Trump: The Importance of Insouciance

The name Trump is on everybody's lips. Love him or hate him, you've got to watch him. Trump understands electronic media. Funny that a 70 year old man figured out the method for flourishing in the 24/7 media environment. Donald Trump is a natural extrovert. He defines the concept that "all publicity is good publicity." He embraces the microphone, the spotlight and tweets constantly. Trump loves conflict. All drama progresses on the basis of conflict. Good movies move forward on conflict. Today's politics have converged with entertainment-- and beg for conflict.

Only one scholar has explained how this happened-- Marshall McLuhan, the media guru who died in 1980. Marshall McLuhan taught us a simple truth-- the candidate must meet the the electronic media with an attitude of insouciance.

What is insouciance?  In-sou-ci-ance -- (noun) a casual lack of concern; indifference

Synonyms--lack of concern, unconcern,  disinterest, lack of interest, lack of enthusiasm, apathy, nonchalance, insouciance


Marshall McLuhan made the following statement in a Saturday Evening Post magazine article he penned about the 1968 presidential election and the importance of television:


Why should TV demand sophistication and insouciance? Simply because it is a depth medium for which earnestness is fatal. Depth requires perception on many levels and, therefore, an absence of single purpose or direction. 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 into any earnest regard for any one of them. The new changes are not moral but technological.  

(Saturday Evening Post, August 10, 1968)

McLuhan's statement about the Importance of Not Being Earnest applies even more precisely to the presidential election of 2016.

Trump uses Twitter to go directly to the audience. He captures and capsizes his enemies with simple phases-- Low Energy (Jeb Bush), Lyin' Ted (Ted Cruz), Crooked Hillary (Hillary Clinton)-- but simple phrases are never turned on him. The attacks do not work on Trump.

The insults never turn the tables on Trump- because of his insouciance. His skin may seem thin, but...  Sticks and stones may break bones, but words will never harm him.

TV Candidates beware--earnestness is fatal

TV demands sophistication and insouciance.

Words of advice for Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and company...

Way back in 1968, Marshall McLuhan explained that TV candidates must understand "the contemporary interface of all cultures" and should not "be deluded into any earnest regard for any one of them." 

The wise candidate shows insouciance (indifference) as a survival technique. Jeb Bush serves as a cautionary tale for wanting the job too much.

McLuhan warns against  getting in a huff about the immorality of it all... "The new changes are not moral but technological." 

Saturday Evening Post (August 10, 1968)      

All of the Candidates are Asleep         

By: Marshall McLuhan


Why should TV demand sophistication and insouciance? Simply because it is a depth medium for which earnestness is fatal. Depth requires perception on   many levels, and, therefore, an absence of single       purpose or direction. An all-at-once world, fashioned by electric information, demands a candidate full  of puns and expected nuances. Such a man is one     who knows so much about the contemporary interface of all cultures that he cannot possibly be deluded  into any earnest regard for any of them. The new       changes are not moral but technological.