Lakoff on Trump as Repub catnip
Friday, March 4, 2016 by Dave Winer

To people who read my stuff and work in news...

This piece by George Lakoff, a linguistics prof at UC-Berkeley, models the two parties as "strict father" and "nurturing mother." It's amazing over the years how well this model has stood up. 

Once I read this all the other analyses of why Trump is resonating sounds wrong. It's not about issues or being angry with Washington. That's head stuff. What matters is how they were raised, what kind of family. Are they looking for a strict guiding hand or a nurturing cuddle. 

The strict father is like catnip to Repub voters.

This is so important but Lakoff writes too long and too scholarly for it to get through to most people esp on the net. 

I'm trying to think who would do a good job with this, but you probably know much better.

I think this is important.

Dave