If you've been looking for an insight into Donald Trump that you cannot get from his loyal friends on Fox News of his detractors on MSNBC we have an insider who understands this President and his Administration. Our guide to the Trump brain is none other than Omarosa, the former Celebrity Apprentice star. Omarosa said Trump is a reality star and this is the start of Season 3.
Omarosa Manigault had great insights into how Reality TV keeps a show rocking for Season 3.
At the beginning of Season 3, the Hero often becomes the Heel.
A Heel is another term for villain. Trump may make himself a Heel for Season 3 so he can magically transform into a Hero for Season 4 and the 2020 election.
All this seemed farfetched until I heard Trump skewer John McCain, recently deceased Senator from Arizona and Vietnam War POW and war hero. Why attack Senator McCain? No good reason unless you want to keep your name at the top of the newsfeed.
Trump does know how change and movement keeps the Reality TV show fresh and alive. The whole notion of choosing Hero or Heel is very reminiscent of Vince McMahon and the WWE. Wrestlers decide in the locker room much of what will happen that night in the ring. They prepare themselves for the body slams and the folded metal chairs exploding against their foreheads.
The WWE kind of control and planning appeals to Trump's sense of the benefits of controlling the message.
Omarosa showed a talent for survival on Celebrity Apprentice. Donald Trump was impressed enough to carry her to the White Office. She bucked and complained when it was time for her to go. She demonstrated and ego and narcissism approaching the superhuman self-love of her mentor Mr. Trump. It takes one to know one.
Recognize the Trump election as America choosing Trump TV over Hillary TV. He definitely had media mastery over Hillary. Barack Obama snuck up on Hillary and defeated her partly because Barack was more watchable than Hillary.
Trump is a bare knuckles brawler who prefers election fights over governing. As President he has elevated his family's financial gains over the country's welfare. He has been consistent in his self-aggrandizement.
And now we get to look forward to the nicknames! Who will be the next Low Energy Jeb Bush... etc.? Elizabeth Warren struggles from under the Pocahontas label and may not escape it. Trump not only creates his own brand, he brands others and they continue to feel the sting for years afterward. Just like pro wrestling-- it's raw and over the top with good guys, bad guys and lots of trash talk.
And we keep watching.
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Monday, March 11, 2019
Why the Left still doesn't get Trump?
Donald Trump is the name that never leaves our lips. It’s so intimate in a way. Trump in our head. Trump in our words. Trump in our frustrations.
The Left rejects Trump for so many good reasons.
Trump is:
· Narcissistic
· Greedy
· Lacks empathy
· Ignores climate degradation
· Enriches the wealthy
All these are valid, but do not explain Trumps incredible ability to control the conversation. The pundits predicted he would lose hugely to Hillary Clinton. The pundits then told Trump to stop using Twitter. Of course he uses Twitter brilliantly.
The Left keeps insisting, on MSNBC, that his base is limited in number. At this point Trump supporters far outweigh any presidential candidiate emerging from the Democratic party. That could change quickly but time will tell.
The Democrats need to understand Trump better if they intend to win in 2020.
The key to Trump—he’s not a literary man. We know he doesn’t like to read or ponder documents presented by his security analysts, etc.. What does Trump do that is so effective?
Let’s turn to the master media guru Marshall McLuhan to understand Trump better. Trump is a master of TV—the power of its images and the all-at-once nature of digital communications.
Marshall McLuhan wrote in the 60s and 70s but understood the Internet before it existed. He pointed out that the “literary man” would be baffled by the speed and intimacy of our communications and the non-linear characteristics of our present day media environment.
Communication now has more in common with villagers sitting around the campfire than with a NY Times article. The conversation is full of emotion and immediacy, and seems to be quite a bit of lying and propagandizing involved as well. This is McLuhan’s global village and Marshall did not promise it would be peaceful or pleasant.
McLuhan had grave misgivings about the future of our electronic technology. Seems like many now recognize the downside of all this connectivity. But we must live with it and study it to maintain any sense of personal control.
Here is what Marshall McLuhan wrote in the Saturday Evening Post (August 10, 1968):
“But in a deep sense, TV bypasses the ballot box as a means of creating political “representatives.” TV is not concerned with views or interests or issues. It is a maker and finder of images that ride over all points ov view and over all age-groups as well. The TV image ends all national and party politics.
“… An all-at-once world, fashioned by electric information, demands a candidate full of puns and unexpected nuances. Such a man is one who knows so much about the contemporary interface of all cultures that he cannot possibly be deluded by any earnest regard for any them. The new changes are not moral but technological.”
Hope that helps! Go Dems! Remember this is not moral war—but a communications battle. Better learn the new technology!
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