To a certain extent, modern culture is predicated on making everyone’s life into a story. The entire concept of social media works by making people’s thoughts, pictures, and other assorted moments into a way to pass the day for followers and “friends,” while allowing Facebook, Twitter, and Google to sell stuff and use your personal data. We’ve become a culture which makes our own lives into a form of entertainment that we give away for free. For some, this is a way to connect and keep in touch with people in a more intimate way, one that goes beyond picking up a phone. For others, it’s an ego trip where they get to feed their own inflated sense of self-worth, like a small child standing in the middle of the floor screaming: “Look at me!”
Unfortunately for us, someone in the latter category is now president of the United States and the world has to revolve around the crazy shit a former reality TV show host might tweet out every day, because he’s in charge of important things.
And obviously, therein lies the problem. Reality television is predicated on three things which aren’t conducive to good, stable government: fighting, scandal, and dysfunction. Every one of those programs, even the ones where we’re supposed to be watching the search for the next great pop star, or the search for true love, or how rich people with everything live their lives, is based around things going wrong. Otherwise, it would be boring TV. On The Voice, there’s always a singer who messes up and starts bawling. There’s always going to be an episode of The Bachelor where people have sex and then things end badly. On any of Bravo’s Real Housewives programs, someone is fucking someone else’s husband or girlfriend, someone is lying to someone else, and someone is screaming at someone else about how they did them wrong. And, to a certain extent, the people at the center of these programs like it this way, because it means their lives are interesting and they’re the center of attention for the people who watch this crap.
Donald Trump is a creature of ego. That’s why he’s usually more concerned about his own personal image than policy, and has a conniption if someone mentions his small hands or dares to think his bank account might not be as big as he suggests. But the way things have unfolded for more than a year, in both the campaign and now in the first months of this presidency, one way to look at this is that Trump operates on the dynamics of Reality TV. Because on Reality TV, you can lie and be obnoxious and still have fans. In fact, those fans make excuses for the people’s terrible behavior. And one can do horrible things, some of which are criminal, and people will still watch the stupidity every week. In the end, the people on these programs feel validated in their behavior because they get attention and someone is paying them to be horrible people.
Does any of this feel familiar?
Throughout history, there have been more than a few examples of people suffering through horrible rulers. There have been presidents who’ve been dumb. There have been presidents who’ve been killers. And there have been presidents who’ve been crooks. But we’ve never had a president who’s the equivalent of a child-emperor, issuing orders and pontificating about things he doesn’t know for likes and retweets, all while everyone with two brain cells to rub together in the room looks around quizzically while thinking: “Is this for fucking real?” For many, watching a clown defile American government by trying to declare the nature of reality by executive order is outrageous and a call to action.
But for others, it’s amusing and something to be indifferent about … like a TV show.
Many have offered theories as to why Trump goes to the Twitter well with lies and batshit craziness. Some think it’s a planned distraction, but it’s more likely part of the character of someone who needs their name on the side of building in gold plate. He likes his ego fed, he likes thinking he’s great and important, and he likes attention.
The problem for the world at this moment is that a significant part of this country’s population was willing to turn the executive branch into an extension of The Apprentice, just because Donald Trump had an “R” next to his name. And no matter what crimes may have been committed, how many lies are told, or the damage that’s done to institutions and people, they can never admit they’re wrong … Just like a diva on reality TV program.
Common elements of a reality television program:
- Big boisterous asshole is at the center of action: The drama and conflict is driven by someone who’s usually arrogant and thinks the sun rises and falls on their decisions. More often than not, they’re someone who’s dumb but thinks they’re smart, and not as successful as they are in their own mind.
- The truth is a matter of opinion: The reality on “reality TV” is a measure of editing, producer influence (hey Steve Bannon!), and the most appealing storyline, whether or not it’s true.
- There are always warring sides, and assumptions of worth: On almost every reality TV program, there’s a heavy, or a person who builds their importance by being against someone else whom they see as less than or not worthy of being there.
- Being a dick is part of the program: Whether a liar, a cheat, a thief, an abuser, or an addict, people on reality television are given second and fifth chances, with their fans giving them sympathy for how others are treating them, even if that treatment is deserved.
- Wealth and celebrity do not equal intelligence … or make someone interesting: A lot of reality television is based around finding someone wealthy and/or famous and following them around with a camera in the hope their lives will be entertaining. However, this isn’t always true, and leads to producers “inventing” things for the subject to do in order to spice things up. A significant part of Donald Trump’s support comes from people who see him as the “rich businessman” who will know how to cut a deal, instead of the media gadfly who filed bankruptcy a bunch of times that he really is.