No, I, personally, do not find Donald Trump appealing, even disturbingly so, and no, I would never contribute to lessening the value of our society by ever putting him in any position of power in our government.
But as a former student of television and digital media, I'll give him a fucking round of applause.
I vividly remember the Bush/Kerry election in 2004. I was in 8th grade, attending a private school in Louisville, KY. If that isn't a big enough giveaway, my parents were both Republican, as were most of the parents of the kids I went to school with, which was apparent when it came time to vote in class a couple months before the election. Our social studies teacher, Mrs. Combs, had each of us write who we would vote for on a slip of paper. After everyone took a few intrusive peeks at the surrounding ballots, we dropped them in the box at the front of the room. Mrs. Combs tallied the votes, and after she told us that the vote was overwhelmingly Bush, she asked us why.
What did she mean, why? Just because. It's some stupid, fake class election. Why did she care, why? Can I get back to passing notes now?
But why did we vote the way we did that day? Because it was how our parents would have voted? Because it was how our friends had voted? She asked us what we knew about the candidates, if we knew anything at all. And we all glanced around the room at each other in silence, like most awkward, fledgling teenagers do. That very moment was the spark that encouraged me to start following politics.
At that point, Facebook wasn't public, and Twitter was seemingly light-years away. You may have had a few friends on MySpace or blogged about your feelings on your private Xanga account. If you had a phone with a camera you were lucky, and the only websites that even crossed your mind on a daily basis were AOL and Ebaum's World.
My parents still received the local newspaper and religiously watched FOX News--live, because DVR was black magic back then. Television was where I got my news. There was no TMZ, no Mic.com, no Onion. The debates were long and tiresome for my teenage brain, but the day after, they would always recap the talking points on morning shows and websites like CNN, MSN or Yahoo. Just dry-cut, bare bones, let's-talk-about-the-issues-but-also-safely-mud-sling-a-bit politics. All of the commentary was mostly sterile, with a few jabs here and there, but the conversation remained political, not personal--the way election coverage should be handled.
Pop culture was a pretty separate entity, altogether. Presidential candidates were presidential candidates, not celebrities--you either loved them or hated them for their policies, their voting history, or because of a predisposed inclination to a certain affiliation. You never saw articles or videos or memes (it's 2004--what's a meme?) slamming a potential first lady about her looks or leaked iPhone photos of the incumbent devouring a Big Mac in between caucuses. Back then, the only place you could've seen George H. Dubya toss his cookies right next to the Japanese Prime Minister was on a rogue episode of VH1's "I Love the 90's." Now, it even has a Wikipedia page dedicated to it.
Be completely honest with yourself. If I were to ask you which you would Google faster, "George H. W. Bush's foreign policy" or "George H. W. Bush pukes and then passes out at the dinner table in front of over 100 diplomats," which one would you choose?
Don't be ashamed! I picked the puke story, too! But the thing is, I also know about his foreign policy because I made it a point to educate myself, even if I was still in diapers when he was vying for the oval office, because history will always repeat itself, whether you accept it with open arms or recalcitrantly tell all of your Facebook friends how FUCKING PISSED YOU ARE AND THAT YOU'RE MOVING TO CANADA.
Enter Donald Trump.
Trump is using this super sneaky and super smart tactic to his advantage. Because he knows how connected we are in this digital age. He knows that maybe some people know just a little bit about him politically, or maybe they know nothing at all about him politically, and people might be inclined to peruse his policies, but it's guaranteed that they will always Google and Share and Retweet his puke on the Prime Minister moments.
And psychologically, this directly relates to some weird, fucked up escapism principle we have to not be satisfied with the mundane lives we live. This is why we read fiction (does anyone read books anymore, show of hands?). This is why we watch TV. This is why we share viral articles or videos that are outrageous or hilarious or heartbreaking. We have this desire to constantly experience extreme emotion, as long as we're not the ones directly facing the consequences or painful truths. Because we have access to a 24-hour feed of whatever we want, we have become so desensitized to everything. The only thing that shocks us and catches our attention are the extremes.
Last year, Nielsen reportedly ranked over 1,400 TV shows, which FX CEO deemed as "too much TV." And he's absolutely fucking right. Watching 'television' is such a loose term these days, because there are so many OTT streaming services that make our escapism extremely portable and constantly at our fingertips. We spend over five and a half hours viewing video content per day. We are checking our social media accounts on our phone 17+ times. And Donald Trump is capitalizing on his clout every single time you watch or share a video of him reciting some imbecilic tirade about how incompetent he thinks women are or how big of a "pussy" he thinks Ted Cruz is or how much he loves the Bible, but can't stop misquoting it, religiously. See the irony there?
