In 1972, Adriano Celentano released Prisencolinensinainciusol, a song designed to sound like English but contain no actual meaning. It was a brilliant experiment, proving that rhythm, tone, and confidence could create the illusion of communication even when nothing was being said. Decades later, right wing politics has perfected this concept, not in music, but in political discourse, specifically in the way many Trump supporters engage with arguments. They can't debate past trying to draw people into wasting time with red herrings. They don’t reason. Instead, they string together buzzwords, half-understood cues they picked up from. X and other sources, and conspiratorial slogans in a way that mimics informed discussion but has no substance. In short, they have mastered the art of Prisencolinensinainciusol. The Sound of Intelligence Without Substance One of Trump’s talents is his ability to produce political gibberish that still sounds authoritative to his followers. “Many people are saying.” “Only I can fix it.” “It’s tremendous, folks.” These phrases have no real content, but they feel significant because they tap into emotion, rhythm, and repetition. His supporters have adopted the same approach. They will invoke words like “deep state,” “globalists,” “Marxist,” or “fake news” without defining them, much less understanding them. They use terms like “inflation” or "tariff” in ways that would make an economist wince. Their arguments are not designed to communicate meaning but to create the appearance of meaning. Mocking Intelligence While Imitating It At the same time, these people despise intellectuals, mocking experts, scientists, historians, and academics as “elites.” But rather than rejecting intelligence outright, they try to imitate it, replacing actual knowledge with the confidence of a grifter selling miracle cures. They don’t read books, but they watch a lot of YouTube videos. They don’t engage with research, but they’ve memorized talking points. They don’t think critically, but they sound like they do to others who share the same blind spots. Like Celentano’s song, their arguments are all rhythm, no meaning. Why This Works on Them America has a long tradition of anti-intellectualism, where sounding smart is more important than being smart. In this culture, confidence is mistaken for competence, repetition for wisdom, and performance for truth. Trump supporters aren’t looking for knowledge; they’re looking for rhetoric that reinforces what they already believe. America has a long tradition of anti-intellectualism, where sounding smart is more important than being smart. In this culture, confidence is mistaken for competence, repetition for wisdom, and performance for truth. Trump supporters aren’t looking for knowledge; they’re looking for rhetoric that reinforces what they already believe. Just as Prisencolinensinainciusol tricks the ear into hearing English, Trumpian discourse tricks the uncritical mind into hearing intelligence. But just like Celentano’s lyrics, when you actually listen—when you break it down—there’s nothing there. The Real Mistake: Taking the Gibberish Seriously One of the biggest mistakes normal people, those who actually value learning, make is assuming that these pseudo-debates are real debates. They aren’t. Engaging with a Trumpist’s argument as if it were based on facts is like trying to translate Prisencolinensinainciusol into English. It was never English to begin with. Instead of getting bogged down in their linguistic fog, it’s better to recognize what’s happening: they aren’t thinking, they’re performing. And the only way to counter a performance isn’t to argue, it’s to refuse to play along.
Brilliant. You know what the sad thing is? It didn't start with Trump and his lackeys. They only perfected it.
Ah, Prisencolinensinainciusol—the anthem of saying everything and nothing at all. I can see why it resonates with you. I can see why the story of the song resonates with you. That song perfectly describes you. I thought, for a moment, that you might have some shred of self-awareness, some faint connection to reality that allowed you to see the absurdity of your own actions. But no—you’re not even in context with yourself. You’re like a broken record of meaningless noise, spinning endlessly in a void of your own creation, convinced that the sheer volume of your output might somehow compensate for its utter lack of substance.
I actually (inexplicably?) watched that movie when it came out. I think Trump might have OD'd on the theme song:
Once again, your obsession with me brings me into a thread I had nothing to do with. As I told you when you PM'd me, I'm not into old, fat guys from Thailand. But I'm sure livin' rent free in that deranged brain of yours.
I remember seeing it in a cinema but I can't for the life of me recall where. Possibly in Ireland, I remember the audience leaving with a face like they were tricked into watching a documentary.
But you and @echopulse would be a great couple! Well, sorry echopulse, I did my best reaching out to him for you. Maybe because your profile says you are from Thailand he thinks you only have a micropenis. Racist.