Lies, Damn Lies, and Scumbag Politicians

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Exactly; this is the first troll Presidential campaign.

I don't read any of the stories - I only read headlines - but from this perspective, the people are being trolled, and they are losing.

We know the troll - we are familiar with how this goes. We have been trolled for 30 years, some of us; sometimes we have lost, and we have learned from it. But our aunts and uncles only got on Facebook in 2012, and most of them haven't figured out this dynamic.

The classic troll: say something provocative and get as much reaction from it as you can; now you've disrupted everything, you are the topic, which was the goal all along.

This guy's a pro and has been chumming the water for years and years. But at some point there's a feeding frenzy, and the fish generate their own chum. So now he doesn't even have to say anything. Posts will be written about what he said earlier. Or who supports him and who doesn't. Or pure speculation.

Did you spend any time thinking - seriously considering - whether or not he acted as his own spokesman 25 years ago? Did you consider the implications of the story? Did you wonder whether it would have legs? At lunch with J today, and she got a notification on her phone for it. The NY fuckin' Times had it as "breaking news".

Breaking news? They sent an alert for this?

The traditional online response is, YHBT. YHL. HAND.

You Have been Trolled. You Have Lost. Have A Nice Day.

I wrote that in May 2016. Three and a half years later...

He tweeted the picture of his head on Rocky's body yesterday and everybody lost their shit.

He's not just any troll, but the world's greatest troll. The guy always loves to say he's the greatest "whatever", but there's one thing that he really is the greatest at: he's the greatest troll of all time.

You think of the weird wild emperors and "big man" dictators who plastered their face all over every street. Those weren't trolls, not at all. The troll gets YOU to put his face up there. And it doesn't matter if it's out of admiration, or because you used it for target practice. The troll's market is in attention. If you're paying attention, you have lost.

How about don't even use his name? I'm thinking tactics here, big media.