Thanks chaps. You know those moments when your clarity of vision, and passion for a topic coalesce? Well, this election, and this post, was it for me. It’s the nose that’s been sitting on my face the entire time, but I was blinkered by my own intellectual lens. A fate that I feel has befallen most of us on here. Being intelligent, logical, critical thinking, these are the qualities that make discussions with like minded individuals on here rewarding, but they are also the qualities that make us blind to simplistic reality of the arena we are attempting to comment on. The only thing defeating democrats, are democrats, and more specifically their dogmatic adherence to social and political norms. But all identity construction is essentially social in nature. So to successfully construct a “winning” identity, one has to first understand the social construct. And a core, fundamental component of that is the incredibly limited window of engagement available, and the simplicity of the processing capabilities at the other end.
“Grab him by the pussy” might not be a dignified, intelligent, politically correct or relevant campaign mantra, but in the reality of US politics, it would be a winning one. Trump positions himself as an alpha male. Well, stick him next to Dwayne Johnson, calling him a pussy, and his entire schtick is gone. 30 seconds soundbites on “tough on crime” (easy sell with the Rock), “tough on drugs” (easy sell), “self made man, American dream” (easiest sell ever), “Love America, Mr. Patriot” (this is too easy), “America’s the greatest country on earth” (like candy from a baby), “I’ll kick the ass of our enemies” (come on, give me challenge!). Etc etc etc.
Perceptions of strong leadership qualities. Camera friendly. Tough, yet positive and hopeful. Male vote. Black vote. Dem vote. Huge cross party appeal. You can’t question his patriotism, his manliness, you can’t fill a room (literally and figuratively) better than you can with the Rock. And, he does that thing that Americans want an American president to do, he projects strength.
It’s seriously alarming on so many levels that the best candidate, far and away, that I can think of for the Dems is a former WWE star, and current action movie star, who is roided to the tits. But that sentence right there is the entire encapsulation of the American political landscape. The fact people are debating whether it’s Newsome or Shapiro next, just shows how badly they are missing the point of how political engagement is digested by the masses in America today.
At this point the President is just a marketing figurehead to get the political apparatus in place that you want to govern. He’s (because let’s be honest, it’s not going to be a she) the equivalent of a “Huge Savings! 50% off” banner to get people in the store, where once inside, the real business begins. That’s the presidential campaign. “Massive tax cuts - today only”, “Be better off - vote now”, “ROCK the establishment - vote Johnson”, “Can you smell the [tax] cuts I’m cooking?”
There is no policy, there is only marketing. And the marketing is personality. It’s entertainment. Its familiarity. You don’t even need to agree with him to vote for him. And you certainly don’t need to like him, not in the traditional sense. You just need to be entertained or intrigued by him, and above all else, you can’t be bored by him. That’s the Trump secret. And that’s American politics.
amazing. He'd rather live on an uninhabitable planet than watch China become a hegemon.