Gaslighting America

Gaslighting America is a non-fiction book by Amanda Carpenter, a political commentator, writer, and former US Senate staffer. The book analyzes certain public and social media strategies used by Donald Trump in his 2016 candidacy for U.S. President and during his current presidency. The author refers to these strategies as a type of gaslighting.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Gaslighting America
First edition
AuthorCarpenter, Amanda B.
PublisherHarperCollins Publishers
Publication date
2018
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback & ebook)
Pages269 (1st edition)
ISBN9780062748027

Cognitive neuroscientist Bobby Azarian has described Trump's gaslighting as using psychological manipulation to get people to question their own perceptions of reality.[7] Azarian states that this is consistent with a narcissistic personality disorder and symptoms of sociopathy. The target of gaslighting is made to doubt their own memory, perception, and reality by the subject's persistent lying, misdirection, and contradiction. When successful, gaslighting delegitimizes the victim’s beliefs by confusing and destabilizing them.

Carpenter analyzed Trump's gaslighting methods and found that he employs the following sequence of steps:[8]

  1. Stake a Claim. Find a political issue that competitors are unwilling to approach and that the media will find sensational.
  2. Advance and Deny. Bring the issue into public awareness without a side on it. Discuss the issue with media by speculating on what others are saying, reporting, or thinking about the issue, whether they are or not, using unverifiable sources, such as YouTube, Twitter, and other internet news stories, as references. Conspiracy theories are useful for presenting issues, since the lack of real evidence to support them serves only to further the deepening of the conspiracy. [9]
  3. Create Suspense. Announce to the media that the important evidence regarding the issue will soon be revealed.
  4. Discredit the Opponent. Attack the motives and personal character of anyone who criticizes the raising of the issue in question, often with demeaning nicknames that attack personal attributes of the opponent.
  5. Win. Declare victory, regardless of the circumstances. This is used to bury the issue.

Some additional details of the Trumpian gaslighting method are provided in the book's appendix[10]

  • In step 1, tweeting between 6 and 9 AM, especially on Saturday mornings when there is little other news, is most effective.
  • In step 2, stating the claim without announcing a position on it is done by statements such as, "Some people say..." and "I'm saying I don't know, nobody knows, etc." At rallies, by repeating the claimed issue to the crowd, framed by phrases such as, "I'm not going to say," I'm not allowed to say," "I want to be politically correct," "So I refuse to say," etc.
  • In step 4, negative terms used to attack opponents include, "loser," "sad," "weak," "dumb," "failing," "overrated," "phony," and "crazy."
  • In step 5, polling and other data that is contrary to his position is dismissed as "dishonest," or "rigged."

In the book's afterword,[11] the author provides her ideas for "fireproofing," i.e., suggestions for countering the effects of the gaslighting tactics she ascribes to Donald Trump. These suggestions include letting go of the outrage to such tactics because there is no way to stop them, attempting to discern the real motive behind issues being raised, pinning down the speaker to actual sources, identifying clickbait headlines when they are expressed, tuning the speaker out, and seeking out bias in organizations that report "wins" for the issue's proponent.

References
  1. July 26, Tim Hains On Date; 2018. "Amanda Carpenter: How Trump Is Gaslighting America". www.realclearpolitics.com. Retrieved 2019-12-11.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. "Amanda Carpenter on her book "Gaslighting America: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us"". politics.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  3. Trump's Gaslighting of America, retrieved 2019-12-11
  4. Trump is Gaslighting America - Amanda Carpenter & S.E. Cupp, retrieved 2019-12-11
  5. GASLIGHTING AMERICA by Amanda Carpenter | Kirkus Reviews.
  6. Offit, Elizabeth Kiefer,Tristan. "Why We Love It When Trump Lies". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  7. "Trump Is Gaslighting America Again — Here's How to Fight It". psychologytoday.com. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  8. Gaslighting America 2018, p. 15.
  9. Gaslighting America 2018, p. 191.
  10. Gaslighting America 2018, p. 202-203.
  11. Gaslighting America 2018, p. 185.
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