President Trump: Reality Star embarks on Season 3

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.

Trump Goes to the Mattresses

Donald Trump came into office just like a Mafia Don. Don Donald. Michael Flynn, the guy who led chants of “Lock her up,” and Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, began selling favors before the inauguration. Flynn could be seen making deals on his cellphone from the White House lawn. Cohen sought out multi-national companies and advertised his strong access to the President of the United States as a strong selling point.

No hesitation in these gangster types. They get a foot in the door and you have to pay them protection…. Or else. 

Trump took the same approach as his associates. Emoluments clause? Hell with it. I can run a business and the USA at the same time. He did not want to divest his business holdings and never did.

Trump has “played” politics just the way the recently risen Mafia Don works his crew, the streets and the civilians. Everything’s for me. Everybody sends a cut of their earnings  to the top. 

Donald Trump will steal your lunch money until you fight back. America has not fought back and he keeps gouging until the final dollar is pressed into his personal coffers. Don’t like it and you can try your best to get him out of office.

Office never mattered to much to Donald Trump. He loves the theater and confrontation of electoral politics and loves watching television. But a certain movie captures the Trump phenomenon, even better than Celebrity Apprentice.

In Casino, the 1995 Martin Scorsese film starring Joe Pesci, Sharon Stone and Robert De Niro, we get an insight into Donald Trump. 

Robert De Niro as Ace Rothstein is quietly running a casino in Vegas. The De Niro character translates to Barack Obama, a capable man doing an honest day’s work. Joe Pesci is Donald Trump—the guy who shows up like a tornado, kills the game for everybody else. 

The Joe Pesci character, based on Anthony Spilotro, a real life mob enforcer and hit man, arrives and things spiral downward and end with a thud. Joe’s character lacks self-control. He is programmed to hurt others. He lives only for himself. The Joe Pesci  character adds insult to injury by stealing and banging De Niro’s wife—Sharon Stone as Ginger McKenna.

Okay, so Donald Trump never made a play for Michelle Obama. I’m sure she’s not his type. He likes tall women but prefers Eastern European and Russian woman. That’s how you end up with a daughter named Ivanka.

Trump’s daughter’s name does not imply he’s colluded or conspired with Russians. Trump’s most obvious trait—acquisitiveness—includes the element of bringing everybody else down. It’s not enough for him to win. The others, (i.e. the American citizenry) can fend for themselves. 

We must protect ourselves from Donald Trump’s habit of playing the game so hard, working the casino till every nickel has dropped out of the slot machine and then declaring bankruptcy. 

After 5 bankruptcies, including Atlantic City casinos, Trump moved to the next hustle. Bankers lost confidence in his Midas touch and Donald Trump went east to Moscow to find new bankers. 

Russia, as the banker of last resort, may prove to be the end of Trump. Putin is a better gangster, probably more cruel and efficient than the garrulous Donald Trump. Putin is more the Carlo Gambino style mob boss. He keeps quiet and motivates associates—called Russian oligarchs—to do his bidding. Putin is said to be the richest man in the world.

The Mueller probe gets closer to President Trump and Don Donald hires an army of lawyers. I heard 40 lawyers hired—but maybe 17, the more conservative number is accurate? In either case, that’s a lot of lawyers. 

Trump hiring an army of lawyers is a presidential version of the old Mafia term “going to the mattresses.” Mob wars required the Mafia soldiers to move into apartments and sleep on mattresses on the floor—until matters were settled. 

Trump’s two greatest assets are:

1)   His base of loyal voters

2)  His mastery of media communication

Like a good gangster movie, the two sides are lined against each other and ready to do battle. Carlo Gambino survived by following the traditional Mafia rule of omerta—silence when questioned by police and total loyalty to the mob family. But that is more Putin. Trump plays more like John Gotti—very fond of the spotlight and his notoriety.

Gotti flamed out quickly as “boss of all bosses” precisely because he was too loud, too flamboyant and overly narcissistic. 

Sound familiar?

-->

Trump: spinning too many plates

 If you are old enough to remember the Ed Sullivan Show you may also recall the guy, Erich Brenn, who spun many plates simultaneously. The novelty act gained traction. The man moving rapidly to keep plates spinning atop wooden poles seemed to capture something beyond simple entertainment. We watched Erich moving rapidly from plate to plate and we saw a microcosm of life itself. 

Donald Trump’s recent expansion into multiple issues has a spinning plates quality. He seems to be multi-tasking, working to attract voters and clouding the issues all at the same time. Trump is a man who much prefers campaigning to governing. He is a perpetual campaigner.

