Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913

The Hugest Showman

It is not strange to think of Trump’s actions as that of a ratings junky. He brags about crowds, ratings, favor with celebrities and politicians and the like, but he really is tone deaf to modern America. Whether he is making broad ethnic assertions about minority groups, calling Mexicans immigrants with generalized derogatory terms, having Freudian fights with dictators about the size and function of their, ahem, nuclear buttons, or referring, allegedly of course, to African countries in a profane way, Trump just keeps falling flat with the broad majority of Americans with his ratings-drawing actions.

It came to the point that, apparently, he even called his friends to see how his S-hole comment was playing with the public before denying it. In a sense, he is the worst showman in the world, not because he draws head shakes, rebuttals or even condemnation, but because he seems to value the attention, both good and bad, at the expense of the country.

Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of examples of how showmanship, persona and theatrics can help lead a country. I’m drawn to examples like Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, and Winston Churchill. In some cases the confidence and charisma of the leader was far more important than the leaders true ability to govern (refer to Churchill’s early life). In the case of Trump, however, none of that becomes true, because his style of showmanship is that of the reality TV star which requires shock, suspense and draws power from the worst of our shallow instincts. Think back to all the “we’ll see what happens,” or all the inflammatory remarks that draw media attention at all costs. It’s remarkable that this is the most talked about administration in recent history, but the positive conversations have been rare, if not nonexistent.

Maybe Trump has favor with his base, but that small portion of America is winning little through his administration. They are winning even less in swaying the cultural and political divide in America, and they are being painted, albeit unfairly, along with the likes of Richard Spencer and David Duke. So the question becomes, what will Trump do for his base that actually accomplishes reforms, policy or progress for his supporters, while still not tearing the country into thirds? That still doesn’t consider how we will fix the subject of who has the bigger nuclear button, or hands for that matter, but I digress.

 

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