marketing campaign that did just enough to affect people’s voting behavior to effectively put Trump in the oval office.

To be clear.

None of us know what to do with this understanding. This is a horrible position to be in. No one wants to suggest the current president is not legitimate and, yet, the truth is that he most likely gained his position through some shady illegitimate ways.

I almost wish I didn’t know this.

======================

“Life … is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.”

―

William Shakespeare, Macbeth

==================

Dear Mr. President,

I just wanted to write you a letter to bring it to your attention, in case you have not noticed; you really are the president … now.

Yes. You did get elected.

Yes. That new office you get your diet coke in is oval because all US Presidents have sat in that oval office.

Yes. That big eagle on your floor rug is not really your style <albeit I believe it does have gold in it> but it is a sign that, yes, you got elected and that emblem is part of the seal of the United State of America.

I have been meaning to write this to you for quite some time, but I felt compelled to write this letter to you today because yesterday, in the wake of the London terrorist attacks, you seemed to forget you were president for a while.

And that seems indicative of, well, all your behavior since last November <with some small moments in which we got tantalizing glimpses you actually recognized that you were now responsible for 330 million people>.

Last night you took the opportunity while watching the attacks unfold to retweet a Drudge article and a personal tweet about your own travel ban. I am tempted to suggest they were simply tweets of an ignorant idiot, full of sound and fury, simplifying nothing … but I will not. I will use the tweets to remind you that you really are now a president and the president of a certain country called “The United State of America.”

A while back I told you how to do your job because you seemed to be struggling and I thought there were some simple things you could do to rectify your current situation.  Today I will simply remind you of some things you may not know about your new job:

Tweets

I really wouldn’t mind you tweeting if you didn’t tweet like a bitter husband drunk late at night just after his wife had left him. The problem is that you do … and you are not drunk and for some reason your wife has not left you. I have given up trying to convince you that words matter <even the ones you make up> so maybe we could have you work on thinking a little less like an idiotic bitter drunk husband and maybe have you think about the fact you really are a President who shouldn’t be bitter about anything and whose wife has not left him <yet>.

I do take some solace in the fact that, for the most part, your drunken bitter idiot-in-chief tweets are becoming irrelevant to the outside world. Beyond media … most simply ignore you the best they can. My main proof? You offer some word salad twisted thought and Wall Street barely responds these days.

On that note. I would suggest that being President and being ignored kind of suggests you are becoming irrelevant. That seems bad <sad>.

I would never suggest you stop tweeting. Hell. It is the best entertainment we have had in years. Maybe you could just consider in the future to just be a little less bitter, maybe sound a little less drunk, and maybe a little less “I am unwanted and unworthy of the love that has left me” and more … well … “holy shit, I am the President.”

That’s all I ask. But I am just an everyday schmuck and you are the President <keep reminding yourself of that>.

Infinite resources

I am dependent upon ‘fair & balanced’ FoxNews, NBC, fake news CNN, Drudge, National Review, Reuters, Guardian and even the failing NY Times for my information.

You are not.

………… Trump picking up phone …….

Mr. President you can actually push a little button right there on the phone next to your canopied bed with throw pillows that have those ruffles you like and maroon sateen sheets and you can most likely have the worlds best intelligence community brief you on what may be happening. You even have a Homeland Security department who could most likely tell you if there are any existing threats which you could tweet America about to calm nerves <and I bet they have a button too>.

In addition you have an Environmental Agency who has a multitude of well researched analysis to offer numbers and results from. You have a Labor Department who has an incredible history of measuring the workplace environment which you have access to for numbers and information <those last two are probably not worthy of buttons on your phone … sorry>.

You may not know it but you also have a State Department with real people in real buildings <some people call them embassies> who have real on-the-ground knowledge of where they are that are most likely to be delighted to speak with you 24/7.

I imagine my real point, Mr. President, is … well … you are no longer an everyday schmuck dependent upon whatever information you can scrounge up on your own surfing the world wide web <yes, it is now worldwide> or scanning FoxNews in the morning. You are the President and you have dozens of departments with thousands of extremely qualified people who have reams of knowledge and data and information at their fingertips at the simple push of a button <and they even know more shit before the people on TV do>.

But what do I know … I am an everyday schmuck and you are the President <keep reminding yourself of that>.

One dollar bill suggestion

Mr. President, just a suggestion. Tape a dollar bill to your desk <and, under my breath, ‘read it you asshat’>:

E Pluribus Unum.

Out of many, one.

I make this suggestion because I know you love money above everything else and maybe the one dollar bill can help, well, center you a little.

It is a fabulous little document in and of itself … think of it as a PowerPoint slide with few words and a killer image.

