The Love Bomb

In psychological warfare terms, we’re witnessing a brutal, devastating counterstrike.

Psychological warfare is almost completely misunderstood by Americans. They feel it, they see the impact of it all around them, especially through the loss of people they care about to a fascist, often bizarre, alternate reality in which they are seen as the enemy. Almost everyone has had people they know and care about be consumed by lies, hate and rage.

For eight years, our enemies, foreign and domestic, have had essentially free rein to wage coordinated propaganda campaigns, psychological operations and active measures designed to destroy the national will by tearing it apart from the inside of our brains, out. There has been essentially no recognition, and even more importantly, no response to this relentless attack on our sanity and our ability to feel safe.

While we have not solved the core problem, the last 2 1/2 weeks have been, in psychological warfare terms, a brutal, devastating counterstrike to the psychological warfare machine that has been casting the nation in an artificial pall of despair and cynicism since 2016.

Suddenly, we don’t feel alone anymore. Suddenly, we’re given permission to feel hope again. As new Democratic VP candidate, MN Governor Tim Walz said to Kamala Harris yesterday, in a truly remarkable speech:

“Thank you for bringing the joy back.”

Indeed. There are still 90-odd days to go until the election, but the polls are already showing a remarkable change in direction. And the Trump/MAGA/QAnon Coalition is completely unable to respond. Why?

As I‘ve written, the project of fascists and cult leaders is to strip people of empathy. There is an entire town, ironically named Moscow, ID, that has been taken over by a white Christian nationalist who preaches that empathy is literally a sin.

What Kamala Harris has done, including the brilliant choice of Walz, is to model two characteristics at once, which is the formula to destroy the opposition:

Empathy + Strength = Fascist Kryptonite

Fascists and authoritarians rely on coercive propaganda to generate fear in their targets. Next, they provide a “solution” through “strength” where fear is converted to hate — which is how you get genocide. Empathy is driven out in the process.

Kamala Harris, by running a flawless campaign, showing her obvious command of the political process, and raising upwards of half a billion dollars, proved her competence; her fearless speeches and head-on approach has shown her strength; and, crucially, she has modeled empathy at the same time.

This is a nuclear “love bomb” right in the heart of the insurgency because it completely disintegrates the narrative they’ve been free to deliver for more than eight years:

“Everything is terrible, so you need a terrible man to make it better.”

This is Kamala trying to hold it in while Tim Walz told a couch joke. This is, from a military perspective, incredibly effective psychological warfare.

This is in no way calculated, in no way dishonest, which is why it’s so good. This is modeling the simple emotion of happiness, and thereby giving permission to all of us to feel it. This is a juggernaut of joy, a revolution of the normies.

As my readers know, I am no Pollyanna. I still see dark clouds on the horizon, but in a hybrid war, which has so far been played mostly on the battlefield of the mind, this love bomb was right on target. Joy is officially on the ballot. 💙🇺🇸

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