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People are still trying to attack Trump by pointing out his hypocrisy, the incompetence of his staff and the reality that the economy is tanking and his policies have no hope of actually working. These would be solid hits against any other politician, but they don’t work on Trump. Democrats are like the soldiers still shooting at Godzilla. They do it because it’s all they know how to do but it’s not working and they keep getting stomped on.
They’re attacking him like he’s a politician and he’s not. He never has been. He’s a celebrity. That’s it. Sometimes he’s a celebrity real estate mogul, sometimes a celebrity reality tv host and sometimes a celebrity president.
Do you remember when The Apprentice was cancelled? You do? Well, good news if you liked it, bad news if you didn’t, it never stopped. It just went global. You’re living in the show right now, Black Mirror style. Nothing he does makes sense as the leader of a country and everything makes perfect sense as a reality show producer.
Everyone he’s hired have no idea how to do their job but are great reality show material. The anti-vax nut in charge of health care? The guy with no experience and a drinking problem in charge of the military? The head of the FBI can’t believe he got the gig and hired an extreme right wing podcaster as his voice of reason? How can you not watch that train wreck? Actually it’s plane crashes but you get it.
It’s a TV show and so all that matters to him are the ratings. He’s said it over and over. After the terrible Zelenskyy meeting the last thing he said was, “This is going to make great TV”. Almost 60,000 Ukrainians dead and he and Vance set up their own Real Housewives scenario where they called Zelenskyy ungrateful, bragged about themselves and made fun of his clothes. Made no sense in reality but perfect sense if your goal is ratings.
Trump is producing a reality show because it one of the only things he knows how to do. And he’s learned that it doesn’t matter how bad things get, he’ll be safe and the show will be renewed as long as there are eyeballs on him interested in what he’s doing. In the world of real life he’s a felon in court answering charges and paying for sexual assault. As long as he’s on TV he’s safe. A million Americans died from a disease he called a hoax because reality wasn’t good for the plot of the show he was producing.
He won the popular vote because doing extreme things is interesting. Keeping things in chaos keeps you the centre of attention. There’s no winning in winning, only in saying you’re about to win. Ratings go down when plot lines are resolved. You can never have a healthcare plan, a great one has to always been a few weeks away. Once something exists it becomes reality and people can judge it. Keep things nuts and all hope in the future and you’re gold.
So how do you beat him? Run a qualified sensible candidate against him? Maybe, reality has the advantage if it actually being real. But you need to weaken him first.
Remember how mad he got at Alec Baldwin’s impression on Saturday Night Live? Really got under his skin. Because Trump is about image and Baldwin’s impression was a counter image that made him look ugly. Baldwin was enough of a celebrity to enter into the only world Trump cares about. It made Trump number two on the call sheet.
The same thing happened with Steve Bannon. The hashtag #PresidentBannon started to trend after a popular editorial cartoon and some Tweets saying Bannon was the one actually in charge and it caused a big split between them. Because Trump can’t be the co-star. He needs to be what he was on The Apprentice, the be all and end all voice of authority and power. Unquestionable. With the final say on all issues. If he’s not, he’s got nothing.
He was furious at Spy magazine for saying he had small hands. So much so he bragged about his penis size in a debate. He has doctors tell people he’s taller than he is and weighs less than he obviously does. He cannot have any shortcomings. He’s a reality show character, and like most of them with the name of a real person but more fiction than an actual person.
So to bring him down you need to attack one thing, his image. You need something fictional with a core of truth that takes the place of the fiction he’s presenting. Like JD Vance having sex with a couch. A stickier narrative than the one they’re putting forth.
The problem with just attacking with the truth is it’s not as interesting or appealing as a good made up story. You need to back up the truth with facts and by the time you do that people have lost interest. It’s what John Oliver has shown, wrap the medicine of the truth in the tasty cheese of jokes and made up scenarios and that pet might actually get better.
The only things that have worked against Trump are image based. Jokes. Memes. Sketches. Cartoons. They’re the first thing you need to do in the boss level of the video game before any of your truth based hits can land and bring them down.
You’re in Season 21 of The Apprentice. Like it or not. Time to be like past Celebrity Apprentice winner Joan Rivers and get mean and hilarious. All that matters is today. No one remembers last week. People write books with the most horrific stories but they might as well take place in the Roman Empire. You’re on the reality show now, make a scene, take focus, mess with his image, it’s all he has. Once that’s gone, he falls.
Time to cancel this terrible show."
© 2015 Mutual Fund Observer. All rights reserved.
© 2015 Mutual Fund Observer. All rights reserved. Powered by Vanilla
Comments
It really is about image and keeping his ugly face on TV. One big horrible "reality" show.
I've been asking this question from the get go. The little people have been doing their part while those with their fingers on the switches nada.
I see three potential reasons:
a) they're afraid of losing their jobs or not being re-elected
b) they're afraid of being violently targeted (including their families) by extremists
c) they don't care as long as they are profiting from this fiasco.
The structures remain, though they have been in the process of being undermined by the very ones who are charged with PROTECTING the Rule of Law. The fox is in charge of the henhouse. SCOTUS is Exhibit A, illustrating regulatory capture. Congress' majority has decided to sit back and enjoy the show as mere spectators.
Short of a nationwide general strike, what can any of us accomplish from the back-benches? Seems to me that most people and most voters continue to "live lives of quiet desperation," unable or unwilling to see what is actually unfolding in real time before their very eyes. How d'ya think the Orange Criminal got RE-elected? ORK? (I won't quote Churchill again for you all...)
1) Don't really feel the effects of inflation like the rest of us do on a day to day basis.
2) Are currently enjoying the melt-up in stocks. Their portfolios are doing just fine so far, so to hell with everything else.
"The only things that have worked against Trump are image based. Jokes. Memes. Sketches. Cartoons. They’re the first thing you need to do in the boss level of the video game before any of your truth based hits can land and bring them down."
This is exactly why he is so agitated by Jimmy Kimmel. I have known many people in my life who cannot stand to be made the butt of a joke. To a person, they are insecure and generally not very bright. Often they are bullies.