I would also note the second Latin motto on that same image … novus ordo seclorum <a new order of the ages> which signifies “the beginning of the new American Era.”

Both of those thoughts may remind you that you represent 330 million or so and, well , a country. It may also help to keep this humble little one dollar nearby as a symbol of small certainty as you, I would imagine, are a little uncertain as you try and make the giant leap from everyday schmuck to President.

Now.

I will admit, Mr. President, while I am sympathetic to your uncertainty I wish you would get a grip on it because it, well, creates a sense of uncertainty in the country.

I would ask you to remember, in general, uncertainty is certainly a bitch to a general population. The larger issue is that uncertainty makes people feel poorer <even when they are not>, more divided <even when they are not>, less safe <even though they are not> and less hopeful with regard to the future <even when they should see signs of hope>.

I would also suggest that, in this time & place, this uncertainty has been compounded by the fact we don’t trust anyone on anything <media included> … don’t trust anyone to do what they are supposed to do <government included> … and don’t even trust what was done when they actually do what they were supposed to do <anyone associated with any institution>. Uhm. I hesitate to tell you this but, whew, a shitload of people don’t really trust you either.

All that said. You know what everyone trusts in this wretched place where no one does anything right and is stupid or dishonest or corrupt? The one dollar bill. It is a simplistic symbol of certainty and trust. It may be that you could use his taped one dollar bill to focus you a little.

Now. You may not know it but there was a guy named Booker Washington who said … ““… be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress” <just a note: this guys is dead>. I know that may be a big thought for you so maybe I can dumb it down for you … think of it as if you have 5 one dollar bills, you can also then have a $5 dollar bill. Separate as ones but one as a $5. You see what I mean? Maybe if you look at that one dollar bill every day maybe you can start thinking ‘out of many one’ and be a President for all the $5’s, $20’s & $50’s rather than just a couple of ones.

But what do I know … I am an everyday schmuck and you are the President <keep reminding yourself of that>.

Thank you for your time today.

I am sorry I didn’t include bullet points and killer images & graphs <which I hear you like> but maybe Melania can read this to you.

Dear Mr. President, I cannot promise I will leave you alone after this letter. You seem to not only not know how to do your fucking job but you also seem to forget you are not an everyday schmuck <no matter how many of us wished you were>. I promise I will leave you alone when you fully recognize that you are now a big bad powerful man. You now not only lead America but, if you would elect to do so, you could actually lead in the world.

I do worry, on occasion, that your view of leadership and mine do not really coincide. You seem to feel that creating a transactional relationship is the same thing as creating a “leadership” relationship. That kind of feels like the same logic some misguide businesses use to recruit talented young people with cool laptops, flex time, free lunches … and not vision. Frankly, that doesn’t really foster any type of loyalty, it doesn’t really drive any company value and … well … it is killing the idea of leadership by a thousand cuts.

But what do I know … I am an everyday schmuck and you are the President <keep reminding yourself of that>.

I also worry that by choosing to remain an everyday schmuck you are finding whatever scraps in what you have done to make yourself believe you are doing good things … and you are holding on to them tightly like your teddy bear at night for comfort <in your canopied bed with sateen sheets>. I can assure you that you will need those scraps for comfort at some point if you don’t realize that is what we everyday schmucks do to comfort ourselves … but presidents kind of need to find more than scraps to hold onto.

But what do I know … I am an everyday schmuck and you are the President <keep reminding yourself of that>.

And, lastly, dear Mr. President, I worry that many of the world’s leaders are realizing you are just bluster and bullshit. I am fairly sure they weren’t sure in the beginning but now they know. But, Mr. President, I know you are better than that <I say with fingers crossed> and all of a sudden you will realize you are not an everyday schmuck but rather the President.

But what do I know … I am everyday schmuck and you are the President <keep reminding yourself of that>.

I am sending you my letter today hoping that my sincere thoughts help you realize this.

Mr. President, you have probably done over 100 things, okay, thousands of things over the past year or so which make me sure you are unqualified to be the country leader <and make me doubt you could lead a turd out of a flushed toilet>, makes me sure I dislike your business acumen and makes me sure your moral compass <assuming you even have one> is not working.

I would imagine if you remain an everyday schmuck, in your own mind you will, well, feel exactly the same way.

But … you really are the President. You really did get elected. You can start acting like a President any time you want and most of us every day schmucks will line up behind you when you do because, well, you really are the President of the United States.

All the best.

Bruce.

P.S. – Mr. President, as I read some of your tweets this morning, the morning after the London terror attacks, I have to ask you … what is wrong with you?

===================

“Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.“

—-

Aristotle

 

===================

Well.

