America Last: Conspiratorial Collaborationists Root For Our Enemies

dailywire.com·Ben Shapiro
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Elevated — multiple influence tactics active

This article claims that anyone questioning American global dominance, supporting a multipolar world, or criticizing US foreign policy is a traitorous 'America Laster' acting on behalf of hostile foreign powers like China, Russia, and Iran. It argues that American hegemony is essential and that critics are liars whose agenda is to reduce America's world role, providing an example of Iran's missile capabilities as proof of their supposed deception.

FATE Analysis

Four dimensions of psychological manipulation: how content captures Focus, exploits Authority, triggers Tribal identity, and engineers Emotion.

Focus4/10Authority3/10Tribe9/10Emotion8/10
FFocus
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AAuthority
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TTribe
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EEmotion
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Focus signals

novelty spike
"If so, you might be a Quisling, a fifth columnist, an America Laster."

Introduces a new, provocative label ('America Laster') to categorize and capture attention, suggesting a distinct and identified group.

unprecedented framing
"To understand the America Lasters, first we have to understand a basic reality: They are liars. They are lying about the nature of reality, and they have to lie because their lies are the only path toward American defeat, particularly in the current conflict with Iran."

Frames the opposition as fundamentally deceitful and working towards national defeat, presenting a stark and alarming interpretation of their motives.

Authority signals

expert appeal
"Senator Tom Cotton said to CIA director John Ratcliffe last week: Iran has always had a space launch program, which is flimsy cover for the first part of that intercontinental missile program."

Cites a Senator and CIA Director discussing sensitive intelligence to lend weight and credibility to the claims about Iran's missile capabilities, using their positions to imply authoritative information.

institutional authority
"Top American officials at the time warned it was not true."

Refers to 'Top American officials' without naming them, invoking the general authority of high-level government figures to validate a claim.

Tribe signals

us vs them
"Do you agree with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin about the world? Are you convinced that America ought to surrender its global power to a multipolar order? If so, you might be a Quisling, a fifth columnist, an America Laster."

Immediately establishes a stark 'us vs. them' dynamic, categorizing anyone questioning American global power as traitors ('Quisling, fifth columnist') aligned with dictators.

identity weaponization
"They’ve spent years lying about America, about our history, about our foreign policy, about our enemies, about our allies. In the end, the only unifying feature of their bizarre amalgam of conspiracism and untruth is an agenda; an agenda to reduce America’s role in the world."

Converts differing political views into an attack on national identity and patriotism, framing dissent as a malicious 'agenda' against 'America' itself, making agreement with this view a marker of loyalty.

social outcasting
"The fools who claim that Iran posed no threat beyond the immediate region? They were parroting Iranian lies."

Uses pejorative language ('fools') and accuses those with differing views of 'parroting Iranian lies,' implicitly threatening social outcasting for holding such opinions by linking them to foreign adversaries.

us vs them
"To the untrained eye — the eye of a normal American who grew up in America, who loves America, who was born in America — a world with more American power is a better world, a freer world, a more prosperous world."

Creates a dichotomy between 'normal Americans' who love America and those who hold the 'America Last' philosophy, thereby implying that 'America Lasters' are not 'normal' and do not 'love America'.

identity weaponization
"How little must you think of America to believe that China and Russia ought to have more influence in the world and that this would somehow be better for the world and America?"

weaponizes patriotism and national pride, framing disagreement with American hegemony as a deficiency in one's regard for the nation ('How little must you think of America').

Emotion signals

outrage manufacturing
"If so, you might be a Quisling, a fifth columnist, an America Laster."

Uses highly charged, emotionally loaded terms (Quisling, fifth columnist) to label individuals who hold differing geopolitical views, designed to provoke outrage and contempt towards them.

fear engineering
"To understand the America Lasters, first we have to understand a basic reality: They are liars. They are lying about the nature of reality, and they have to lie because their lies are the only path toward American defeat, particularly in the current conflict with Iran."

Incites fear of 'American defeat' and paints those who disagree as 'liars' actively working towards this negative outcome, creating a sense of existential threat driven by internal dissent.

outrage manufacturing
"I’ve been saying for weeks that those who most ardently oppose President Trump’s action are at best misinformed, and at worst, lying on behalf of the Iranian regime."

Generates outrage by conflating opposition to a President's actions with actively 'lying on behalf of the Iranian regime,' leveraging current geopolitical tensions to cast opponents as unpatriotic or even treasonous.

fear engineering
"What would a world with a burgeoning Iranian nuclear program with intercontinental ballistic missile capacity look like?"