I studied sitcoms in graduate school, and the most fun I had was creating hateable, outlandish characters for sitcoms. The quintessential character that everyone loves to hate. Those characters are so fun to write for, because they are never held accountable for anything that comes out of their mouths, and for that reason, they quickly become the series favorites. They always play the antagonists and they're always rotten to the core--no redeemable qualities to be seen, whatsoever--but if that character was removed from the show, no one would watch. It would be a show about people getting along peacefully and living their lives with a few conflicts here and there, but ultimately, there would be no story.
Everyone lives vicariously through the antagonist. They say things and do things we only wish we could say and do to our 'fill-in-the-blank': shitty boss, messy roommate, cheating partner, lousy friend, nosy parents. The one-liners are pure gold, and we think to ourselves, "oh my gosh, that's so funny, I want to say that to someone, because that's exactly how I feel!" But the thing is, we are so inundated with television as the norm that we accept it as how we actually should be living our lives--as antagonists. Our digital boundaries are so blurred with the introduction of continuous access to media and "reality" TV drama, that we can't separate what is acceptable to happen on Bravo's back lot, from what is never acceptable in our own realities.
Donald Trump is no stranger to our television industry. Since 2004, he has been one of the main components of "The Apprentice," and "The Celebrity Apprentice." He knows how to work cameras, especially in the reality TV business. He knows that the biggest media outlets look for the biggest shock factors, and he has no shame in putting on a horrific persona to ensure that he has the most talked about political platform and most buzzed about social stories--because he knows those are the only things we will share. We have to ask ourselves what kind of society are we heading toward when almost half of an entire political party supports a presidential candidate because he "seems not to give a fuck," and declares he will "bomb the shit out of ISIS," instead of outlining a true plan for foreign and domestic terrorism. He loves to recklessly insult people, and uses cruel humor to 'relate' to his supporters, as if he thinks he's a stand-up on an HBO special, not a presidential candidate. And the sad thing is, people actually buy into this and stand behind it. We are becoming desensitized to reality and opting for a scripted life with someone who 'tells it like it is,' instead of really looking into what it takes to run the most powerful country in the world. And it's scary.
In 10 or so years, when your children are participating in a class election, and their teacher asks them, "why did you vote the way you did?" what will you have to say? Because it was how their parents or their friends had voted? Because it was what Facebook or Twitter or any other social media site told them to do? Because it was what some undigestible, fictional television villain with hilariously crude and inappropriate witticisms inspired them to do? Or will it be because they used technology to their advantage and looked beyond the viral videos and reality TV and perceived safety net of escapism in order to separate our on-screen indulgences from our perfectly mediocre realities?
Donald Trump is the antagonist in this season of America. And if we elect him, sure, we have a story, and we'll have fodder for season after season. But if we do everything in our power to make sure that he doesn't get within miles of the White House, we can all live peacefully, which is a story with a happier ending.
Pop culture was a pretty separate entity, altogether. Presidential candidates were presidential candidates, not celebrities--you either loved them or hated them for their policies, their voting history, or because of a predisposed inclination to a certain affiliation. You never saw articles or videos or memes (it's 2004--what's a meme?) slamming a potential first lady about her looks or leaked iPhone photos of the incumbent devouring a Big Mac in between caucuses. Back then, the only place you could've seen George H. Dubya toss his cookies right next to the Japanese Prime Minister was on a rogue episode of VH1's "I Love the 90's." Now, it even has a Wikipedia page dedicated to it.
Be completely honest with yourself. If I were to ask you which you would Google faster, "George H. W. Bush's foreign policy" or "George H. W. Bush pukes and then passes out at the dinner table in front of over 100 diplomats," which one would you choose?
Don't be ashamed! I picked the puke story, too! But the thing is, I also know about his foreign policy because I made it a point to educate myself, even if I was still in diapers when he was vying for the oval office, because history will always repeat itself, whether you accept it with open arms or recalcitrantly tell all of your Facebook friends how FUCKING PISSED YOU ARE AND THAT YOU'RE MOVING TO CANADA.