This morning I laughed out loud.  With all the discussion about who is going to pay for “the wall” <“who will pay !!??!! … MEXICO!!!!! – says Trump> and claims Mexico will pay for it … the USA is actually now paying Mexico a one-time payment of almost 200 million dollars … uhm … per year because of a trade issue in which the USA purportedly screwed another trade partner.

Hey.

Hold on.

Isn’t it that everyone else is screwing <taking advantage> of America?

Oh.

That must be the alternative universe.

—————-

The U.S. just lost a trade battle with Mexico. It’s the first loss of the Trump era.

 

Mexico and the U.S. have fought for years over tuna. The U.S. insists that any Mexican tuna sold in the U.S. must be “dolphin safe,” meaning dolphins weren’t killed by tuna fisherman, which was once common. Mexico says its fisherman play by the rules. The U.S. government disagrees.

 

On Tuesday, the World Trade Organization ruled in Mexico’s favor, allowing it to impose trade sanctions worth $163 million a year against the U.S. The WTO says that’s how much money Mexico has lost from the U.S. unfairly penalizing Mexican tuna.

 

The timing, however coincidental, is sensitive. President Trump wants to renegotiate NAFTA, the free trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

——————

Look.

I will admit.

I believe building a ‘wall’ between Mexico and USA is stupid. To be clear … I am actually taking Donald J Trump at his word and assessing the idea as a “big, beautiful physical wall.”

And you know what? Even though I think the wall is stupid he is president and if he truly believes the wall would be effective in some way … his call.

But the issue is not really whether the wall is simply stupid or not. This is about ROI, budgeting money and business decision making.

We all, as everyday schmucks, make some fairly poor decisions with regard to how we spend our money. Just so  everyone knows … that lack of responsible budgeting does not magically disappear when you became a high falutin’ business leader. While I have tried to limit the poor discretionary budget spending … yeah … I have made some less-than-smart expenditures in business <in my defense … I have seen worse decisions>.

But as a business leader you are demanded to look at the money you have available, assess priorities and assign funds.

I say that because even if I stand on my head while looking at USA funding needs and the monies available I cannot envision how I would prioritize a ‘big, beautiful wall’ over … well … a shitload of things.

Every dollar I spend on ‘the big, beautiful wall’ is a dollar I cannot spend on lowering the deficit, maybe some infrastructure, any healthcare initiative, maybe some program for lower income households … you get it.

But it appears in this alternative universe that it seems the entire Trump clan lives in ‘the big , beautiful wall’ is representative of ‘the brand’ or ‘fulfilling a promise’ in which it gains so much value in an ROI analysis it pays out over all the other things it is assessed against.

Frankly, I don’t live in that alternative world.

In my world we have things to do and not enough money to do it all <which is a common issue in every business>, I just paid Mexico almost 200 million dollars <and they will not pay us to build the wall> and  I have a so-called experienced business leader president who don’t seem to understand that budgeting is about prioritizing and that means tough choices and that means explaining the tough choices.

In my world, as a business person, I have found that when I stood up in front of people and said “I have said we would do these things, we have $10, this is how I prioritize the $10, this means we cannot do some of the things I said before but hopefully we get to it if we ever get $20” that most people don’t look at you as “not fulfilling a promise” but rather “good business decision maker.”

But … that’s my world.

However. Just to show some fairness.

Back on January 30^th when I was so frustrated with Donald J Trump I actually took the time to write a letter to him to tell him how to do his frickin’ job .

I suggested this <even though I do not agree with the Wall but tried to offer him a compromise position>:

=======

Immigration part 2: the wall

It is our border. It is our responsibility. We will pay for it.

We will build a physical wall of constructed wall as well as a people wall. We will increase existing fencing, support it with additional physical wall construction in strategic areas and hire an additional 5000 border agents to manage the border wall.

Now.

I will ask Mexico to reimburse USA for several things:

• From this day forward the smart illegal immigrants who beat our wall that we catch we will deport. We ask Mexico to reimburse us for legal and transportation costs. Let’s call this our expense report for returning their citizens.

• Because we would like to encourage gainful employment of Mexican citizens so that they do not try and illegally immigrate to our great booming economy <which only I can create> we would like to earn an employment incentive assessment on each Mexican employee our USA companies hire at their facilities in Mexico.

==============

Regardless.

Yeah.

I laughed out loud this morning.

I never thought Mexico would ever pay for ‘the wall’ but I truly never thought we would actually pay Mexico AND have to pay for our own stupid wall.

Anyway.

I will end this ironic thought for the day with … well … building & being architects of fate.

One of my favorite poems written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

=====

The Builders

All are architects of Fate,

Working in these walls of Time;

Some with massive deeds and great,

Some with ornaments of rhyme.

