Dear John,

The technology that Cambridge Analytica deployed in the last Trump campaign is a military-grade psychological weapon. It was originally developed by defense contractors who deployed the technology in warfare.

Basically, this technology dismantles the higher functioning of human reason through propagandistic techniques. Traditional political strategies based on intellectual argument and emotional persuasion are not of themselves powerful enough to cancel out their nefarious influence. The military grade use of highly targeted personal data, some from shadow data brokers, is used to hyper-target, propagandize and trigger potential voters. The capacity to harness such data for political purposes is almost beyond imagining.

There is only one power greater than this kind of propaganda, and that is a higher brain functioning based on the human capacity to love. Fear overrides reason, and only love overrides fear. When I said that the president had harnessed fear for political purposes, I meant it quite literally. And when I said that I would harness love, I meant that too.

Love as a motivator and inspiration for human behavior is the only defense against radicalizing propaganda. It is not fluff, or weakness; it is in fact the only power great enough to override what the president’s team has already done and are planning to do next year.

That is why I am running for president, and why I am asking you to support my candidacy in the greatest way possible. “Let’s all be loving” is not some quaint adjunct to a winning political argument; properly understood, and harnessed within the context of a cohesive political narrative, it is the winning strategy for 2020.

Please donate generously to this very critical effort. Time is of the essence, and so much depends on our getting this right.

All my best,
Marianne