Trump could frame Clinton as anti-male without ever saying “anti-male.” The exact words matter less than the concept. But the words do need to be catchy in some way, so everyone wants to repeat them.



My gut feeling is that men will abandon Clinton every day from now until November unless Trump murders a baby on live television. Otherwise, I think Trump wins easily with men.



But women are the interesting wild card in this scenario. For the sake of discussion, let’s say half of Clinton’s female supporters have a grudge against men. That seems about right if you consider all the attention on gender discrimination. Now add to that all the abusive relationships women have experienced, both personally and professionally, and you have plenty of reasons for women to be anti-male, even if only subconsciously.



But the hypothetical half of women that do not have a grudge against men would run like the wind to avoid being labelled anti-male. It goes to identity. And identity is always the strongest level of persuasion. The only way to beat it is with dirty tricks or a stronger identity play.



Trump is well on his way to owning the identities of American, Alpha Males, and Women Who Like Alpha Males. Clinton is well on her way to owning the identities of angry women, beta males, immigrants, and disenfranchised minorities.



If this were poker, which hand looks stronger to you for a national election?

Scott Adams explains the situation from the Master Persuader perspective:I think Trump will crush Hillary myself, but not based on any particular communication tactics. Hillary is a ridiculously corrupt member of a corrupt elite who is a terrible candidate almost entirely dependent upon a) the Clinton machine clearing the path for her and b) her opponents refusing to hit her because she's a girl. So to speak.Trump knows how the machines work and he's not even remotely hesitant to launch both rhetorical and dialectical attacks on anyone. Hillary has a glass jaw, she doesn't handle criticism well, and I expect she would not only fold, but collapse completely, before the kind of pressure Trump would bring to bear.

Labels: politics