Costume, Posture, Gibberish

Politics as circus…

Katherine: The rallies. Venue always looked like a circus tent.
Gabriel: Fitting, isn't it? Complete with clowns and all. I half expected a trapeze act.
Katherine: Striding out like he's in a Wild West showdown, like some gunslinger about to “save t
he town” from... I don’t even know what.
Gabriel: Right? It’s all costume and swagger. Add in the red hats and it's like some dystopian dress code.
Katherine: And the speeches—if you can call them that. Just a stream of sound bites, strung together like a fortune teller reading a broken crystal ball.
Gabriel: Never about policies. Just posturing and proclamations, like a ringmaster announcing the next act.
Katherine: And keeping the crowd entertained. Who cares about facts, it’s fireworks, right?
Gabriel: Fireworks, or flames? The real issue is watching the country burn while he’s up there stoking it for effect.
Katherine: Perfecting the art of saying nothing and everything at the same time. The ultimate gibberish guru.
Gabriel: It’s almost impressive, in a twisted way. Managing to rile people up without a coherent point, like a magician with words that mean nothing.
Katherine: But somehow, he still fires up his followers, as if they’ve been told something profound.
Gabriel: The power of suggestion, I suppose. Or maybe just the power of spectacle over substance. Politics as circus, plain and simple.
_____________
Voice-over
The anguish may be even greater outside the Untied States. The U.S. sneezes, the world catches a cold.

Forgive to Defuse?

Designing a victory speech…
Sonny: The nightmare is over. 
Ray: But will there be violence?
Sonny: We could follow a Mandela approach.
Ray: Which was?
Sonny: He forgave his enemies. Even after 27 years.  Much more than four.
Ray: Diplomatic of him. If you don’t attack, it might defuse the antagonists.
Sonny: And there are many of them. So you need a speech of conciliation, of union, of peace.
_________
Voice-over
Diplomatic healing, rather than gibbering rage, will help make America great again and recover its dignity.

The House is in Session

The mid term aftermath…

.

Doug: His lies, and illogical incoherency have a certain cunning about them. They appeal to the white workers and rural voters. It’s how they talk. He was coached, I'm sure of it.

.

Frank: Who by?

.

Doug: Who knows? In a post-truth world, it's a new mix of media and politics. Before, a leader would treat the press with respect, and they in turn would be polite even when challenging his policies.

.

Frank: How about those who write respectfully of him?

.

Doug: Plenty of hacks are available for hire to push the propaganda.

.

Frank: Getting back to who coached him. Someone from the House of Cards?

.

Doug: Highly unlikely. That was a satire. He’s turning this into reality TV.

.

Frank: Then facing defeat in the House, he fires the attorney general.

.

Doug: Of course, he’s been wanting to do that for months. But the timing is crafty, too. It deflects news of his growing unpopularity.

.

Frank: Where will it end?  The acting A-G starving the Russia probe of funding?

.

Doug: Funds could be found.

.

Frank: Taxes being made public?

.

Doug: Impeachment could be attempted.

.

Frank: And the economy?

.

Doug: It could collapse with a business cycle downturn. Be patient. The pendulum will swing back.

.

Frank: But meantime how do you get the illiterate minority to see through him and vote against him?

_____________

Voice-over

"A starkly divided country now has a divided government. Democratic control of the House of Representatives will provide some welcome oversight of the White House. But behind the results is a structural shift that will make the country harder to govern for the foreseeable future. Thanks to their strength in cities and suburbs, Democrats represent a majority of America’s voters. Republicans dominate geographically, having tightened their grip on less populous, more rural states. In a country where one chamber of the legislature is based on population and the other on territory, this division is a recipe for gridlock, poor governance and, eventually, disenchantment with the political system itself."

Editor in chief at The Economist, Zanny Minton Beddoes’ take on US mid-term outcome.

...

Mimicking the way they talk

Don’t feed its ego by speaking its name…

.

Leroy: It doesn’t matter what he does, they still support him. Why?

.

Rear-view mirror

Trevor: Well, he walks their walk. He talks their talk. He speaks their language.  As long as he stumbles on, blustering and lying, that’s a character they can relate to. Clearly, a lot of Americans are like that. It’s a persistent meme. You see them appearing on TV, talking just like him.

.

Leroy: So. Copying is the sincerest form of flattery?

.

Trevor: Yep. The triumph of the minority south of the median.

.

Leroy: The Republicans know they’re onto a good thing keeping him for now.

_______________

Voice-over

Is this a new formula for success in politics? American politics, anyway. The new norm is to say something like, ”Obama wasn’t born in the United States. Just saying.” Put it out there. And after lying, it’s OK to stumble and bluster incoherently because your supporters can relate to that. It’s how they talk too.

Persuasion is less to do with coherence, more to do with mirroring.

...

Donald Duck’s Mickey Mouse White House

Verbatim…

.

Mr. President who do you want to see running the Fed?

Quack

It is in my thinking, and I have a couple of other things in my thinking. People have no — most people have no idea how important that position is.  That position is actually — more — a lot of people get rid of the Fed. Take the Fed out.  That’s a very important position.  It’s also important psychotically.

.

Who do you think would be suitable?

Well, I’ve — I have looked at it very, very strongly. And pretty much, we can do almost what they’re getting. I — I think he is a tremendous person. I don’t know Senator Murray. I hear very, very good things.

.

If the top earners pay 80 percent of the taxes, why are you so afraid to cut taxes on the top earners?

Other people — well, it’s about me representing rich people. Very interesting to me Bob Kraft was down. He was very nice. He owns the Patriots. He gave me a Super Bowl ring a month ago. And he —

.

What’s your view on Iran and Europe?

I told them, just keep making money. Don’t worry about it. We don’t need you on this. You just keep making money. When Iran buys things from Germany and from France and from the various — by billions of dollars, even us, they were going to buy Boeings. I don’t know what's going to happen with the deal.

.

What have progress have you made against ISIS?

I have made more progress against ISIS in the last nine months than in the last eight years.

But Mr President, ISIS only started four or five years ago.

.

Voice-over

.

Confused, ignorant, dishonest. More than weird speech patterns. Psychotic?

...

Trump as a Mad Max metaphor: Immortan Joe and the War Boys

A mere movie villain?

.

Immortan Donald

George: Oh, that it were only so. But he’s not. He’s one of the Mad Max antiheroes like Immortan Joe. Trump's White House is a chaotically choreographed political satire. Unfortunately, in the real world.

.

Bill: There’s also something ominous about the gum-chewing, bull-necked supporters who cheer him on. Like an army of Caucasian Kim Jong Un clones clinging to a string of broken promises. Like the War Boys in Mad Max. Their support is hardly waning. He lies outrageously. And he can because his supporters know little of politics or economics. Groupthink. Did you see this picture in The Economist? You are what you drive.

You are what you drive...

.

George: And you become what you drive.

.

Bill: Of course, none of them will look in the mirror and see themselves as most of the rest of the world views them.

__________

Voice-over

The Economist Special Report on America Divided might help Trump supporters feel like they are winning. But the choice of photographs profiling those supporters is a clever underlying subplot identifying “Just who ARE these people?”

...