Enter Donald Trump.
Trump is using this super sneaky and super smart tactic to his advantage. Because he knows how connected we are in this digital age. He knows that maybe some people know just a little bit about him politically, or maybe they know nothing at all about him politically, and people might be inclined to peruse his policies, but it's guaranteed that they will always Google and Share and Retweet his puke on the Prime Minister moments.
And psychologically, this directly relates to some weird, fucked up escapism principle we have to not be satisfied with the mundane lives we live. This is why we read fiction (does anyone read books anymore, show of hands?). This is why we watch TV. This is why we share viral articles or videos that are outrageous or hilarious or heartbreaking. We have this desire to constantly experience extreme emotion, as long as we're not the ones directly facing the consequences or painful truths. Because we have access to a 24-hour feed of whatever we want, we have become so desensitized to everything. The only thing that shocks us and catches our attention are the extremes.
Last year, Nielsen reportedly ranked over 1,400 TV shows, which FX CEO deemed as "too much TV." And he's absolutely fucking right. Watching 'television' is such a loose term these days, because there are so many OTT streaming services that make our escapism extremely portable and constantly at our fingertips. We spend over five and a half hours viewing video content per day. We are checking our social media accounts on our phone 17+ times. And Donald Trump is capitalizing on his clout every single time you watch or share a video of him reciting some imbecilic tirade about how incompetent he thinks women are or how big of a "pussy" he thinks Ted Cruz is or how much he loves the Bible, but can't stop misquoting it, religiously. See the irony there?
I studied sitcoms in graduate school, and the most fun I had was creating hateable, outlandish characters for sitcoms. The quintessential character that everyone loves to hate. Those characters are so fun to write for, because they are never held accountable for anything that comes out of their mouths, and for that reason, they quickly become the series favorites. They always play the antagonists and they're always rotten to the core--no redeemable qualities to be seen, whatsoever--but if that character was removed from the show, no one would watch. It would be a show about people getting along peacefully and living their lives with a few conflicts here and there, but ultimately, there would be no story.
Everyone lives vicariously through the antagonist. They say things and do things we only wish we could say and do to our 'fill-in-the-blank': shitty boss, messy roommate, cheating partner, lousy friend, nosy parents. The one-liners are pure gold, and we think to ourselves, "oh my gosh, that's so funny, I want to say that to someone, because that's exactly how I feel!" But the thing is, we are so inundated with television as the norm that we accept it as how we actually should be living our lives--as antagonists. Our digital boundaries are so blurred with the introduction of continuous access to media and "reality" TV drama, that we can't separate what is acceptable to happen on Bravo's back lot, from what is never acceptable in our own realities.
Donald Trump is no stranger to our television industry. Since 2004, he has been one of the main components of "The Apprentice," and "The Celebrity Apprentice." He knows how to work cameras, especially in the reality TV business. He knows that the biggest media outlets look for the biggest shock factors, and he has no shame in putting on a horrific persona to ensure that he has the most talked about political platform and most buzzed about social stories--because he knows those are the only things we will share. We have to ask ourselves what kind of society are we heading toward when almost half of an entire political party supports a presidential candidate because he "seems not to give a fuck," and declares he will "bomb the shit out of ISIS," instead of outlining a true plan for foreign and domestic terrorism. He loves to recklessly insult people, and uses cruel humor to 'relate' to his supporters, as if he thinks he's a stand-up on an HBO special, not a presidential candidate. And the sad thing is, people actually buy into this and stand behind it. We are becoming desensitized to reality and opting for a scripted life with someone who 'tells it like it is,' instead of really looking into what it takes to run the most powerful country in the world. And it's scary.
In 10 or so years, when your children are participating in a class election, and their teacher asks them, "why did you vote the way you did?" what will you have to say? Because it was how their parents or their friends had voted? Because it was what Facebook or Twitter or any other social media site told them to do? Because it was what some undigestible, fictional television villain with hilariously crude and inappropriate witticisms inspired them to do? Or will it be because they used technology to their advantage and looked beyond the viral videos and reality TV and perceived safety net of escapism in order to separate our on-screen indulgences from our perfectly mediocre realities?
Donald Trump is the antagonist in this season of America. And if we elect him, sure, we have a story, and we'll have fodder for season after season. But if we do everything in our power to make sure that he doesn't get within miles of the White House, we can all live peacefully, which is a story with a happier ending.