Presents a rhetorical question designed to evoke fear of a worst-case scenario (nuclear Iran with ICBMs) without providing concrete evidence that this specific scenario directly results from the 'America Lasters' actions, manufacturing urgency.

outrage manufacturing
"The alternative world, the one the American Lasters want, is dominated by the same people who ran the One-Child program, and who currently throw dissidents in prison to linger and die, like Jimmy Lai. A world run by people who currently chuck their political opponents from the roofs of buildings, or poison them with nuclear materials, as the Russians have done, while allying with regimes that murder people who oppose radical Islam and support radical Islamic terror all over the world."

Engineers extreme outrage and revulsion by vividly describing atrocities attributed to authoritarian regimes (China's One-Child program, Russian assassinations, radical Islamic terror) and directly linking them to the alleged desires of the 'America Lasters,' implying collaboration with evil.

Narrative Analysis (PCP)

How the article reshapes thinking: Perception (what beliefs are targeted), Context (what information is shifted or omitted), and Permission (what behavior is being encouraged).

What it wants you to believe

The article aims to install the belief that anyone questioning American global dominance, supporting a multipolar world order, or criticizing US foreign policy is a traitorous 'America Laster,' effectively an agent for hostile foreign powers like China, Russia, and Iran. It seeks to establish that American hegemony is inherently good and necessary for global stability and prosperity.

Context being shifted

The article shifts the context of geopolitical debates from a complex interplay of national interests and diverse ideological viewpoints to a binary 'us vs. them' scenario. It frames any deviation from the current US-led global order as inherently dangerous and driven by malicious intent, making absolute allegiance to 'American power' feel natural and imperative.

What it omits

The article omits any discussion of legitimate, non-conspiratorial reasons for advocating for a multipolar world or questioning aspects of US foreign policy. It doesn't acknowledge the historical critiques of American interventionism, the potential benefits of shared global governance, or the complex economic and social factors that might lead individuals or nations to seek alternative international structures. It also selectively presents 'evidence' of Iranian threat (Diego Garcia missile launch) without providing independent verification or alternative interpretations of the event's significance or accuracy.

Desired behavior

The article encourages readers to condemn and ostracize individuals or groups labeled as 'America Lasters' or critics of US hegemony. It implicitly grants permission to dismiss their arguments outright as lies or propaganda from hostile foreign entities, rather than engaging with their underlying points. It implicitly encourages unwavering support for current US foreign policy and military actions.

SMRP Pattern

Four manipulation maintenance tactics: Socializing the idea as normal, Minimizing concerns, Rationalizing with logic, and Projecting blame.

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Socializing
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Minimizing
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Rationalizing
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Projecting

Red Flags

High-severity indicators: silencing dissent, coordinated messaging, or weaponizing identity to shut down debate.

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Silencing indicator

"If an opinion has to be silenced for another idea to flourish, you are in a psyop. If you don’t find that alarming, it’s because you are full-scale ignoring what Tucker Carlson is saying."

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Controlled release (spokesperson test)

"Senator Tom Cotton said to CIA director John Ratcliffe last week: Iran has always had a space launch program, which is flimsy cover for the first part of that intercontinental missile program... Ratcliffe replied: You’re right to be concerned about Iran’s development of longer range ballistic missiles, Senator."

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Identity weaponization

"If you might be a Quisling, a fifth columnist, an America Laster... To the untrained eye — the eye of a normal American who grew up in America, who loves America, who was born in America — a world with more American power is a better world... The America Last philosophy is rooted in a deep conspiracism about the United States."

Techniques Found(12)

Specific propaganda techniques identified using the SemEval-2023 academic taxonomy of 23 techniques across 6 categories.

Name Calling/LabelingAttack on Reputation
"Do you agree with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin about the world? Are you convinced that America ought to surrender its global power to a multipolar order?If so, you might be a Quisling, a fifth columnist, an America Laster."

The author uses highly negative and derogatory labels like 'Quisling,' 'fifth columnist,' and 'America Laster' to immediately discredit anyone who holds views differing from the author's preferred global order, associating them with betrayal and disloyalty.

Loaded LanguageManipulative Wording
"In the end, the only unifying feature of their bizarre amalgam of conspiracism and untruth is an agenda; an agenda to reduce America’s role in the world."

Words like 'bizarre amalgam,' 'conspiracism,' and 'untruth' are used to emotionally charge the description of the opposing viewpoint, framing it as irrational, deceptive, and dangerous, rather than engaging with its content.

Name Calling/LabelingAttack on Reputation
"Let’s talk about the America Lasters, the people who play defense for Iran, Russia, and China, but who go on offense against the allies who fight alongside the United States."