These issues include:

1)  Criss-crossing the country on Air Force One, like a newsboy proud of his new bicycle. His big rallies on behalf of Republican candidates for the House and Senate are impressive and oppressive.

2)  He calls the press “The Enemy of the People” at his rallies, even though media is his secret mistress.

3)  Trump depicts the caravan of Central Americans as “invaders” walking across Mexico on their way to the U.S. border.

4)  Claims he can sidestep the Constitution and declare babies born to illegal immigrants as non-citizens.

5)  Creating a massive tax break for the wealthy and adding massively to the national debt. Makes believe he is interested in a “middle class” tax break.

6)  Uses coded language to insult women and minority Democratic candidates—like Andrew Gillum—the African-American man running for Governor of Florida. Trump claims Gillum will turn Florida into Venezeula if elected over Trump acolyte ( read ass-kisser) Ron DeSantis.

7)  Trump declares himself a “Nationalist”—despite the anti-Semitic rally in South Carolina where a white nationalist ran over an innocent from the other side.

8)   Taking a “pass” on the opportunity to of call Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton after they received pipe bombs in the mail from a Trump supporter.

9)  Bringing Kanye West to the Oval Office in a show of support. Kanye has since begged off of politics.

10)              Traveling to Pittsburgh for the funerals, despite requests that he delay his visit.

11)               Refusing to take on the role of national healer in chief even in the wake of the murder of 12 Jewish members of the Tree of Life synagogue.

I’ll stop there at 11. That’s enough spinning plates.

A conservative, right-wing friend of mine showed me a bit of cellphone video shot in the Pittsburgh hospital where survivors of the mass killing recovered. Donald, Melanie, Jared and Ivanka were there to visit the injured. 

The Trump foursome and their retinue of bodyguards walked down a polished, clean corridor of the hospital and came across a group of ardent supporters. The small group of supporters began repeating the phrase “Thank you! Thank you!” Trump realized the compliments were directed his way.

The simplicity of the phrase “thank-you” proved irresistible. Donald approached the well-wishers. He had a blue tie, not the usual red. Maybe this was a bi-partisan fashion choice? The president, on his visit to a city hurting with the pain of anti-Semitism and horrible murder, might actually have softened in some microscopically tiny way.

Donald seemed moved. He relaxed and greeted the folks. He even extended his hand for a handshake. I hear he’s germ-phobic and this was a concession. Melanie stepped forward. “Thank-you First Lady,” said one of the fans. Melanie extended a hand. Jared and Ivanka hung back in the hallway but beamed their contentment. “We love you Ivanka,” said another. That got a laugh and more smiles.

The Trumps need love on a personal level like the rest of us. Donald savors the campaign stops and the adoring cheers and laughter of his supporters. The greetings and love in that hallway spoke volumes about the chance for humanity in every human being.

Trump Never Did Pivot

I first became aware of the word “pivot” on the high school basketball court. The pivot foot must stay stationary. You plant that foot and  spin your body in either direction to create a shot or to throw a pass. Trump never did pivot from the bellicose campaigner of the Republican primaries.

Many of us figured Donald Trump, if elected, would pivot and act serious, sober and rational, like the previous 44 presidents. It did not happen. 

Donald did not pivot. Why? He learned that his base loves the plain-spoken, blunt, insulting, bullying Donald Trump. 

The experts called for Trump to stop tweeting. Even loyal Republican supporters complained about the tweets. Trump wisely ignored the advice. He actually increased the tweeting. He now has 55,000,000 followers on Twitter. Why give that up? He can speak directly to his audience.

Donald Trump may qualify as a genius of 21^stcentury communications-- some would say an evil-genius. He gets credit as a marketing and has branded the Trump name to the heavens. His domination of cable  television, left and right, amazes all.  

Trump recognizes politics has become theater. He brilliantly turned presidential politics into a reality TV show. Real reality and the virtual reality of internet and TV become difficult to distinguish. The electronic world has become the world.

Marshall McLuhan, my favorite media philosopher, recognized the revolution in human history in the change from books and newspapers to the electronic world we now inhabit. McLuhan’s emphasis on technology met stiff opposition, especially from the academic world. Guess who won that competition? Marshall was right. The academics have remained nostalgic for print media. "Long live print media!" they seem to say. Trump baits us with "failing New York Times."

McLuhan understood the change of a deep level. He identified a basic change from “acoustic space,” the space we inhabit on our devices to “visual space”—the continuous, logical and alphabet world, the world of books. 

The multi-sensory world acoustic space of electronic media brought us back to a kind of tribal drumbeat:

“It was the space of the electric world, in which people are hit with almost random bursts of information from all sides.” (p.133)*

The pundits, the talking heads of cable TV, the cognoscenti, the journalists and presidential historians, gnash their teeth over Trump’s resistance to the norms of presidency. They seek logic, reason and a continuous narrative. Trump gives us spontaneity, equivocation, multiple versions of the same story, a revolving door of employees and speeches sounding more like standup comedy.