Nothing useless is, or low;

Each thing in its place is best;

And what seems but idle show

Strengthens and supports the rest.

For the structure that we raise,

Time is with materials filled;

Our to-days and yesterdays

Are the blocks with which we build.

Truly shape and fashion these;

Leave no yawning gaps between;

Think not, because no man sees,

Such things will remain unseen.

In the elder days of Art,

Builders wrought with greatest care

Each minute and unseen part;

For the Gods see everywhere.

Let us do our work as well,

Both the unseen and the seen;

Make the house, where Gods may dwell,

Beautiful, entire, and clean.

Else our lives are incomplete,

Standing in these walls of Time,

Broken stairways, where the feet

Stumble as they seek to climb.

Build to-day, then, strong and sure,

With a firm and ample base;

And ascending and secure

Shall to-morrow find its place.

Thus alone can we attain

To those turrets, where the eye

Sees the world as one vast plain,

And one boundless reach of sky.

=============

=============

“The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges.

They may be Mohometans, Jews or Christians of any sect, or they may be atheists.”

—–

George Washington

=============

Ok.

I have commented several times on what I would consider a needless “travel ban” but Donald J’s insistence to issue a new improved travel ban under the guise of national security has inspired me to comment one more time.

When the best thing anyone can say about some initiative you are attempting to implement is:

… call new travel ban ‘a good overhaul’ that will ‘stand legal scrutiny’

… well … you are in trouble. I don’t really ever want the main reason to do something to be “it is legal.” I would much prefer my number 1 reason everyone wants to do something be … well … it is a damn good idea.

Look.

I am all for national security.

And I do believe a president has the right to take some extraordinary actions with the best intentions of citizens in mind.

But that is where I hesitate on this … my sense is that this whole travel ban is in the best interest of one citizen … Donald J Trump and his ego.

Since the 80’s death in the US by terrorism is around 3500 plus <including 9/11> in the same time there has been 60.000 work place related death and 900.000 death by gun violence.

Read any report you want and you can find little to point to these countries as ‘terrorist pipelines to America’ as well as anything that would suggest our current vetting process and immigration policy is flawed enough to permit an influx of terrorists.

But I imagine all could be resolved in my mind with answers to two basic questions:

• You were urgent in the initial ban with regard to our security and concerns with vetting … what specifically have you done in the past month to shore it up <because I assume it was important enough you didn’t just take your ball home sulking>?

• What can you do now, in a pause, which you couldn’t do in the past 4 weeks? <what specific benefit does the ‘pause’ give us>

Answer those well and I will reconsider my view on this and maybe even get off your back.

Here is what I know as a business guy.

Empty promises fulfilled … remain empty.

Most business leaders are very careful with regard to what they promise their employees. And then … even when promising something … they are even more careful about fulfilling any stated promise.  The latter is maybe even more important than the former.

Nothing kills a business leader faster than asking employees to do something simply to do something <and it is not a priority need for energy>.

That has always been the flaw in “doing what you said you would do.” if what you say is wrong, stupid, silly or ignorant than doing is simply a reflection of … well … all those things.

In the business world we call that wasted energy or a ‘completed wrong.’

This is when a business leader forces action simply to prove a point.

This is when an organization starts losing respect for a leader.

In today’ business world most businesses run so lean being able to effectively prioritize resources and energy is possibly the most important skill a leader can bring to an organization.

Employees do not suffer fools lightly.

And maybe that is why I will continue to crush Donald J for his lack of leadership skills.

Yes. He made a stupid promise while campaigning.

Yes. He tried to fulfill the stupid promise stupidly a month ago.

But he had an opportunity to right all wrongs in one fell swoop in this place and time … and a good leader would have seen the opportunity.

All he had to do was stand up in front of a microphone and a gazillion cameras <and hopefully a teleprompter> and said …

“I continue to believe the original ban was the best thing for America but I honored the decision made by our judiciary system and honored the ‘ban pause’ … but I, and we, did not pause in our efforts to keep people safe & secure … over the past week the following departments <name them> have done these things <list them> and have already begun implementing my <incredibly stupidly called> extreme vetting process. While it would have been easier for the people protecting you to have done this during a pause they never wavered in their determined effort to close the holes in the vetting process and I have decided to put the entire travel ban on hold until there may come a time where we identify a need to pause to further improve the process.”

And in one simple long paragraph explanation he has fulfilled his promise and stopped any wasted energy … and even gets some points on leadership.

Did he do this? Are you fucking nuts? I bet this didn’t even cross his mind.

Leaders always have choices when they make a decision.

With regard to this one I sense the main Trumpian business flaw – transactional versus strategic.

