Trump’s drunken dance: may be working

 Zeibekiko is a popular Greek nightclub dance, done by only one person at a time, a male performer, and everyone else has to kneel down, forming a circle around the dancer, clapping following the rhythm and encouraging the dancer. Zeibekiko dance does have some particular steps, but the most impressive dance is the one where the dancer shows his creativity, performing special feats, adding a little humor and personal touch to the occasion.

(Wikipedia)

Donald Trump moves with the creativity and freedom of a drunk or a Greek guy stumbling around the dance floor. The Zeibekiko dancer sometimes mimics a drunk.Trump stomps across the world stage with the stumbling grace of a drunk. He bellows around the White House or Mar a Lago or Trump Tower, stomps out of G7 gatherings, hires Rudy Giuliani as alternative drunk uncle to fend off Robert Mueller and the Stormy Daniels lawyer. Trump huffs and puffs and tweets like a man possessed, but still pulls off a meeting with North Korea. Donald J. Trump, a teetotaler, never has touched alcohol, but moves with the stumbling grace of a drunk.

Trumps lack of planning may be his secret. Presidential campaign? He hadn’t a clue. Came up with a great slogan—Make America Great Again. Surprised people by filling up stadiums on the campaign trail. He talked different. Trump delivers speeches like a standup comic. We all watch him wondering about his next move. The behavior of an improvisational performer attracts our attention. 

Trump’s understanding of modern electronic media may explain his mastery of the improvisational. Our social media network is very interactive. As Marshall McLuhan correctly predicted—the new era of electronic communications, the one we’re living in now, is all about engagement. Cellphones, video games, Facebook, etc. engage us more personally than books, newspapers and even the television of old.

Trump has integrated his Twitter account with the hours of coverage he attracts on cable television to become a broadcasting system all his own. How does he keep his viewership, readership, follower numbers at a high level?... He does it with outrageous statements, insults, provocative lies, and manufactured culture wars with American football players, and the timing, intonations and attitude of a seasoned standup comic.

I look for traces of Donald Trump in old footage of his early television appearances. He seems slightly shy but eager to master the TV studio. He has a glint in his eye. I see a Rascal.

Trump reveals in those brief TV appearances, traces of the rascal, the scamp, scalawag, scoundrel, who would come to fruition during his run for Presidency. He quickly wanted to master the TV performer’s craft. He had some success but really flourished when he began to control everything. 

“Emoluments? What is that? I want to make money and be President at the same time.” 

He seems out of control but then controls almost everything. 

The improvisational mode suits Trump and his spontaneity suits the new electronic media environment. Trump’s media enemies hate the ease of his approach and fault him for being stupid, a sign they do not “get” Trump’s mastery of their own medium.

And the Zeibekiko dance continues.... 

Trump totters at the edge of the nightclub stage, verges on a drunken stumble but always finds his footing. 

He somehow avoids falling down-- and surprises us again and again with the outrageous behavior of a wild standup comic.