Take a look at action and reaction for a moment. Everything reacts to stimulus whether it is ice in a cup of tea that causes the liquid to become cold or the swing of a bat that causes the baseball to flee the ballpark. Pretty straight forward. But what about reactions to the negative?

Without opinions added

Think about Trump's election for a moment and the effort to keep him from being elected. I do not believe he had much of a chance at first, but constant negative pressure such as "Never Trump" rhetoric repeated at a full-auto, shot-gun pace gave him brand awareness. Then a complete vacuum of what might be in store for the country coming from the Democratic side left people to wonder what they were voting for. Simply voting for "Not Trump" tells the the subconscious that there will be no president. Since then, there has been a doubling down on negativity, and we may end up with orange-man-bad for another four years simply for a lack of any information on an alternative.

Now have a look at that nagging Brexit that seems to be growing in popularity despite all attempts to kill it or at least make it fit in a "no-exit" box. Trying to convince people that staying in the E.U. with different conditions under the name Brexit or that a deal is even necessary only serves to piss people off. The longer you fail to comply with the choice of slightly more than half of the population, the more the people will blame those in government who fail to get the job done.

They planned to Never Trump or Not Trump and got Trump

They planned to say Brexit with No Exit

Both movements grow despite having started with just over 50% support.

If the Trump or Brexit bandwagon is the only wagon people see, they will jump on! Telling folks to stay away from that wagon all day long only causes it to fill up. It works with crowds or whole countries. It also works on a family or personal level.

Is it possible to get rich by concentrating all efforts on not going broke? How about quitting smoking by waking up one day with the goal Don't Smoke? I am pretty sure that broke and smoke will not be avoided. That is how things work.

Do not think of a pink elephant!

@done - now get that elephant out of your mind.