Liz Cheney is not the only Liz Cheney
On Friday we talked about how to move Republicans — it's with messages from other Republicans. This fits with our consideration of how tribalism works in politics. Today, let's go a little deeper on that.
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt published a very interesting book in 2012 called "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion." He studied people's sense of "morality" and found that it means different things to different people — particularly to liberals and conservatives. We don't even speak the same language of morality.
We'll talk more about this book in a future newsletter, but here's the important thing to keep in mind today: One way that conservatives judge people's morality is on "loyalty" versus "disloyalty" — and liberals aren’t the same. There are tons of examples — remember when conservatives attacked Obama for not wearing a flag pin? To liberals, this was stupid pandering. To conservatives, it was salient — because it fed their image of Obama as hating America. Disloyal. Not one of us.
Today, loyalty to country is already quaint. Loyalty to America has been replaced by loyalty to the Republican Party and loyalty within the Republican Party has come to mean loyalty to Trump. Betray Trump, and you're a traitor.
This is what happened to Liz Cheney. Wyoming Republicans primaried her out of office two years ago and liberals were like, "But Liz Cheney is very conservative. You're being inconsistent!" Because, once again, they think they're in an intellectual exchange. But of course, Republicans are not thoughtfully evaluating Liz Cheney's record — they're casting her out of the tribe, for the good of the tribe. This, in fact, is what the caveman brain demands.
This raises an idea, doesn't it?
• Why not disrupt the other guy's tribe?
Here's what I mean by that. "Normal" Republicans were unprepared for the era of Trump, but they quickly learned to navigate the new era by playing a little game of dissociation. It's like, I'm not really Trump, I'm good old John Thune. The president has his little schtick but that's happening in some imaginary sci-fi universe that doesn’t even exist where I am. I'm busy doing my own job. I can't respond to what he said at this time. I didn't see that tweet. We're the adults and nothing has changed and everything is normal, no problem.
And they got away with that game because Democrats don't understand psychological warfare.
I once interviewed a retired Marine officer who had become a specialist in what's called "fourth-generation warfare." Our military, he explained, is still using traditional strategies to fight nontraditional enemies.
A traditional enemy puts together a big army and some tanks and planes and goes out to fight us on a battlefield. Modern-day enemies — Al-Qaeda, ISIS, the Taliban, the Iraqi insurgents — don't do that. In fact, he described them not as militaries but as networks.
"The way to destroy a network," he told me, "is to introduce distrust, because networks are trust-based."
What about us? For eight years, we've been using traditional strategies to fight a nontraditional political phenomenon. Cause we're dumb.
What would it look like to fight Trump and the Trump-dominated party on a psychological level? It would hinge on trust and distrust. It would hinge on loyalty and disloyalty to Trump.
Takeaway: Disrupt Republicans by exploiting distrust.
There are so many opportunities.
• Okay, so how does this help me?
Think about this: The right hates the center-right so intensely they have names for them, like RINOs and cucks. This is not a difference of opinion — it’s a feeling of total contempt. It’s a huge chasm in party solidarity that’s waiting to be exploited.
If I had millions of dollars in dark money today, I would put up billboards across Texas with Trump's face and the actual quote, "LYING TED. I CALL HIM LYING TED." I would never stop saying, “Trump called Ted Cruz’s wife ugly and Ted Cruz just rolled over and took it.”
If I had been running against Ron DeSantis, I would have said, "Ron DeSantis says a prayer every night that Donald Trump goes to prison before 2024." "Ron DeSantis only wants one thing in this world, and that's for Democrats to get rid of Trump so he can take over." "Ron, you were called 'fat,' 'phony' and 'whiny' by Donald Trump. Are you going to stand up for yourself or what?"
If I had been spending money to back Stacey Abrams for governor, I would have put up billboards in Georgia that say, "BRIAN KEMP BETRAYED TRUMP." "BRIAN KEMP IS WHY TRUMP ISN'T PRESIDENT TODAY." Brian Kemp would have lost.
If I were running against one of the so-called moderates in Congress, I'd say, "He's one of those Republicans who's all 'I support the party' in public but then he whispers against Trump to reporters off the record. He’s one of the whisperers." "If Republicans want someone who won't be there for them except at election time, he's that guy." I’d say, “Trump frigging hates people like you. He called you ‘human scum.’” “Trump wants you gone.”