Trump understands McLuhan’s acoustic space. He has responds constantly, just to keep up with our speeded-up world. The pace and randomness of the information systems suits his ADHD tendencies very well. And seems to work for much of the audience.

Many long for a more peaceful presidency with less name-calling, divisiveness and partisanship. If you want to understand the new presidency-- check out the Housewives shows-- New Jersey, Atlanta, Orange County, etc. housewives. Drama is created out of seemingly nowhere. Conflict powers the narrative. Change happens quickly. Andy Cohen is the Bravo TV mogul behind the Housewives franchise. Andy holds a close second to Donald Trump when it comes to media literacy. 

Both men understand their audience. Funny how such different audiences agree of their passion for drama. Trump flourishes there. And Obama, as you may recall, had the nickname "N0 Drama Obama." 

Apparently we got tired of Obama's gentlemanly air of peace and tranquility and voted in Donald Trump,  a Tasmanian Devil of energy, manipulation and shape-shifting.

* Marshall McLuhan: The Medium and the Messenger, by: Philip Marchand

American Objects of Affection: (shared by Left and Right)

                                                                                 

Americans seem very convinced a cultural war between the left-wing and right wing ruins any chance for peace and civility in the public discourse. Balderdash! Bunk I say… for Americans from across the political spectrum share a fondness of many of the same things.

Top 3 things Americans love:

1)  Cars

2) Air-conditioning
3) Cellphones

The Top 3 may seem so obvious as to be not worth mentioning. People in many countries may also love cellphones (laptops, iPads etc/), cars and air conditioning. The less prosperous populations often do not have access to these luxuries.

The Top 3 are not considered luxuries by most Americans. The American populace, left or right wing, feel they must have these commodities. We take them for granted like the air we breathe. 

Cars and Trucks:

The rural American, identified as Donald Trump voters, likes the pickup truck the bigger and more expensive the better. 

Pickup Trucks (Trumpers like): 

1)    Ford F-150

2)  Chevy Silverado

3)  Dodge Ram pickup

Fortunately, American car manufacturers produce well-built pickup trucks. You can buy American, feel good about it and get a great truck. 

Pickup Trucks (Liberals like)

A guy who drives a Toyota Tacoma may just be a liberal. Even left-leaning, bleeding hearts, enjoy the macho feel of a big, steel pickup truck.

SUVs (Obama Liberals like)

1)   Subaru

2)  Lexus RX 350

3)  Honda CRV

Liberals profess a passion for the have-nots but often drive SUVs that prove they “have” plenty. The SUVs listed above tend to be expensive and Japanese-made. Maybe the international flavor of a Japanese-made vehicle appeals to liberals love of globalism? These wonderfully built vehicles cost a hell of a lot—but so do the fancy versions of the pickup trucks listed above.

Right wing Trumpers and left-wing Barack Obama lovers don’t fret about global warming when they turn the key to their ignition. 

Henry Ford turned us on to car ownership with the Model-T cars he mass-produced from 1908-1927. America has never been the same. Ford built the car at a price the average man could afford, even those working on the assembly line.

Ford revolutionized car production with his assembly line. His business genius allowed him to recognize the advantage to making a car affordable to the rising middle class. Henry Ford’s marketing genius got us hooked. The driving habit has been with us for a century. Doesn’t matter your political persuasion—everybody likes having a car/truck.

Air Conditioning

Air conditioning got invented by Willis Carrier in 1902. You might say that air conditioning brought the North and South together-- with the arrangement that Northerners could now more readily handle the worm temperatures of the South.

"The introduction of residential air conditioning in the 1920s helped enable the great migration to the Sun Belt in the United States." (Wikipedia)

Chilled air is so prevalent everywhere in the South and Western United States as to be invisible. You walk into a restaurant, movie theater, super market in Texas, where I live, and feel your just stepped into a produce cooler or a meat locker. Everybody demands central air conditioning, or AC/  We hardly get a winter down here, except indoors, where man has created his own climate. The entire spectrum of voters, from Trumper to Obama supporter, votes “yes” when it comes to air conditioning.

Cellphones

We get even more agreement on the cellphone. Most everybody wants an iPhone. Samsung phones are popular too.

Cellphones can be seen in every hand, from  alt-right believers to their Antifa adversaries. Apple owns the world because left, right and everybody else loves the iPhone. We all have computers in our hand, a luxury valued by all—right or left.

We may be more alike than we care to admit.