piece of cake after the recent death of Charles Manson I couldn't help but look
back at some of his later interviews to get a better sense of the man himself
with all the stories and cultural mythology stripped away especially in
his later years it can be a bit jarring to watch how his mind wanders and in
almost schizophrenic paranoia but the more I watched as opposed to just seeing
him as a crazy old man disconnected from reality the more I actually started to
recognize some of his interview tactics and not so subtle forms of manipulation
sadly enough it became clearer and clearer that Manson shared more than a
few rhetorical habits with America's newest master of manipulation now if we
look up traditional characteristics of cult leaders both Trump and Manson are
bound to fit into just about every category the US and them attitude
questions in dissent not being tolerated lies repeated so often they seem true
but this video isn't about exposing Trump's cult leader characteristics to
be honest I think that be a bit too obvious instead I'd like to take a
closer look at how both Trump and Manson answer questions in formal settings and
explore the crossover between their unique speaking habits
first and foremost both have an extreme almost cartoonish confidence about them
which can manifest itself in very similar or very different ways for
example neither seems able to admit a fault in any situation no matter how
much evidence is stacked up against them yeah but in the world I live in I've
never made a bad move in my whole life you said before I could take hits when
it's justified correct right person can you give me an example of a time when
someone was critical of even you thought to yourself I deserved that hit I
deserved that column I deserve I could never do that and each will openly brag
and self promote whether about their own successes or intelligence or something
deeper like their moral compass and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City and
I'm very proud of it but I've seen it falling I'm very aware when it comes to
seeing things it was given a very high award by the Marines at the Waldorf
Astoria a couple of months ago I'm brand new
everything I do is always brand new I'm gonna punish reality but though the
content is different both are just shamelessly praising themselves in an
attempt at some sort of superiority and that's just where the crossover begins
more and more common today in politics and media is the phrase
what about ISM which is essentially just when someone is asked about their own
personal wrongdoing and says but what about and then goes on to name someone
else's wrongdoing instead of directly refuting or disproving the interviewer
they try to flip the conversation on to an opponent and claim some sort of
hypocrisy latent in the question Trump and his friends at Fox News are quickly
becoming the new ambassadors of what about ISM as John Oliver pointed out on
his latest episode now Trump does this all the time most famously when he was
asked why he hadn't forcefully condemned the neo-nazis in Charlottesville and
this was his response what about the alt left they came charging at the as you
say the alt right what about the fact that came charging that they came
charging with clubs in the hand swinging clubs
and Manson wasn't afraid to use the exact same technique in response to a
question about the Sharon Tate murder feel bad what about to other people what
about the poor people starving to death over there Palacios do you think about
that what about the boat people that and all the other people that died over
there what about two little girls but for me what about isn't gets it
something deeper in both the Trump and Manson play books which comes up in
nearly every answer they give and this is the broader concept of diverting
attention which I basically define as switching the subject in order to avoid
the initial question now I think this is an important moment to mention that I'm
not claiming either of these men consciously employ these techniques in
fact I think that be pretty hard to argue but that doesn't mean these
similarities aren't potentially important to define and recognize in
order to better understand them like any cheap sleight of hand magician Trump and
Manson consciously or not constantly shift from one topic to the next to
create these little distractions to better understand this we'll have to
take a look at another characteristic we often find in their answers aimlessness
this in a sense is really just the classic old man telling a boring story
trope we see again and again on TV like with grandpa
for example so I decided to go to Morganville which is what they call
Shelbyville in those days so I tired an onion to my boat which was the style at
the time now to take the ferry cost a nickel and in those days
Niko's had pictures of bumblebees on him watch here as Manson gets similarly
distracted trying to respond to a very straightforward question do you believe
they take LaBianca murders had anything to do with sort of ending the period of
the sixties creating of yeah but was that it was the peak of the love that
was running what no one will be watching us and it's been worthwhile today I
didn't write that music take it to the Queen of England ask her why she's
sending her kids over here ducking from that Hindu Panthers coming out of that
New Delhi penitentiary and of course Manson is a little less tethered to
reality but the distracted branching structure of their monologues are
actually very similar so yes Trump will never sound quite as unhinged
as Manson but the aimlessness and self distraction at the core of their
speaking habits are surprisingly similar watch here is John Oliver uses a voice
actor to strip one of Trump's speeches down to the actual text itself you look
at the nuclear deal the thing that really bothers me it would have been so
easy and it's not as important as these lives are nuclear is so powerful my
uncle explain that to me many many years ago the power and that was 35 years ago
he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right who
would have thought but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners
now it used to be three now it's for both limitless
I would have said it's all on the messenger fellows and it is fellas
because you know they don't they haven't figured that the women are smarter right
now than the men just like Manson and Grandpa Simpson he keeps getting caught
up in these tangents of free association vocalizing every thought that comes to
mind constantly distracted by his own answer now these three elements while
each fascinating on their own are not particularly revolutionary but what
makes Manson and Trump such unique interviewees is how frequently these
three elements come together effectively distracting the listener from their
misdeeds and bringing the attention on to their supposed best qualities
criminal will always go to a familiar place
Texas been to that house Tex went back to that house here's the conversation
Indian Mesa we got for campfires we've got four Queens on a motorcycle gang a
motorcycle group that rides SS motorcycles out of Venice Santa Monica
so we're riding motorcycles and we're all up there and we've got these fires
going we got this big problem that came up I had to go shoot somebody for text
Bobby's in prison my brothers in jail now understand my mind all my life I've
been at jail because they haven't wanted to get me out of jail I didn't have no
brother outside so I spent years and years and years and years just because
nobody would come and sign their name and get me out of jail and the jail
couldn't let me out because I had no place to go so I spent 22 years in
prison because I didn't have nobody outside I can't let somebody that's with
me to stay in jail and you just think you know it's not in my makeup man I
don't want clean air and we can do that but we don't have to destroy our
businesses we have to destroy okay and by the way china isn't abiding by
anything they're buying all of our coal we can't use coal anymore essentially
they're buying our calling they're using it now when you talk about the planet
it's so big out there we're here they're there it's like they're our next-door
neighbor right in terms of the universe miss universe by the way made a great
deal when I sold that oh did I get rich how is our great Thea huh now of course
in content and lucidity there are vast differences between these two but in
terms of speaking habits and underlying strategies of manipulation the parallels
can really be uncanny no the obvious next question is how do these particular
tactics manage to make these men so attractive to listeners Manson managed
to gather a family of willing followers around him and Trump gathered a little
less than half a nation so why does aimlessness distraction in blatant
bragging work to win someone over what psychological nerves do these rhetorical
strategies hit with someone literally kill for Trump in the same way they did
for Manson because the more I listen to these two honestly the only difference I
can hear between them is that one will always just be this violent cult leader
primarily focused on creating insular groups and mass paranoia and the other
shit
right watch surprise we
no side tracks down cake