My fear is Trump views immigration as a transaction between the ‘incoming’ and the country – “here is what you are buying and if you buy it you have committed to it.” This comes to Life most easily in how he discusses a ‘merit based’ immigration policy but it also hides among words like “people who value our values and think America is great.”

When viewed transactionally … Trump misses the more strategic value … the fact that 1^st generation immigrants assimilate … 2^nd generation immigrants prosper.

If I view immigration transactionally <unless I view it through a ‘lifetime value lens’> I will inevitably misjudge the value of the transaction.

Immigration is more like a long term contract in which both parties have commitments.

“I am offering you a long term contact in which I will provide you rights, privileges, freedoms and opportunities <that is my promise in this contract> and you will provide a commitment to the Constitution, working hard and embracing the freedoms found with american society <with respect>.”

In a mutually beneficial contract both parties receive value.

In a mutually beneficial contract both parties are equal … one party is not subservient to the other.

Look.

I do believe America is great <for a variety of reasons>. But I have said this before and I will say this again … to make America even greater I shouldn’t be keeping people out I should be strengthening the idea, and values, of America to a point where the right people self select wanting to be part of the idea of America.

And an unintended consequence <actually an intended one> if I approach immigration that way is I also strengthen the idea of America for current Americans which strengthens who we are, what we believe and how we behave.

In the end.

This revised travel ban is stupid.

It has all the signs of the kind of thing a petulant leader does simply to make a point.

And, worse? It diverts energy & resources at a time where we should be assessing energy & resources as ‘most efficient use.’

He is a horrible business leader taking his horrible lack of leadership skills into the presidency.

==== my letter to President Donald J. Trump ====

Dear President Trump,

I am tired of watching incompetent leadership and watch you hide behind tweets instead of taking responsibility for your actions … as well as your thoughts. I am also tired of your lack of leadership and seeming lack of desire to reach out to your ultimate responsibility – 330 million people or so <not just the ones who got up off their happy asses and voted for you>. And I am really tired of seeing you have no fucking idea how to do your job.

So, while I abhor almost every tactic you seem to want to do, let me tell you how to actually do what you want to do <so you can actually do your job>:

Immigration part 1: who we let in to USA.

Let me be clear.

The security of our people is utmost in my mind.

And I reviewed everything knowing that even if we do everything right there is no guarantee we will never have a terrorist succeed on American soil.

Ok.

That said.

My 7 country ban, particularly Iraq where I — as commander in chief — have my soldiers fighting side by side with soldiers who have relatives who would like to come to the USA, was stupid.

So.

Here is what is really going to happen.

There is no 7 country ban. In fact … we will never ban an entire country unless there is a specific threat identified.

Next.

I have reviewed the vetting process with regard to the people who we invite into our country to either work or stay with becoming a citizen in mind. Our vetting process is the toughest in the world. It takes almost 2 years and 7 agencies reviewing to allow someone’s ass into the USA.

It is also different than Europe’s in these ways <list them for people>.

Our comprehensive vetting conducted by the best professionals USA has to offer is the main reason our vetting process has never permitted a terrorist in through our immigration process since 2001.

I was dumb with regard to my recent “no one comes in for 90 days” because our vetting process really is pretty good despite what all those dishonest people in Congress have been fear-mongering telling you.

That doesn’t mean we will not make some minor adjustments to strengthen some of the potential loopholes but we will maintain our vigilant vetting process which Homeland security, the state department and other 5 departments associated with vetting have managed with excellence since 9/11.

However.

We do need to make improvements on our Visa program.

We are making these three changes to our visa program <list them and explain them>.

• <I don’t know enough what to tell you to do … have one of your flunkies how misguided you on your current immigration plan figure it out>

Now.

Yes.

I am going to limit the number of refugees and immigrants we permit into the country. By a lot. We will still permit some but not many – for a while. Here is what I want to do … I want to tie how many more people we will allow in to how many current illegal immigrants we deport or permit to stay. As the number of illegal immigrants in the United States declines, the number of immigrants & refugees we allow in increases.

This is not to suggest we will ever have a ‘quota’ … because we will not … however, we need to have a legal citizenry aligned behind the Constitutional values and this is my plan to do that.

Immigration part 2: the wall

It is our border. It is our responsibility. We will pay for it.

We will build a physical wall of constructed wall as well as a people wall. We will increase existing fencing, support it with additional physical wall construction in strategic areas and hire an additional 5000 border agents to manage the border wall.

Now.

I will ask Mexico to reimburse USA for several things:

• From this day forward the smart wily illegal immigrants who beat our wall that we catch … we will deport. We ask Mexico to reimburse us for legal and transportation costs. Let’s call this our expense report for returning their citizens.

