Scott Adams - Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don’t Matter

I n February of 2016 I began to experience two separate realities at the same time.

In one reality, candidate for president Donald Trump had just ended his chances of becoming president of the United States by refusing to disavow the KKK, and David Duke, on a CNN interview with Jake Tapper. Trump said he didnt hear the question.

This was a big problem for candidate Trump. It was also a big problem for me. I was one of the earliest public figures to have predicted Trumps win, and I was in the middle of an unplanned career pivot from guy who created the Dilbert comic to something like a political pundit. My blog traffic went through the roof whenever I wrote about Trumps skill as a persuader. I dont know much about politics, but I know skillful persuasion when I see it. As it turned out, there was a big demand for what I called my persuasion filter on the race. Producers for news outlets both large and small were scrambling to get me on their shows.

I wrote and spoke so much about Trumps persuasion skills that people labeled me a Trump supporter, although not in the sense of supporting his policies. By then my writing about Trump had already cost me half of my friends. My lucrative speaking career had dropped to zero, and I didnt expect any new Dilbert licensing deals. I had become toxic for any kind of mixed crowd. But I was okay with my situation because I expected to be right in my prediction that Trump would win it all. Winning fixes most problems.

Although the polls disagreed with me, I thought my prediction of a Trump win was looking good until the Jake Tapper interview on CNN. In this version of reality, I had foolishly alienated my friends, annihilated my professional reputation, and cut my income in half. And all I would get in return was a Wikipedia entry under my name saying I had supported an alleged racist for president. The situation was less than ideal.

I publicly disavowed Trump because of his CNN interview, just to get out of the blast zone. But by then it was too late to salvage everything I had already lost. Like an idiot, I had managed to turn a respected career as one of the top cartoonists in the country into a grimy embarrassment that wouldnt wash off.

That was one version of reality.

I experienced a second version of reality at the same time. This version involved Trump brushing off the CNN/KKK controversy and going on to win the presidency. In that version of reality I would be redeemed in the end, at least in terms of being a credible political observer. Winning always feels good.

For the next several months I lived both realities. But I trusted only one of them. I doubled down on my prediction of a Trump win. If that sounds crazy to you, well, thats nothing. Were just getting started. Theres plenty more crazy in this book.