But when Trump was elected, the man who designed the software and the following excerpt was working for a military contractor to do so, rather than a political party. I'm having trouble continuing to read his book ;p
Insurgencies, by nature, are asymmetric, in that a few people can cause large effects. So catalyzing an insurgency within the belligerent’s organization requires first concentrating resources on a few key target groups. This is optimized by good profiling and identifying the types of people who are both susceptible to new ways of thinking and connected enough to inject our counternarrative into their social network.
The most effective form of perspecticide is one that first mutates the concept of self. In this light, the manipulator attempts to “steal” the concept of self from his target, replacing it with his own. This usually starts with attempting to smother the opponent’s narratives and then dominating the informational environment around the target. Often this involves gradually breaking down what are called psychological resilience factors over several months. Programs are designed to create unrealistic perceptions in the targets that result in confusion and damage self-efficacy. Targets are encouraged to begin catastrophizing about minor or imagined events, and counternarratives attempt to remove meaning, creating an impression of confusing or senseless events. Counternarratives also attempt to foster distrust in order to mitigate an existing hierarchy or group when you begin to think that you are being used in some unfair way, or when events seem senseless or purposeless. You become less willing to accept setbacks, take risks, or comply with commands.
But simply degrading morale is often not enough. The ultimate aim is to trigger negative emotions and thought processes associated with impulsive, erratic, or compulsive behavior. This moves a target from mild or passive resistance (e.g., less productivity, taking fewer risks, rumors, etc.) into a realm of more disruptive behaviors (e.g., arguing, insubordination, mutiny, etc.). This approach has been taken in South America, for example, to provoke disunity among members of narcotics operations, increasing the likelihood of information leaks, defections, or internal conflicts that erode a supply chain. The most susceptible targets are typically the ones who exhibit neurotic or narcissistic traits, as they tend to be less psychologically resilient to stressing narratives. This is because neuroticism can make a person more prone to paranoid ideation, as they tend to experience more anxiety and impulsiveness and place more reliance on intuitive rather than deliberative thinking. People high on the narcissism scale are susceptible because they are more prone to