The side-show
Watching Donald Trump deal with criticism is similar to watching a drunk in a bar brawl swinging wildly and without thought of consequence at whomever happens to come within reach. Whether the target is a political opponent, the Courts, his own appointees, foreign leaders, show business personalities, or, this week, the American “mainstream’ media, the approach is the same – don’t hold anything back.
Trump’s overall approach to the chief executive office of the most powerful nation on earth has been unique, to say the least, but it has incorporated many wellknown and proven tactics in its unlikely march to success. In fact, in creating what he has been able to sell as a coherent movement out of the cacophony of middle-american discontent, Trump may have engineered an act of creative, if malevolent, genius.
The amount of change that ‘traditional’ America has undergone in the last few decades has been astonishingly profound. The economic, technological, and social transformation the western world in general has experienced has changed the ways in which people live, work, and entertain themselves. It has also changed the way in which communities are formed as instant global communication allows exchange of kinds unimaginable a generation ago.
The internet was once touted as the means by which human potential could be unleashed almost without limit. Mankind’s accumulated knowledge would be available to all instantly and without regard to location. Given human nature, however, it also allowed formerly isolated extremists, sexual predators, and criminals as well as terrorist groups, hate organizations, con men, and outright liars to proliferate unhindered. The generation born after the World Wide Web does not know of a world in which hard-core, degrading, and violent pornography has not been available at the click of a button. Given the role pornography plays providing sexual ‘education and’ the intense societal opposition to accurate and universal alternatives, it would be foolish to underestimate the impact this has on one of society’s most complex and controversial issues.
The impact digital communication has had on ‘the way we have always done things’ has perhaps been most profoundly felt in what used to be called ‘the press,’ but which is most often now referred to more broadly as ‘the media.” Only a hundred years ago, the printed newspaper provided generally all the information that most North Americans received. Global, national, and local stories were conveyed through the same, relatively inexpensive instrument and differing points of view, such as they were, spread through an intense competition that existed in almost every market. Political preferences were often clearly visible, but the consumer also depended on information he or she could reliably depend on. Truth and accuracy were still respected commodities, although the popular and market appeal of sensationalism were also clearly evident.
The development of radio technology also altered the way in which people gathered information and made it possible for huge audiences to share a common bank of information – a fact that aware politicians like Adolph Hitler and Franklin D. Roosevelt were quick to understand and exploit. With television, the double-impact of imagery and the power of recognizable celebrity that a national network could provide allowed CBS newsman Walter Cronkite to be named as ‘the most trusted man in America’ and whose disapproval convinced Lyndon Johnson his political career was over.
The emergence of cable news, however, changed the game. CNN, which promised to be a ’24-hour news service’ quickly realized that continuous global journalism would be far too expensive to be profitable as American interest in sub-saharan conflicts was sporadic at best. What American audiences did like, however, was a good scrap and the power of the political pundit emerged.
Cable news soon became less about information and more about opinion and delivery style and persuasive charisma became as important in directing public opinion as disseminating meaningful and accurate information. Political ideas and policies were being sold the same way as toothpaste and created loyalties based on brand identification. The effectiveness of this approach could be seen in the success of a money-dominated Republican Party which identified itself as a fiscally conservative defender of the middle class while creating and benefitting from the great deficits that middle class taxpayers would have to pay for. Meanwhile, networks, which once tried to maintain unprofitable journalistic standards as a matter of corporate pride, succumbed to the pressures of the bottom line and competition to cut costs and increase audiences. In depth reporting of contaminated water supplies were replaced by puppies and Kardashians.
By the time Donald Trump rolled into view as a political entity, it was clear that the American democracy was in complete disarray and that its foundation stone – an informed public – did not exist in any cohesive way. He recognized the power of celebrity, branding, aggressive self-assurance, and confusion and also recognized the potential of the simmering discontent awaiting a chance to boil.
He also knew that despite Hillary Clinton’s experience and undoubted qualifications for the job of president, she didn’t represent anything new other than the potential of a female presidency. She bore both the weight of her husband’s mandate and indiscretions, but also shared in the astonishingly virulent hatred of the president she previously lost to and serve. The only thing she really had going for her was the awfulness of her opponents.
The tactics Trump used to get to where he is have continued to be useful even as his personal stability is attracting more attention. His current tirade against the media, for example, exemplified by crude and personal attacks against critics is impossible to ignore and is accomplishing two very distinct things for the embattled president. It is an aggressive and attention-grabbing reinforcement of an already skeptical public’s distrust of its most reliable – if far from perfect – source of information. It is also a highly effective side-show distracting attention from the horrible things his administration and the Congress tied to it have in mind for the American people. As we all stare in jawdropped astonishment at the jester turned king, other forces are endangering the environment, betraying the principles of public education, and unleashing the potential destructiveness of the pursuit of profit and the accumulation of wealth.
The future of Donald Trump’s presidency is sure to be colourful, and his little outing to the G20 meeting and the accompanying play date with Vladimir Putin should provide a few more attention grabbing incidents of outrage and terror, but his own survival is not the real issue. While we ponder it however, the monsters who rode into power on their money and his coattails are putting the final touches on their confiscation of the country’s common wealth.