My friend Patrick and I were discussing the altered state of the GOP the other day. We both work in media, so we recognize the Trump game as a successful media grab by a real estate developer with a genius for improvisational self promotion. Trump saw early on that the other candidates, together, could not hold the audience’s attention as well as he could for the the 18 month media circus that is a modern American presidential campaign. It presented a huge opportunity for an attention clown such as himself.
Patrick laid the idea on me like he was tossing me a medicine ball that weighed twice as much as I thought it would—“It’s going to be a Trump/Trump ticket.”
“What?!” I said, not sure if he was joking. He wasn’t.
“He’s going to name his daughter as his running mate,” Patrick said as matter-of-factly as he would drink of glass of water.
I wanted to say no. That’s stupid. But this is Trumptown we’re talking about, where stupid makes perfect sense. Here’s the illogical logic:
1) Trump is a tabloid candidate. His campaign feeds on headlines, and thrives the idea that no one reads the body copy, much less the fine print. Will ‘Trump Names Daughter Veep Candidate’ make headlines? Check.
2) With whom can an egotist like Trump share equal billing? No one but Trump. Double Trump ticket doubles media exposure for the Trump brand? Check.
3) It adds more sexual overtones to the campaign. Here’s another vacuum in the media cycle ripe for attention clowning. There’s no former movie star like Reagan, no JFK/Jackie O television Camelot, no BillnHillnOtherWoman, no Barack/Michelle groove thing, anywhere in the narrative. Purveyors of media titillation have only the current Mrs. Trump’s largely undifferentiated silent, soft porn mail order bride vibe to work with. To paraphrase the old Hollywood saying, throw a stick at the internet and you’ll hit six thousand of her. Modeling lingerie in private jets can carry a sexual subplot only so far. Will the Trump/Trump ticket add an audio track, and a more subtly salacious sexual vibe by re-energizing the dirty old man storyline? Check/Check.
Trump/Trump. Stupidest idea ever. And yet, Patrick may have a point. That’s one heavy medicine ball.