Donald the Menace... based on the Ketcham cartoon

You know something is different about politics... but you are not sure exactly what is going on? Always start with Marshall McLuhan the media guru. McLuhan explains that electronic media changes politics. Marshall died in 1980 and did not personally experience the Internet revolution. He somehow anticipated the profound shift that we are experiencing now-- the shift from printed word and the daily newspaper to today's electronic news, a 24/7 production crammed with Breaking News, newscasters speaking with bated breath about the most recent shocking development, political gridlock, wrestling matches between politicians and reporters and and a angry citizenry, shouting hate-filled invective at Town Hall meetings and posting their discontent all across the electronic network.

What's different about the first 200 years of American political history and the present day-- the new electronic media-- an instantaneous experience happening at the speed of light... Don't kid yourself. This did not happen before. Just like the present electronic media did not happen earlier in our history, the new environment is totally new and we are living a new reality.

Listen to McLuhan, from his last book The Global Village, co-authored wit Bruce R. Powers.

Governments need to know that electronic services, especially television, eliminate or dissolve representative government, TV ends representation at a distance and involves one in immediate confrontation of an image. The successful image will be charismatic, meaning that it represents a great many admirable types. (President Carter was Huck Finn in the White House.)

McLuhan/Powers continues-- and I have substituted the name Trump, where they stated "Reagan is an exemplar." 

For the new popular image, of which Trump is an exemplar, there can be no relevance in parties and policies but only a war of icons and images. 

Trump proved McLuhan's explanation correct-- he hardly qualified as a Republican and traditional Republicans have always distrusted him. Trump is a pragmatist and a media man and correctly surmised his only chance was as a Republican. And he won the traditionally Democratic-controlled states like Michigan and Pennsylvania. Politics was now "a war of icons and images" with party and policy a twentieth century concern that has fallen by the wayside.

If Jimmy Carter suggested the character Huck Finn, with many of Huck's admirable traits-- who is Donald J. Trump in the pantheon of fictional characters? Checkout the hairstyle and personality on the Hank Ketcham cartoon. Ketcham base 5 1/2 year old Dennis on his own son and wrote and draw the cartoon strip from 1951-1994. The cartoon was made into a TV show from 1959-1963. And check out this amazing coincidence about Ketcham-- His great-grandfather was James Weaver, who ran for President twice on third party tickets in the late 19th century.

Okay, that's spooky. Ketcham had an ancestor who ran for president on third party tickets-- and he invented a cartoon character, Dennis the Menace, who drove Mr. Wilson, his neighbor, crazy with repeated trouble-making and anti-social behaviors. Ketcham must have had some rascal in his DNA.

You might argue that Trump's egregious behaviors go way beyond the silly pranks of a 5 year old boy with a lively spirit. But guess what? Donald J. Trump has turned us, the people and the media, into frustrated Mr. Wilson! And there is something we love about Donald Trump-- and we'd like to be more like the free spirited Trump-- thumbing his nose at friends, allies, and everybody else. Maybe that's why he got voted into office-- to blow things up, piss on the carpet, tear down the curtains, keep his tax returns hidden, play golf all week, etc. etc..

It's something to think about.