See this article in FastCompany about how to be memorable, and note how many of the tips apply to Donald Trump. You can’t be a persuader until you are memorable. Most of the persuading happens after the persuasion trigger event, when people replay the memory in their minds.

Low-energy Jeb, Low-energy Jeb.

Build a wall, and Mexico is going to pay for it!

Lyin’ Ted, Lyin’ Ted

Crooked Hillary, Crooked Hillary

We remember nearly everything Trump wants us to remember while forgetting a lot of inconvenient facts he would like us to forget.

Persuasion is largely about making people think the things you want them to think until those thoughts and memories become important by weight. Reason and logic are not terribly important to persuasion. Persuasion is about redirecting energy and focus.

Prior to this election, nearly all politicians did what I call the laundry list of issues every time they spoke. Their eyes would glaze over while they spewed the memorized list of issues designed to touch every voter in some trivial way. The result was usually twenty forgettable “priorities” that influenced no one.

Trump wants you to know he’s going to build a wall. Like it or not, you remember it. And you repeat it. And you visualize it. And you argue about it.

Compare that to Clinton’s top priority which is to be President of the United States and a woman at the same time. Clinton might not call that her top priority, but it’s all I can remember about her campaign, so my brain sees it that way.

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In other news, Trump quickly (too quickly) suggested that the lost Egyptian jet was a victim of terrorism before anyone had good information about it. If he turned out to be wrong, we would forget it in a week. But if he turned out to be right, he looks like the smart one, and the leader. It was a good gamble. Clinton is playing the follower today, as terrorism is now the top assumption. It made her look slow in the leadership department, and a terrorism denier.

This is another case in which acting presidential was a losing campaign strategy.

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If you think the issues in this election are complicated, you should see how many pages my book has. They’re numbered so you don’t have to count them.