# Just how easy to manipulate IS Trump? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 21, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-easy-to-manipulate-is-trump/772681 "2016-11-21T22:06:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-easy-to-manipulate-is-trump/772681/21 "2016-11-26T17:37:47Z")
I wouldn’t call Trump a “mastermind”, but I think we’re all deluding ourselves if we don’t recognize that he’s very, very good at marketing. ---
**Author:** ![pliskin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90ced4/32.png) [@pliskin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pliskin)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-easy-to-manipulate-is-trump/772681/22 "2016-11-26T18:02:22Z")
Based on the available evidence, Trump is extremely hard, if not impossible, to manipulate. Nothing illustrates it better than his handling of extreme alt-left media, such as CNN, ABC, etc. From [Wolf Blitzer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9xokE0fRok) to [Anderson Cooper](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNwN11j954Y) to [George Stephanopolpous](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJaU8KmNfRQ) , he handled every manipulative question, every “gotcha”, every manufactured outrage with ease, class and smile 🙂 Heck, even a center-left Megyn Kelly [couldn’t last more than 30 seconds against Donald](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9lcr-wsYOk) and was forced to smile after her "gotcha question failed miserably. ---
**Author:** ![pliskin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90ced4/32.png) [@pliskin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pliskin)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-easy-to-manipulate-is-trump/772681/23 "2016-11-26T18:26:33Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Yes, you’re right: there was a certain amount of surprise when Trump, after meeting with Obama, rolled back from his longtime ‘repeal Obamacare’ position to the extent of promising to keep some Obamacare features. > > All it took, perhaps, was some judicious flattery from Obama. I think you’re quite mistaken here. It’s a lot more likely that after meeting a defeated shell of a man that is outgoing President at this point, Trump decided not to put too much of additional stress on him (after all, even though Trump has been basically running the country for the last year or so, Obama’s presidency still has a few months to live) and told Obama what he wanted to hear: “yeah, yeah, ACA is still going to exist in some form”, just to keep President Obama from becoming completely unhinged, like he seems to be, whenever he tries to [confront Trump directly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKXSgB7MEUU) ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-easy-to-manipulate-is-trump/772681/24 "2016-11-26T20:32:30Z")
Nice try, newly-registered-poster-with-a-name-suspiciously-likely-to-have-originated-on-a-list of “characters Americans think are cool.” But for anyone who’s been paying attention, claims such as “he handled every manipulative question, every “gotcha”, every manufactured outrage with ease, class and smile” are going to elicit guffaws rather than nods. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-easy-to-manipulate-is-trump/772681/25 "2016-11-26T20:36:33Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > **Sherrerd** , your quotes about Trump are very interesting but we live in the Fake News era now. How do we even know that Clint Watts or George Little are even who you say they are? The same way we know whether _anyone_ cited in a link is who the poster says they are: by checking. “Fake news” is combatted by _checking_. Search for corroborating evidence, and weigh the value of what you find using a combination of experience, and judgment that has proven accurate in previous instances of checking the bona fides of sources. Not very mysterious, really. ---
**Author:** ![pliskin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90ced4/32.png) [@pliskin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pliskin)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-easy-to-manipulate-is-trump/772681/26 "2016-11-26T20:45:07Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Nice try, newly-registered-poster-with-a-name-suspiciously-likely-to-have-originated-on-a-list of “characters Americans think are cool.” > . Do you suspect…Russian hackers?? :eek::eek: > [@Sherrerd](#): > > But for anyone who’s been paying attention, claims such as “he handled every manipulative question, every “gotcha”, every manufactured outrage with ease, class and smile” are going to elicit guffaws rather than nods. Well, how about the videos that I provided? Would you say Donald Trump handles Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, etc, with class and aplomb? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-easy-to-manipulate-is-trump/772681/27 "2016-11-26T21:02:50Z")
I don’t know how easily-manipulated Trump is, but I do know that he’s never once in his life done anything with class or aplomb. ---
**Author:** ![pliskin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90ced4/32.png) [@pliskin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pliskin)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-easy-to-manipulate-is-trump/772681/28 "2016-11-26T21:05:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t know how easily-manipulated Trump is, but I do know that he’s never once in his life done anything with class or aplomb. For anyone who’s been paying attention, claims such as “he’s never once in his life done anything with class or aplomb” are going to elicit guffaws rather than nods. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-easy-to-manipulate-is-trump/772681.md?page=1)