• Because we would like to encourage gainful employment of Mexican citizens so that they do not try and illegally immigrate to our great booming economy <which only I can create> we would like to earn an employment incentive assessment on each Mexican employee our USA companies hire at their facilities in Mexico.

Immigration part 3: undocumented immigrants

We are now offering a one time legal waiver to any immigrant who walks into their local city hall and registers as an immigrant either seeking a short term work visa or a long term path to citizenship. We are simply asking you to declare your intentions and you will not be deported. Once registered you will either receive a work visa with a specific USA legal time frame you can work and responsibilities associated or the plan of action, responsibilities and timeline to gain your citizenship.

Note.

We will offer a onetime legal waiver for all businesses who report the shift of undocumented to newly registered immigrant employees.

In addition.

From this day forward any registered immigrant, not a citizen, receiving anything more than a misdemeanor will be deported. We will ask Mexico to reimburse USA for that.

From this day forward, once the one time legal waiver period is over, any unregistered immigrant will be deported. We will ask Mexico to reimburse USA for that.

Immigration part 4: Dreamers

We will not deport one Dreamer who is either in school or gainfully employed <or about to be employed>.

All of the Dreamers who have contributed to USA and have plans to contribute are already part of the fabric of America and we have no desire tearing you out of it.

America First National Language.

Here is the crazy thing I found out when I took this job … we do not have a national language. I want to change that. If you live in USA you should be able to speak English. Heck. All my wives did that so everyone else should. This doesn’t mean you cannot have a business focused on using another language nor does it not permit you to speak any language you want at any time … we just want everyone to be able to speak to each other in a common language in schools, public events and within any national discourse. We want Americans to speak English <even though I do not do so very well myself>.

America First business strategy

As of June 1, 2017 we will be dropping the corporate tax to x%.

In addition. We will offer a “kicker” tax break of an additional 10% cut for every additional dollar you reinvest in America operations from the profit dollars you just gained from the lower tax rate or additional dollars invested versus year prior.

In addition. We will be assessing an employee tax <based on their salary> on every overseas employee for multinational companies. We will have three levels of taxes <I made that up … but Trump makes up shit too>, based on whether they could be employed in the USA or not, and you can apply for the appropriate tax rate for each employee.

We will be fair but make no mistake … we want every employee who should be working in America … working in America.

America First Regulation strategy

I see now that my whole “eliminate two regulations for each one added” was bullshit.

So.

As of June 1, 2017 we will have eliminated 20% of all existing regulations. That is my goal and I have asked the Cabinet members to approach this objective responsibly but with the intent to <a> decrease the burden on businesses and <b> limit restrictions on growth industries. We will do this responsibly taking into consideration environmental concerns but with the intent to enable American businesses to take a leap forward.

That is my first promise to America.

My second promise is to have my entire Cabinet present a review of all the regulation cuts to Congress and the American people on June 1, 2019. At that time we will reassess regulations and repercussions of any regulation cuts.

Trumpcare:

We are repealing and replacing Obamacare. While the idea is worthy the construct is flawed and I, and only I, can fix this mess.

Okay. I will be honest. It’s really not that bad and there are a bunch of things we want to keep and make work better.

Beginning on January 1, 2018 we will permit health insurance companies to work across state borders to increase local competition and increase plan options for people. We will bla bla bla to make quality healthcare accessible to everyone, even people with preexisting conditions, seniors and low income people. We will also deregulate the ‘telehealth’ industry and permit small health accounts for younger healthy people from which the government will only assess fees when used.

Economy.

Of all the things I have discussed so far … the best thing for American security, the number one weapon against terrorism and the best gift we can give every American household is a better economy. When people have opportunities for better income, better lives and better opportunities people are happier, healthier … and safer because less people are unhappy. Just tell the Democrats to approve my lack-of any-moral compass billionaire economic Cabinet members so I can make America’s economy great again because I need them to make it all happen <and I will be seen as the great President I know that I am>.

Sincerely,

Donald J. Trump

===============

Please note, President Trump, I do not agree with everything here nor am I smart enough to have thought through all the details, but I was able to think thru this in one afternoon and it looks more sensible then anything you have offered yet.

I would note you have shown no signs that you can coherently articulate a coherent strategy, nor tactics, so I have attempted to do your job for you so that maybe you can get your ass out of the crack you put it in.

As for being a man?

First. Try using some of these words … they reflect some harsh truths which your citizens deserve, and the truth … well … truth trumps fear anytime.

Second. Try sharing these words in something other than a tweet or sending someone else out to communicate it for you. Stand up in front of your people, your citizens, and take some responsibility and be a frickin’ man about all of this <you incompetent hack — said under my breath>.

