How President Trump Changed Your Imagination

Guest Post by Scott Adams

Do you remember when candidate Trump told us (in effect) that he would be the first non-politician to win the presidency? It seemed impossible to even imagine such a thing. Then he did the impossible.

Do you remember when it was common wisdom that if the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel it would be a huge problem? President Trump did it anyway. So far, it looks like a minor problem at most.

Do you remember when experts said President Trump shouldn’t mess with the Iran nuclear deal because it could cause a huge problem for the United States and its allies? He did it anyway, and it is likely a supporting variable for the Iranian protestors who don’t like how their government is creating problems that don’t need to be problems.

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Do you remember when experts said China will never help squeeze the economy of North Korea because China fears a refugee crisis? President Trump encouraged China to squeeze anyway. Then he helpfully provided satellite photos of tankers cheating on the high seas. After South Korea grabbed and held a second cheating tanker, the economics of smuggling oil have turned negative, or will soon. And North Korea is sounding — at least to my ears — more flexible than ever.

That branch is stronger than you imagined.

Do you remember when it was common wisdom that we couldn’t put enough pressure on Pakistan to make them stop harboring terrorists because Pakistan is also an ally in many ways? President Trump just cut off their funding and put them on notice.

Do you remember when experts said withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord would be a catastrophe? President Trump did it anyway because he didn’t like the deal. I’ve seen no indication that exiting the deal made the climate worse. Here I’m only talking about the quality of the Accord and what little impact it would have had in the best case scenario.

The big wildcard in our many “impossibles” has to do with the tax bill and the deficit. Experts say it is impossible to get enough growth from the tax bill to pay for the deficit. But the experts are blind to the persuasion of it all. If President Trump persuades the economy higher, let’s say to 5-6% GDP, there’s a good chance he will accomplish the impossible once again and pay for those tax cuts. The tax cuts alone won’t get us to that GDP, but as part of a larger package of persuasion-by-optimism, it is strong sauce.

The meta-impact of President Trump routinely doing the “impossible” is that it changes how all of us view our world. If Trump can keep doing the impossible, time and time again, why can’t we?

Sometimes things are literally impossible. But much of the time we are only limited by our imaginations. Many of us simply couldn’t imagine that a number of the things President Trump has done would work out well. These were not simple surprises; these were failures of our imagination.

In 2015 I told you that candidate Trump would change far more than politics. I said he would change how we understand reality itself. And one of those biggest changes is in the scope of our imaginations. One year ago it was hard for me to imagine Saudi Arabia taking a sudden turn toward modernization. One year ago it was hard for me to imagine an uprising in Iran that could reshape its destiny. I assume it was hard for the Iranian public to imagine it as well. But they sure are imagining it now.

President Trump isn’t the only variable in the world. But he does create a pattern in our minds of making the impossible seem achievable. Don’t underestimate the impact that pattern has on the imaginations of everyone watching.

And don’t be surprised if 2018 is the year when people all over the world shed their mental prisons and take on the “impossibles” in ways we have never seen. Thanks to President Trump, people everywhere are beginning to recognize the difference between real impossibilities and simple failures of imagination.

Welcome to The Golden Age. It starts now.

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19 Comments
Iconoclast421
Iconoclast421
January 2, 2018 2:27 pm

I’m freezin muazzoff cuzza Trump. He pull outta dat Paris agreement n now weez freezin do i dindu nuffin dawg u can axe anyone dey tell you da same ting.

22winmag - ZH refugee who just couldn't take the avalanche of damn-near-hourly Bitcoin and doom porn stories
22winmag - ZH refugee who just couldn't take the avalanche of damn-near-hourly Bitcoin and doom porn stories
January 2, 2018 2:30 pm

Thanks to President Trump recently approving McCain’s wet dream (arms sales to the criminal stooges in Kiev) a whole lot more white, blue-eyed Christian women and children are gonna to be blown to bits in eastern Ukraine.

Golden age for some… horrible deaths and disfigurement for others.

Tim
Tim
January 2, 2018 3:09 pm

God, could Adams suck Trump off any harder?

Stucky
Stucky
  Tim
January 2, 2018 3:56 pm

Indeed. I got sum Adam’s juice squirted on mah car …. and I’m on the other side of the country.

Alfred1860
Alfred1860
January 2, 2018 3:32 pm

I agree, the knees must be worn out of every pair of pants Scott owns. I get the persuasion angle and agree with Adams on the general ideas behind it, but he seems to think every single thing Trump does is the pinnacle of human behaviour.

I still don’t get what the big deal with North Korea is, or how its somehow just to starve them into submission with sanctions. Maybe Adams will say the untold numbers of deaths from hypothermia were “worth it”, a la Madeleine Albright.

kokoda Raccoon
kokoda Raccoon
  Alfred1860
January 2, 2018 9:58 pm

Alfred………..you are 100% correct on all points; ignore the dumb-fucks with the down votes. The stupids are everywhere.

