Donald Trump Is Just Trying to Confuse You

The Truth About a Rollback in Cuban Relations

Donald Trump, the human Sour Patch Kid, has decided to roll back Obama era policy changes in Cuban-American relations. In a typical reshuffling of geopolitical relations, which the POTUS remembers from his days playing Risk and Settlers of Catan, Trump has managed to blow a little more air into the Whoopee Cushion he calls his ego.

Does any of this matter? Yes and no. I’ll explain the consequences later.

What is important to understand here is that Trump is doing two things:

1. Trying to confuse us and deflect our attention.
2. Protecting his reputation as a hard-ass.

First of all, I bet discerning Trump’s ass from a can of Spam is like taking the Pepsi Challenge. Even if I blindly choose the ass, I’ll take the Spam anyways.

What was my first point again? Oh yeah. Trump is just trying to confuse us.

Just like you probably forgot the headline and subheading of this article after reading the Spam comment, Trump is using the same trick to make you forget the disease that his plagued him for some time now: Russia.

Here’s the most bothersome excerpt in his announcement today:

“Last year, I promised to be a voice against repression. You went out and you voted, and here I am,” — Donald Trump

Donald Trump doesn’t care about Cuba or repression. Donald Trump cares about persuasion. You know what one of the most effective forms of persuasion is?

Contrast

As Robert Cialdini puts it: “the contrast principle…affects the way we see the difference between two things presented one after another…” (emphasis mine).

Basically, Trump just wants to be different from Obama to create the illusion of change. He wants you to think that his policy is a one-eighty from the previous administration’s. That way he can be perceived as ‘tougher’ than Obama.

Where was that toughness when you signed off on a $100 Billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, Rambo? Where was your booming voice against repression and human rights then?

Classic Trump

One of the most effective ways of selling something is to confuse the hell out of people. Scott Adams showed me this. It’s how cell phone companies get away with hidden fees. It’s how the finance industry tricks us into forking over our money.

Did you think Trump was ignorant of this?

Of course not. Remember when he hit us with a blizzard of changes and executive orders right after his inauguration? The Carrier deal, the immigration ban, the EPA reforms? You may have forgotten about some of those, which probably means it didn’t affect you. But why did you forget?

Because instead of plugging a few missing pieces into the jigsaw puzzle, he took a Gallagher-sized hammer and smashed it. That wasn’t by accident.

This whole Cuba rollback is just extra noise to shift your attention. The less you think about Russia, the better for Trump. Does that mean he colluded with the Russian government? I don’t know. But I do know he doesn’t want you to give it too much thought.

Back to Cuba

I promised to talk about this and I’m glad you read this far. Here’s what has actually changed:

1. Americans have fewer justifications for traveling to Cuba. Unless you’re Cuban-American, you can only go for educational travel in groups.
2. The deal clamps down on commerce between American entities and the Cuban military. This is good because the Cuban government and military are essentially siamese twins. The objective of the policy is to weaken their commercial monopoly, but it didn’t work for the 50+ years before we began normalizing relations in 2014.
3. Private business in Cuba will suffer tremendously from the decrease in American tourism.
4. The Cuban Communist Party has another opportunity to blame the U.S for the country’s problems.

Disclaimer: The following is a biased take on Cuban-American relations written by a Cuban immigrant living in Nebraska.

These changes are extremely important for Cuban citizens. It means less money in circulation and more scarcity. It means more brainwash propaganda about the evils of American imperialism. I am positive that my family’s finances took a serious blow today, but they’ll be alright. I can’t say the same for others.

You know what this policy will not change?

It won’t change the way the government behaves. That’s the whole point of strategic foreign policy.

Our President does not care about that. He cares about being different than the last guy and controlling your attention. But there is a solution:

Pay attention to what matters.