Mainstream media covering Trump have
got it wrong since early in the 2016 campaign.
Practically from day one, their tactic has been that of expose´--broadcast
and minutely analyze every ugly, ignorant, "politically incorrect,"
rabble-rousing comment or action by the candidate, then the President. Given Trump's proclivity for such things,
this almost immediately translated to an uninterrupted torrent of Cheeto stories. I'm certain that the original intent was to
show Trump for what he is and convince people of the inappropriateness and
ineptness of his candidacy, and then his administration. But we now know--in fact, have known for over
a year--that this had the opposite effect. Basically, the media handed Trump
millions of dollars worth of free media exposure. One has to wonder, what do the media not get
about the fact that their unending fascination with all things Trump was very
likely a major factor in pushing him to victory in 2016?
Trump himself has clearly
demonstrated repeatedly that he thrives on media exposure. He may not be too smart, but he is a wizard
at self-promotion. He learned two things
right out of the gate: 1.) when he felt he was losing the limelight, all he had
to do was say or do something inappropriate or outrageous and the cameras would
swing right back toward him; and 2.) he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and
not lose any votes. He's a walking reality
show, and he's discovered the secret to unprecedented success: make the guys in the cheap seats believe they
are a live part of the show.
And as long as the media continue to
feed this dynamic, it will continue. Not
only continue, but grow exponentially.
The way to end a reality show is---to turn it off. When people stop watching, when it stops
being a pop culture phenomenon, when it's no longer the first thing everybody
tweets or instagrams or argues about on Facebook...it will be canceled. When Trump can no longer use the outrage of
decent people to stay in the limelight, when the GOP no longer sees him as
their greatest asset to connect to their "base," Trump will go down.
We desperately need to LET THAT
HAPPEN.
Turn off the cameras, dial down the
outrage, let Trump be Trump in a vacuum.
THAT is when we're going to see
things change.
Until then, I can only see Trump in
terms of the sort of analogy the Pope used to describe the dynamic of
trickle-down economics. Pile more money
on the rich, and their glass will overflow onto the poor. But "...what happens instead is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger, but nothing ever comes out for the poor." We're trying
to defeat Trump by piling more and more shit on him, hoping that, at some
point, his tower of shit will topple and we can sweep him away and be done with
him. But what is happening instead is
that the shit is building Trump a more and more impregnable fortress. The pile just gets higher and higher, more
and more outrageous; it's so huge that it's all anyone can see or talk
about. And it's not going anywhere but
up.
We have to put down the shovels and let the shit
decompose and crumble, or it will never
go away.
No comments:
Post a Comment