The Albright smear was a great analogy.

Zarathustra
Zarathustra
January 2, 2018 3:40 pm

Ya gotta give Trump credit for one thing…by including Iranians in his muslim ban, referral to the “Arabian Gulf” and calling Iranians terrorists, he has convinced them that Trump doesn’t give a flying fuck about them, therefore the US has exactly zero influence over what happens in Iran. There isnt an Iranian on the planet who regards Trump as anything other than a douchebag.

Okay, two things. Because of his pointless declaration about Jerusalem, people have died and the ones remaining even among our allies are thoroughly disgusted.

Anonymous
Anonymous
  Zarathustra
January 2, 2018 5:19 pm

I’m betting I’ll see you making negative posts about the US influence in Iran soon.

Should I point them out to you when you make them?

Zarathustra
Zarathustra
  Anonymous
January 2, 2018 5:25 pm

No need. The US has no influence in Iran. It could have, but being Israel’s bitch and having your nose up the King of Saudi Arabia’s ass renders that impossible.

Miles Long
Miles Long
  Zarathustra
January 2, 2018 10:22 pm

Uh yeah. OK. Tell it to the Ukranians or the Libyans or the Syrians or the Iranians back in 1953. It has all the earmarks of CIA or whoever the fuck is orchestrating this unrest. Same shit different year.

Zarathustra
Zarathustra
  Miles Long
January 2, 2018 10:32 pm

We learned something new today. The Dotard has a bigger button than Little Rocket Man. That’s what has become of diplomacy under the Trump regime.

Iska Waran
Iska Waran
  Zarathustra
January 2, 2018 11:18 pm

That’s my kind of diplomacy. Public and funny as hell. “Dotard”. Lol

kokoda Raccoon
kokoda Raccoon
  Miles Long
January 2, 2018 11:35 pm

Miles….a good bet would be the CIA behind some disturbances.

jamesthedeplorablewanderer
jamesthedeplorablewanderer
January 2, 2018 6:26 pm

As part of a larger point: REALITY IS NOT CONSTRAINED BY YOUR IMAGINATION, OR LACK OF IT.
Hillary’s capacity for evil (lies, theft, murder, campaign finance fraud, etc etc etc ad infinitum ad nauseum) is not constrained by your plaintive cries of NO ONE COULD DO THAT, OR ANY SUCH THING! SHE’S JUST NOT CAPABLE OF HURTING CHILDREN THAT WAY! NO ONE COULD POSSIBLY DO …!
The Sun is going through a Maunder Minimum (we hope! What if it’s just cutting output PERMANENTLY by 3- 5% or so!) despite all the Left’s cries of AGW! Climate change! Evils of burning fossil fuels!
What you, I or anyone else can imagine is no limitation on reality. That’s just the way it is, too bad!

MN Steel
MN Steel
January 2, 2018 7:46 pm

Do you remember when Trump said he’d build a “great, big beautiful wall” and have Mexico pay for it?

Neither does Scott.

kokoda Raccoon
kokoda Raccoon
  MN Steel
January 2, 2018 10:02 pm

Maybe you should give the Wall a wee bit more time, but it seems your purpose was just to insert a negative on Trump.

Iska Waran
Iska Waran
  kokoda Raccoon
January 2, 2018 10:25 pm

The wee bit more time is until Jan 19. He needs to use the next looming shutdown to extract what he wants from the Dems – Wall funding and RAISE Act – in exchange for limited DACA amnesty. If the Dems don’t take that deal, start deporting the “dreamers” – the most adorable ones first.

middle-aged mad gnome
middle-aged mad gnome
January 3, 2018 5:21 am

So many justifications to hate Trump and so little time and space.
1. How many Americans really care or know about Iran? or Jerusalem? or even the peons in North Korea who have to live with their fearless leader? or the contents of a Trump Tweet about Kim Jong Un?

2. Riddle me this Batman: Why does Trump have 3 weeks to build a border wall or he is somehow proving once and for all what a liar he is?
I am mildly skeptical about the future and have difficulty believing any one man can turn it around. I am also only half in on Adams’ take on things. But Adams’ point (which is missed by the commenters) is that regular people seem to be incredibly shortsighted, incapable of seeing a future that doesn’t look like the present. An interesting question is whether Trump actually sees the alternate future and choosing to make it happen with vision and strategy, or is he just changing things and letting the alternate future land where it lands?

Lucy
Lucy
January 3, 2018 4:06 pm

Scott Adams is completely delusional. Maybe he just does it for money like other prostitutes. Very sad.