The label 'America Lasters' is continuously reinforced, but here it's coupled with an accusation of 'playing defense' for adversaries and 'going on offense' against allies, which implicitly casts them as unpatriotic or disloyal without direct evidence.

Loaded LanguageManipulative Wording
"To understand the America Lasters, first we have to understand a basic reality: They are liars. They are lying about the nature of reality, and they have to lie because their lies are the only path toward American defeat, particularly in the current conflict with Iran."

Calling opponents 'liars' and accusing them of 'lying about the nature of reality' and having 'lies' as their 'only path toward American defeat' uses emotionally charged and absolute language to demonize them, preempting any consideration of their arguments.

False DilemmaSimplification
"I’ve been saying for weeks that those who most ardently oppose President Trump’s action are at best misinformed, and at worst, lying on behalf of the Iranian regime."

This presents only two options for those who oppose President Trump's actions: they are either 'misinformed' or actively 'lying on behalf of the Iranian regime.' This eliminates other possibilities, such as legitimate policy disagreements or different interpretations of intelligence.

Loaded LanguageManipulative Wording
"Iran demonstrated full-scale that all of their defenders were useful idiots or America Lasters. The fools who claim that Iran posed no threat beyond the immediate region? They were parroting Iranian lies."

The terms 'useful idiots' and 'fools' are emotionally charged insults used to belittle and dismiss opponents, while 'parroting Iranian lies' implies intellectual dishonesty or manipulation without providing substantiation.

Loaded LanguageManipulative Wording
"Just a few weeks ago, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arachi — who is likely not long for this non-72-virgin world — announced that Iran had limited its own missile range to 2,000 km, roughly 1,200 miles."

The phrase 'who is likely not long for this non-72-virgin world' is an unnecessary and emotionally charged dig at the Iranian official, irrelevant to the factual reporting of his statement, serving to inject derision rather than convey information.

Obfuscation/VaguenessManipulative Wording
"If you don’t find that alarming, it’s because you are full-scale ignoring what Tucker Carlson is saying."

This statement uses vague and dismissive language ('full-scale ignoring') to shut down dissent and implies that anyone not alarmed by Carlson's statements is simply not paying attention or is intellectually deficient, rather than having a different perspective.

Loaded LanguageManipulative Wording
"To the untrained eye — the eye of a normal American who grew up in America, who loves America, who was born in America — a world with more American power is a better world, a freer world, a more prosperous world."

The phrase 'untrained eye' here is used in a disparaging way, implying that those who don't agree with the author's viewpoint are ignorant or lacking the correct emotional connection to America. It also uses 'normal American,' 'loves America,' and 'born in America' to implicitly suggest that those who disagree are abnormal or less patriotic.

Appeal to ValuesJustification
"It is we who keep the trade routes open, ensuring freedom of the seas and the trade that provides the lifeblood of the global economy. It is we who stand down the world’s most evil regimes, achieving the world’s most dangerous weapons. It is we who support the rise of allies who share our values. It is we who prevent the spread of perverse cancerous power emanating from imperialist tyrants of communist and fascist persuasion."

This passage appeals directly to values such as 'freedom,' 'preventing evil,' and 'sharing values,' asserting that America embodies these virtues and is solely responsible for maintaining them globally. It uses strong, positive self-descriptors to justify American power without engaging in a nuanced discussion of its impacts.

Loaded LanguageManipulative Wording
"It is we who prevent the spread of perverse cancerous power emanating from imperialist tyrants of communist and fascist persuasion."

Words like 'perverse cancerous power' are highly emotionally charged and used to demonize opposing ideologies and leaders. This language aims to evoke disgust and fear, simplifying complex political systems into a biological threat.

Exaggeration/MinimisationManipulative Wording
"The alternative world, the one the American Lasters want, is dominated by the same people who ran the One-Child program, and who currently throw dissidents in prison to linger and die, like Jimmy Lai. A world run by people who currently chuck their political opponents from the roofs of buildings, or poison them with nuclear materials, as the Russians have done, while allying with regimes that murder people who oppose radical Islam and support radical Islamic terror all over the world."

This passage uses a series of extreme and grim examples (One-Child program, dissidents dying in prison, chucking opponents from roofs, poisoning with nuclear materials, supporting radical Islamic terror) to paint an exaggeratedly horrific picture of an alternative world order. While some of these claims might be true in isolation regarding specific nations, the cumulative effect here is to present a maximalist, fear-inducing vision of what 'America Lasters' supposedly desire, greatly exaggerating their intentions.

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