You can see how scared the “moderate” Republicans like Don Bacon and Brian Fitzpatrick are, because they’re falling into line so fast on their party litmus tests, like the government shutdowns, the Biden “investigation” and the Mayorkas impeachment. When some of them voted for an infrastructure bill that benefited the whole country, they were savaged. When forced to vote on Trump’s insurrection against the United States, they cowered.
This winter, two Republicans who didn’t want to fall in line actually quit Congress rather than buck the party — following in the footsteps of Trump-incompatible Republicans like Jeff Flake, Bob Corker and Justin Amash.
Loyalty is everything. There’s a high price to pay for integrity. There are true wackos in Congress, but there are also people who know better than what they’re doing, and deep inside, their inner child is terrified. You know what they’re scared of? Everything I’ve just written.
So why aren’t Democrats making them maximally uncomfortable? Make your Republican into a Liz Cheney — by which I mean not a hero but a pariah. Not courageous but unreliable. Not loyal to the country, which is what she's been, but disloyal to the tribe.
Joshua Tanzer
jmtanzer@gmail.com
Los Angeles
Takeaway Toteboard
— introduction —
KEY #1: Republicans are from Mars, Democrats are from Swarthmore. (Feb. 23):
• Democrats run an intellectual campaign to voters who are emotional creatures.
• Instead of running an intellectual campaign, we need to use our intellect to create an emotional campaign.
KEY #2: What does the Democrats’ hat say? (Feb. 26)
• The Republicans’ philosophy fits on a hat. Democrats don’t have one.
— where do people’s attitudes come from? —
KEY #3: Love isn’t rational. (Feb 28):
• Politics is emotion.
• If you find yourself trying to argue intellectually, stop! Find the emotional argument.
KEY #4: You’re an animal! (March 1):
• Our attitudes come from our identity.
• You are speaking to the voter's animal brain.
KEY #5: Don’t take away my _____! (March 4):
• Don't get into a fight with people's way of life.
• When you talk about change, find the “win.”
KEY #6: You are this boy and life is this marshmallow. (March 6):
• Find ways to affirm people's way of life.
• Don’t just campaign; build community.
— mental defenses, and how not to argue —
KEY #7: Motivated reasoning (aka “Remember this friggin guy?”) (March 8):
• People believe what they need to believe.
KEY #8: How your head keeps from exploding (March 11):
• People experiencing cognitive dissonance want an alternative narrative to make it better.
• Do not engage with your opponent’s alternative narrative.
KEY #9: Lalalalalalalala, I'm not listening! (March 13):
• People don't hear information that conflicts with their opinions.
• Misinformation stays in people's heads. (And trying to correct it doesn't work well.)
• Don't respond to attacks by repeating the same attacks in your own language.
KEY #10: Maybe there’s hope for people (March 15):
• Get out ahead of charges with your own framing.
• Correct misinformation fast.
• Let people know when they're about to hear something untrue.
• Undermine the source.
• Reframe, don’t repeat.
KEY #11: The first rule of debate club is … (March 18):
• Arguing with people doesn't change their minds.
— how do people change their minds? —
KEY #12: Today’s the day we talk about The Key (March 20):
• Make people feel non-threatened by your approach.
• People can change their minds if they can keep their own identity.
KEY #13: If you steal one idea from me this year, let it be ... (March 22):
• Start by affirming the other person’s identity.
• Create an identity-consistent "path" that leads the voter in the direction you want.
• Create an "offramp" for uncomfortable Republicans.
• The campaign is inside their heads, not yours.
• Use your intelligence not to make an intellectual argument but to make a psychological argument.
KEY #14: That time we got it wrong (March 25):
• Don’t attack people who are changing.
— tribalism —
KEY #15: Yes, we clan! (March 27):
• Do not get into a fight with someone's tribe.
KEY #16: Tribalism works against us ... but can it work for us? (March 29):
• Do not trigger tribal identification.
• People have many tribes. Access a different tribe.
KEY #17: It’s coming from inside the house. (April 5):
• Your message should come from real people.
• The party-leavers in your district are your messengers.
KEY #18: Liz Cheney is not the only Liz Cheney. (April 8):
• Disrupt Republicans by exploiting distrust.
I need practice exercises for each of these lessons. Like any learning for me, I need some hands-on, guided-practice exercises. I want to get this stuff deep in my brain, but I need practice to do that!