Scott Adams Quote

But Trump apparently wanted to squeeze some extra juice from the word lying and make his branding stand out. So he insisted that Lyin’ Ted was the proper spelling, not Lying Ted. This was good branding. It was different from anything you have seen in politics and it gave you a reason to pause and wonder why it mattered if the spelling was lyin’ or lying. It did matter, but only because you stopped and wondered about it. That is an engineered mental pause for persuasion. Trump wants you to stop and think about his choice of lyin’ over lying. The fact that you spent time thinking about it helps you remember the name. It also uses a trick called making you think past the sale. In this case the sale is the idea that Ted Cruz lies. You end up accidentally accepting that idea because you spent time thinking about the best way to write lyin’. That’s strong persuasion engineering.

Scott Adams

But Trump apparently wanted to squeeze some extra juice from the word lying and make his branding stand out. So he insisted that Lyin’ Ted was the proper spelling, not Lying Ted. This was good branding. It was different from anything you have seen in politics and it gave you a reason to pause and wonder why it mattered if the spelling was lyin’ or lying. It did matter, but only because you stopped and wondered about it. That is an engineered mental pause for persuasion. Trump wants you to stop and think about his choice of lyin’ over lying. The fact that you spent time thinking about it helps you remember the name. It also uses a trick called making you think past the sale. In this case the sale is the idea that Ted Cruz lies. You end up accidentally accepting that idea because you spent time thinking about the best way to write lyin’. That’s strong persuasion engineering.

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About Scott Adams

Scott Raymond Adams (born June 8, 1957) is an American author and cartoonist. He is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several nonfiction works of business, commentary, and satire. Adams worked in various corporate roles before he became a full-time cartoonist in 1995. While working at Pacific Bell in 1989, Adams created Dilbert. By the mid-1990s, the strip had gained national prominence in the United States and began to reach a worldwide audience. Dilbert remained popular throughout the following decades, spawning several books written by Adams.
Adams writes in a satirical way about the social and psychological landscape of white-collar workers in modern corporations. In addition, Adams has written books in various other areas, including the pandeistic spiritual novella God's Debris and books on political and management topics, including Loserthink.
In February 2023, Dilbert was dropped by numerous newspapers and its distributor, Andrews McMeel Syndication, after Adams called black Americans that disagreed with "It's okay to be white" a "hate group" and said white Americans should "get the hell away from" them. Adams later said this was a use of hyperbole. Adams then relaunched the strip as a webcomic on his locals.com website.