Sincerely,

Bruce

=========

“Don’t confuse a flurry of activity for progress. That’s a magician’s trick.”

———

One of my past Bosses

============

Well.

With all due respect to anyone who voted for Trump … this is batshit crazy.

A batshit crazy week.

A batshit crazy day.

Batshit crazy for the country as a whole.

And I am beginning to think he is batshit crazy.

With the sheer amount of shit Trump is throwing up against the wall it becomes difficult to see anything but … well … shit.

<This was a nice article, Trump week one, weaving through what Trump did and whether it matters or not>

Now.

If you turn on the television to watch whatever news network trying to be fair and doing so by putting on some Trump surrogate to speak Trumpspeak … you will encounter what I just said to a good friend of mine:

 

“Watch, they rummage around for scraps of cloth and then hold up the scrap and try to convince you it is part of a beautiful tapestry.

But it is still just a scrap of cloth.”

 

<Me>

 

Be careful, my friends, because that is what they are trying to do.

Regardless.

As a business guy I will point out two things to show how batshit crazy this whole situation is:

• If he were running a business like this, he would be fired

This is not how businesses are run.

No. He is not running it like a high speed business.

He is running it like a transactional manager with poorly thought out plans who just wants to do shit to show he is doing something … and, on top of that, has no clue how to adapt the shit if it goes to shit.

Faster paced businesses only run faster because they are willing to plan, go & quickly adapt. Faster paced businesses understand the name of the game is “adapt or die” if they want to go with some speed. But, for the most part, they are not making shit up on the fly and the really big shit has been planned for.

Oh.

One other thing about fast paced businesses.

Alignment.

Unity in vision.

Speed, in business, has a lot to do with gravity & mass. If you want your organization to be successful AND move at a good pace you remove barnacles and you make sure everyone on the crew knows where you are going and have talked through the intent before you say “let’s go.”

And you maybe even show everyone, on some map, where you are trying to get to <this helps everyone adapt because you don’t screw them up stopping them from doing something while adapting if you know they have the same end objective everyone else has>.

Ok.

The second.

Our larger batshit crazy concern really has nothing to do with the pace.

• Cabal decision making

Yeah.

He is doing it in a cabal fashion. It feels like it is a couple of people who have a very dark vision of who and what America should be, maybe a couple of flunkies who want to suck up to the Trumpster because they want something <this could be Republicans who want sonme things and put up with the other batshit crazy stuff to get it> and the circus ringleader himself — the Trumpster.

Uhm.

How would you feel if you were a senior manager in a company and he pulled shit like this?

How would you feel if you were one of his chosen cabinet members <especially the ones who are not even in place yet>?

He has virtually no cabinet and what he is doing … he isn’t running by what cabinet he does have.

“why does he need me … he seems to want to do it all on his own.”

It appears a small band of slightly off-kilter individuals are making decisions for all of us – Trump supporters and non Trump supporters.

They are not involving even their senior management let alone the congress — who represent, us, the people — and shooting off orders on what should be done <which inevitably, in this universe, is supposed to reflect what we are supposed to think>.

That is a dictator/cabal and not a “business leader.”

Okay.

Let’s be generous and say that this is classic ‘top/down’ management. If it is … well … top/down works if you are leading a cult or you have a one-person company. If you have an organization of any significant size, let’s say … uhm … 330 million or so … you need some buy in at a number of levels and, even better, some of the lower management levels even contribute to the tactics.

That said … if it is ‘top/down’ management it is just incompetent leadership … if it is a cabal … well … it is not a democracy.

This is batshit crazy.

And maybe the last batshit crazy alternative universe aspect.

… the President is deeply committed to the executive order and the public is firmly behind it — urging them not to get distracted by …

Whoa.

What batshit crazy sonovabitch believes this <not the president part … the people part>?

And does this batshit crazy sonovabitch think the people listening to it believe it?

I don’t even have to believe in the effectiveness of polling to know that over 10 million people voted for someone other than our current President.

I can even be skeptical of polling to see the consistently poor directional numbers <always less than 50%> of approval, temperament and ‘how I feel about this new guy in office.’

Sure.

The ‘public’ who voted for the President are firmly behind some of his batshit crazy behavior … okay … some of them are. But I am tempted to ask the bonehead who said this … “uhm … who are the millions protesting? … and didn’t more people actually demonstrate against him than actually wanted to show up to cheer his dark view of the world & America?”

This is batshit crazy.

All of it.

This is not the America I know.

=========================

“This is stone cold crazy.

After a week of crazy.”

 

Susan Rice

=============

“And empty words are evil.”

