last week, Washington Post wrote about Why so many people who wait in line for hours to attend Donald Trump’s political rallies leave before the rallies are even over. The answers are not necessarily surprising. Trump often arrives on stage more than an hour late, and in his current state of decline his speeches are mostly delivered through a free-associative catalog of half-remembered cable news, making his speeches weak, salty and depressing and fast. Let’s make a case for it being moist. some people Post The left spoke out because they were fed up with “insults,” which sounds a bit like getting kicked out of a steakhouse dinner right before dessert because you don’t eat meat. But most left because they had other things they needed to do, and couldn’t really justify not doing those things just because they had to look at a shitty seventy-year-old oaf halfway through saying 14 words. And then had to rest on a tangent. “My good friend Beetlejuice.”
An obvious solution to this issue, which clearly bothers Trump very much, would be to shorten his rally speeches. There are some complicating factors – Trump’s conspicuous inability to mitigate or remain calm; his willingness to display enthusiasm and stamina by standing on stage and saying “millions and billions” in an agitated manner for two hours; The fact is that he really has nowhere else to live. But Trump isn’t wrong either, as an unnamed aide pointed out PostThat “They want a show. They want two hours.” Maybe that crowd doesn’t want to hear what Trump is saying, which is two hours of sleepy authoritarianism and dusty celebrity gripes like a sleep apnea episode, but they’re not there to ponder the fine points of policy. . They are there to entertain. There are good reasons to question both his choice of entertainment (disgusting genocidal fantasies fueled by disgusting and antiquated fundamentalists and cable news) and the entertainer (a charming old golf creature who can kill a million strangers just to get a birthday wish). entertainment tonight), but there is no reason to think too much about it.
Perhaps the point is that Trump is no longer much of a showman. He doesn’t really make jokes anymore and has long ago stopped talking about anything except himself or whatever genocide-inciting act is currently playing on the channels he watches; It may be that the little Trumps who stand in line to watch the big Trump grow bored once they realize they are no longer part of any story he is likely to tell. Trump has a tendency to demonstrate when something isn’t working, but he can only do more than the one or two things he knows how to do. If the show is going to get better, in short, it’s not going to be because of any work he’s done, and so bringing in some charismatic guest stars might help. An artist who can say all the crap that Trump says – there’s no reason to mess with something that works – but perhaps in a more volatile way, and if possible in an unapologetic tone and at that kind of pace. With one that suggests someone is going to be hospitalized due to a case of hiccups. But where would the campaign find such an artist?
There’s something funny about Elon Musk and his fellow members of Silicon Valley’s defunct Alpha Group investing heavily in Trump, who now feels like their absolute peak, though it’s not really easy to laugh about it for a while. will be. but there is something extremely Ridiculous about the idea of Musk, who is also undeniably very rich and famous A unique and fascinating figure from world-historical perspective.Encouraging a crowd of achingly sore and increasingly bored small-business fascists standing around in a field. It’s a testament to the terrifying movement Trump has created that it can involve the least trusted car dealers in every American county. And 53-year-old techno reactionary who uses the word “based” as an adjective, but doesn’t really think hanging out is a good idea.
But at some point presenting a “show” is a value-neutral endeavor. If You’re Trump, You’ll Probably Want to Bring Out A Guest stars, but you might not really know what to do with them. You may understand that you need to bring someone you know on stage, but you definitely don’t care what that person does once they get there other than say something about you. Except for those parts you won’t really remember or hear anything they actually said.
However I think there are some things you wouldn’t want your guests to do. For starters, you don’t want to distract them from what you’re doing.
As you would expect them to understand their role and be comfortable playing it, and ideally to be able to do it in a way that the crowd can connect with.
And if your guest is a really rich and powerful person, you’ll want to make it so that your guest’s mastery and your own mastery mirror each other. Not in an aspirational way – the crowd shouldn’t think they can do it to become Any of you—but in a way it creates a kind of surface in which the audience can see themselves reflected. The idea would be that these powerful people, although they may be harsh and cruel, will take care of everything for you in exchange for your loyalty – kill your neighbors, cut your taxes, whatever you want. Are. The impression created by seeing other powerful people on the stage with you should be one of unified command – an empty edifice of power behind which crowds can safely gather, provided they are willing to pay the price of admission.
But failing that, you’d at least hope that your extremely rich and powerful guest wouldn’t jump on you with his belly hanging out while you were talking. Ideally you would want your rich and powerful guest not to behave like a strange child, as this would dilute the feeling you were trying to convey about how powerful you both are, and how much fun it would be to serenade and serenade the audience. And to serve such influential people in the remaining, short lives full of struggle. But the show must go on somehow.