Shocking Truths About Liberal Values ft. Jonathan Haidt & Blue Dog Dems — Daily Persuasion Ep. 173

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ABOUT TODAY'S EPISODE:

What if the reason liberals are so hard to reason with… is because their entire worldview is built on emotion, not reality? That’s the bold claim at the heart of Daily Persuasion Ep. 173: “Shocking Truths About Liberal Values ft. Jonathan Haidt & Blue Dog Dems.”

In this latest installment of Daily Persuasion, Joshua Lisec—New York Times bestselling author, ghostwriter of 95+ nonfiction books, and certified hypnotist—dives deep into the work of Jonathan Haidt, the origins of liberal morality, and the difference between the college-educated left and the working-class Blue Dog Democrats that many conservatives used to call neighbors, friends, and family.

Lisec begins with a fascinating revelation from Haidt’s famous TED Talk The Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives. According to Haidt, liberals prioritize preventing unfairness and minimizing emotional harm—but Lisec points out this leads to a morality based on subjective feelings, not measurable outcomes. That’s a key persuasion psychology insight: liberals operate through pathos, while conservatives—builders and protectors of civil society—value systems, not dreams.

This tension sets the stage for one of the most eye-opening persuasion examples in modern political life: the difference between Blue Dog Democrats and the college-educated elite. Working-class liberals, Haidt found, often think like conservatives. They believe in loyalty, dignity, and objective standards. In contrast, the college-educated elite suffer from “telescopic empathy”—a term Lisec dissects in classic Daily Persuasion fashion. Telescopic empathy means obsessing over tiny, ultra-niche issues, like the fears of 0.0001% of the population, while ignoring systemic challenges that affect millions. That psychological blind spot is key to understanding how liberals think—and how to persuade someone to do something, even when their values seem alien.

Lisec points to the kind of working-class culture that shaped figures like JD Vance and even General Michael Flynn, who embody the older moral code of traditional Blue Dog Democrats—the same code abandoned by today's emotionalist, hyper-academic liberal class. The shift explains what’s behind Trump’s popularity, especially his success with populist messaging.

And yes, Trump’s populist strategy comes up often in this episode—especially when Lisec explains why 80% of Americans agree with core populist ideas, like putting your own country first. But guess who can’t even comprehend that? You guessed it: the college-educated liberal elite.

Through the lens of persuasion techniques, Lisec exposes how liberal self-image becomes their weakness. Like Obi-Wan Kenobi muttering, “We’re smarter than this,” the elite left believes they’re immune to manipulation—making them easy marks for CNN, MSNBC, and every media narrative that confirms their superiority. It’s a textbook example of persuasive techniques failing in reverse: once you believe you can’t be fooled, you’re the easiest to fool.

That’s why Lisec pulls from influencers like Mike Cernovich, who famously calls out this kind of emotional fragility in elite liberal circles. Whether it’s telescopic empathy or the total absence of loyalty and dignity in liberal political flips—like RFK Jr. supporters instantly defecting to Kamala Harris—the lesson is clear: if you want to understand how liberals think, follow their values. But if you want to influence them, you need the right tools.

Enter Daily Persuasion.

Lisec gives viewers the rhetorical and psychological framework to persuade, not just argue. Drawing on real examples of persuasion in advertising, political framing, and behavioral economics, he teaches techniques of persuasion in writing and speaking that help the right maintain frame—and even win minds.

Whether you’re a student of persuasion psychology, a political strategist, or just someone who’s trying to navigate dinner-table debates, Ep. 173: Shocking Truths About Liberal Values ft. Jonathan Haidt & Blue Dog Dems is your masterclass. Learn the values. Master the frame. Speak to the mind behind the slogan.

That’s Daily Persuasion, and this is Lisec at his best.