Nate Silver: Donald Trump Is The World’s Greatest Troll

[n2doc]

“A troll,” according to one definition, “is a person who sows discord … by starting arguments or upsetting people … with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.”

The goal of the troll is to provoke a reaction by any means necessary. Trolls thrive in communities that are open and democratic (they wouldn’t be invited into a discussion otherwise) and which operate in presumed good faith (there need to be some standards of decorum to offend). Presidential nomination contests are highly susceptible to trolling, therefore. Access is fairly open: There’s no longer much of a filter between the campaigns, the media and the public. And it’s comically easy to provoke a reaction. How many times between now and next November will we hear that a candidate’s statement is “offensive,” whether or not it really is?

Trolls operate on the principle that negative attention is better than none. In fact, the troll may feed off the negative attention, claiming it makes him a victim and proves that everyone is out to get him.

Sound like any presidential candidates you know?

There’s a notion that Donald Trump’s recent rise in Republican polls is a media-driven creation. That explanation isn’t entirely wrong, but it’s incomplete. It skims over the complex interactions between the media, the public and the candidates, which can produce booms and busts of attention. And it ignores how skilled trolls like Trump can exploit the process to their benefit.

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http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/donald-trump-is-the-worlds-greatest-troll/?ex_cid=538fb

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. "Donald Trump Is The World’s Greatest Troll"

I'm guessing it's the hair --

[Gothmog]

2. Yes Donald Trump is a troll

[Maeve]

3. The challenge is to resist feeding him until he runs out of steam eom

[Stuart G]

4. And he will run out of steam, the question is when...nt

[Jim Lane]

5. That's a challenge for the GOP, but why should WE resist feeding him?

His trollery is helping us. Ideal would be he decides to get more attention by running as an independent after he loses the Republican nomination. Almost as good would be that he DOES get the nomination. More realistically, he fires up his followers so that they then refuse to vote for a RINO (i.e., any other Republican nominee) in November, and/or he offends many reasonable people, some of whom take it out on the actual nominee whether that's fair or not.

[Maeve]

6. Actually, if we ignore him, he may up the ante

And come out with even greater buffoonery; trolls hate being ignored. Yeah, a third party run would be entertaining and assure a Democratic win--do you think even his ego is that big, knowing it would destroy the Repubs? Maybe...

[Jim Lane]

7. I think it's highly unlikely Trump will run in November.

You ask if his ego is that big (that he would run). I wouldn't want to bet against Trump's ego, on anything, but here it cuts the other way. If there really were millions of people who were sick of the career politicians and ready to vote for a successful (ha!) businessman, then he would win the nomination. When he doesn't win the nomination, he's smart enough to know that an independent or third-party run would net him an embarrassing third-place finish. Given his negatives, he probably wouldn't even come close to Perot's percentage of the vote. Something like Anderson's 6% would be more likely. He wouldn't want the ego hit of being walloped so badly.

[Orsino]

8. Well, a natural one, anyway.

He's done nothing that wouldn't be done by any pampered rich kid who was raised in an opaque plastic bubble and never had to hear the word "no."

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

9. Donald Trump loves him some Nate Silver ...

Nate said "Trump" and "greatest" in the same sentence.

All publicity is good, if you're a Trump or a Kardashian.

[Warren DeMontague]

10. I don't know if he's the greatest, he might be the richest.

Which gives him a very big megaphone.

Either way, the longer he's out there with a big banner that says "Republican" under his weird head, the better I see our chances being in 2016.

Troll away, dude.

[NightWatcher]

11. Hartmann is convinced he's a Koch op to troll Jeb

Then he'll drop out and let Walker win the mom after he's sunk Jeb.

[KittyWampus]

12. No, Scalia gets that title. Trump doesn't have means to f*ck over as many lives

while trolling as Scalia does.

And thanks to Rachel Maddow for pointing this out.