—

Homer

=======================

“It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”

―

George Orwell, 1984

===================

Tweets.

Thanks to Trump … tweeting has become a daily discussion whether you have a twitter account or not. And along those lines there comes a fairly absurd discussion about how tweets define the ‘new world of communication.’

It is almost like no one understands the difference between content creation and amplifying content.

This is going to be hyperbolic generalization … but …Twitter does not exist, or thrive, without existing content created elsewhere.

Tweets amplify views, opinions, attitudes, thoughts and sometimes addendums to existing content. And by content I mean it doesn’t have to be articles or written things … it can be movies, speeches, demonstrating people, etc.

Bottom line … someone has to do something before twitter can play a role.

Let’s call it stimulus response if you want.

I need a stimulus before I can have a twitter response.

But we act like tweets exist in some vacuum or that  real words and thoughts can go away because now we have tweets to guide what we should say and think.

This is crazy.

Fucking crazy.

Let me explain a little on this.

Tweeting is a response to content.

Therefore, simplistically, a tweeter is a commenter and not a creator.

Twitter represents a massive commenter section of the world in which most do not engage in a dialogue but rather voice a monologue in response to some content <content being an article, an event, a show, a meeting, etc.>.

Original content is offered and a tweet is generated <or tweets>.

Some people call this “a monologue.” I will call it “commenting on content.”

From there a triangular relationship is created. Tweet responses to the original tweeter and to the original content.

There is rarely a dialogue, in the traditional sense, just comments thrown back and forth.

And, finally, if the twitter universe expands in commenting enough, a follow-up piece of content is created to complete the communication loop … or diamond shape … in which tweets bounce back and forth between content simply commenting on what someone else has created.

When the twitter universe embraces a topic it feeds upon itself  where original content is spun out discussing tweets themselves <basically content on commenting>, content derived from the original content and possibly new original content spawned by where the twitter universe ranges on the topic.

While that is a generalization of Twitter and tweeting I make the point to … well … point out that Trump is a commenter of content and not a creator of content.

Okay.

Let me resay that … TODAY he is solely a commenter but in a couple of weeks when will own a shitload of content.

But, you know what? Other than the content ownership Trump will assume soon … a lot of older people use twitter exactly the same way – monologues and commenting.

<I make that point so when some banal comment is made on TV about how ‘Twitter will be the new way to do things’ we may want to remind ourselves that this is older people talking to older people about how to communicate with older people>

Anyway.

So, for today, Trump is a vapid thinker who expresses his views on other people’s real thinking in 140 characters or less <Bad!>. In the twitter world he is a vapid ‘loud mouth‘.

Vapid is the key word here. Not just for Trump but for tweets in general.

We should more often than not think of tweets as ‘full words’ but rather ‘empty words’ … and not get confused.

=====

emp·ty word

noun

plural noun: empty words

1. a word that has only a grammatical function, and no meaning in itself (for example, the infinitive marker to in English).

======

To normalize a tweet as ‘full words’ does words, and thinking, a massive injustice.

Shit.

To normalize tweets as real communication does communication injustice.

Let’s be clear.

I am all for simplifying communications.

All for it.

But.

Effective communication means effectively communicating — in 140 characters or 140 PowerPoint slides or in 140 pages or in 140 words.

Effective communications means effectively using words — where one letter can be the difference between “the Favorite” <makbul> and “the Executed” <maktul>.

<makbul and maktul is of Arabic origin and is Turkish>

Yeah.

Effective communication can teeter upon one letter.

One letter.

Morality and mortality.

One letter.

Wield and yield.

I have called it the burning space between one letter and the next.

An incredibly small space which can burn with meaning.

Empty a word of the critical letter and it can burn with the wrong meaning.

Empty a conversation of the necessary words and it can burn with the wrong meaning.

Empty the dialogue of real thought and it can burn with the wrong meaning.

Empty words are truly evil … and I do not use that word, evil, lightly.

Empty words destroy truth.

Empty words destroy effective communication.

Empty words destroy facts.

And maybe that is why I laugh out loud, painfully, when I hear someone suggest that “twitter policy” is the new generation’s way <or at least Trump’s way> of doing things — of communicating.

That is not only funny it is also stupid.

Tweets are just that … tweets. They are comments on other people’s content. They do not depict policy or true original thinking but rather comments on something original.

Twitter is a great social tool.

It can amplify the best, and worst, content available.

It can amplify the best, and worst, of people.

It seeks out the cracks in … well … anything … and expands the crack to a crevasse so that additional tweets can fill the void with whatever opinions one may have.

But, please, please don’t ever suggest 140 characters will define original content in any meaningful way – especially the content of a presidency.