Psychological Operations, aka PsyOps, are pre-planned activities that seek to influence the emotions, motives, reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of groups and individuals.
Activities of these types are conventionally thought of within a military context and framework.
PsyOps have historically been utilized by the military for strategic reasons to create degradation of a potential adversary.
United States Air Force documents indicate that these psychological operations have the potential to disrupt, confuse, and protract an adversary’s decision-making process, thus undermining command and control.
The end result that is ultimately sought with successful implementation of the strategy is to lower the morale of adversaries and reduce their will to fight.
Political electioneering has often been compared to war, and it is clear that the same PsyOps principles have frequently been employed to compromise the morale of supporters of opponents in a political campaign.
In his infamous book, "Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals," Saul Alinsky provided a window to the world of political PsyOps as it is practiced by the left.
“The first step in community organization is community disorganization,” Alinsky wrote. “The disruption of the present organization is the first step toward community organization. Present arrangements must be disorganized if they are to be displaced by new patterns....”
The fuel used by those on the left to ignite emotions and motivate their disruption troops has been to portray individuals on the other side of the political fence as bigots.
Polarization is their PsyOps stock and trade. As Alinsky taught, “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”
In looking at the present political climate with a PsyOps backdrop, it quickly becomes apparent that an aggregate of anti-Donald Trump forces have coalesced and are now using Alinsky techniques, which are rooted in psychological warfare strategy, on both the presidential candidate’s supporters and the voter pool as a whole.
In the aftermath of a premeditated protest that was intended to prevent a rally and forthcoming political speech by GOP frontrunner Trump, the left, the media, and the three other remaining GOP candidates came to an agreement on whom to blame for the events in Chicago.
The unlikely trio sided with the apparatchiks of the left, claiming that Trump had somehow caused his own free speech rights to be violated.
During the demonstration designed to disrupt the Trump rally, protesters repeatedly shouted the name “Bernie!” while holding professionally printed campaign placards with the same name emblazoned on them.
Is there any doubt what the media reaction would have been if violent demonstrators who were chanting “Donald, Donald” had disrupted a Hillary Clinton rally?
It would surely be difficult, if not impossible, to find a single mainstream media personality that would heap the blame on Hillary.
This having being said, the disruptors were, in fact, supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. However, the initial organizing of the demonstration had been orchestrated by the far left group, MoveOn.org, which also happens to be comprised of many Sanders supporters.
Organizers of the Chicago demonstration used Facebook to promote the protest.
The Facebook page had instructed those who would ultimately be in attendance on how to obtain tickets to the Trump rally, and additionally provided links, guidelines, and meet-up locations.
One of the UIC students had even started a petition on MoveOn.org, demanding that the school administration cancel Trump’s event.
Chicago was the optimum place to mobilize demonstrators since local left-wing activists had been repeatedly taking to the streets to protest Mayor Rahm Emanuel over the shooting of Laquan McDonald.
It turns out that MoveOn.org provided financing for signs and banners, and used its email lists to urge members in the Chicago area to come and join the protest. MoveOn.org activists that showed up were told to blend in with the crowd.
Roughly one hundred of them were able to obtain wristbands that would gain them entry into the building where the Trump rally was to be held.
The plan was to wait until Trump came to the podium and then all the protesters would simultaneously begin disruptive activities.
MoveOn.org is a creature and creation of the far left that has been a functionary for pushing the most extreme policies of the Obama administration and the Democratic Party.
It was founded with cash assistance from left-wing billionaire and globalist agitator George Soros.
The MoveOn.org website took credit for taking away the free expression of Trump, stating, “Mr. Trump and the Republican leaders who support him and his hate-filled rhetoric should be on notice after tonight’s events.”
The website also contained the following warning of sorts: “To Donald Trump, and the GOP, we say, welcome to the general election.”
PsyOps in the form of violent disruptions are likely to continue to be attempted by MoveOn.org and similar groups with the goal of muzzling political adversaries.
But political strategies are sometimes known to backfire, especially when manipulative tactics are thrown into the mix.
What may actually happen as a result of the attempted mind massage by the left is the creation of even more Trump supporters that rise from the ranks of American voters who simply do not want to be told for whom they should vote.
James Hirsen, J.D., M.A., in media psychology, is a New York Times best-selling author, media analyst, and law professor. Visit Newsmax TV Hollywood. Read more reports from James Hirsen — Click Here Now.
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