Trump the presidency: did it all start with The West Wing?
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There are many views on why Donald Trump won the election.
The triumph of Brexit sentiment in America. A hostile takeover of the Republican Party and victory for the first independent president.
The failure of the Clinton imperative and Barack Obama's political movement and legacy.
But for all the explanations for the Trump upheaval, there remains a nagging question.
It is not about Trump's pedigree: his political identity contains many slivers of American extremism and radicalism: Huey Long, Charles Lindbergh, Joe McCarthy, George Wallace, Barry Goldwater, Pat Buchanan, H. Ross Perot. In this mix lies the demagoguery, the racism, the isolationism, the protectionism, the pugilism, the crony capitalism that defines Trump.
The nagging question about Trump is not about his psychological infirmities – the narcissism and grandiosity which have been seriously assayed – and which learned medical practitioners will assess in books yet to be written.
The nagging question about this man is: how has he been able to persist in a parallel universe in which the normal laws of political gravity do not apply? Where he can say and do the most outrageous and unacceptable things and not be driven from the race? (As a contrast, can you image what would have happened if, in 2008, Senator Barack Obama had said at a political rally where some were demonstrating against him, "I want to punch that guy in the face?" He would have been called an uppity racial epithet and been driven from the race within a day. Does anyone doubt Obama would not have survived the sex talk tape?)
Trump committed these political atrocities all the time – and lived. To his tens of millions of supporters, they did not undercut his legitimacy as a presidential candidate.
Why is that?
An explanation may well lie in our entertainment culture. In fact, as Trump prepares to enter the West Wing, it may be said that the Trump problem we face began with The West Wing.
Aaron Sorkin's magisterial fictional creation of a modern American presidency brought home to tens of millions a demystified – but heroic – White House.
It showed us inside the Oval and the Situation Room, the Lincoln Bedroom and Air Force One, the limo and Camp David, and displayed all the high-intensity people and their purposes, and the toys that make the functioning of the modern presidency possible.
It was wildly popular, and has spawned other shows that have also brought to hundreds of millions of more people, over two decades, the reality television view of Washington: Scandal, State of Affairs, Commander in Chief, Madam Secretary, VEEP, Homeland, 24 … and House of Cards.
The theory posited here is that "Donald Trump: the presidency" is and reflects this decline – that the Trump candidacy is the bastard descendant of The West Wing.
Specifically, that if a real-life candidate appears, with cunning theatrical skills, who has all the presidential accoutrements – the airplane, the chopper, the entourage, the luxury playgrounds, the command over media and television networks, the omnipresence in commentary and analysis – that by having all these stylistic elements of presidential power, millions of people can indeed see - because they have seen it for years on television – and not just heroic versions of the presidency but revolting and perverted depictions of the presidency, such as in House of Cards – that yes, that man Trump could be President of the United States.
Who among the Trumpian masses today can know that a Frank Underwood would never make it to the White House?
The primal intersection of the Trump parallel universe with the real-world presidential campaign was the "birther" moment in 2011, when the Trump helicopter landed in New Hampshire (gee, looks just like Marine One landing at Camp David! And with breathless wall-to-wall live cable TV coverage of the event!) and Trump took credit for the release of President Obama's birth certificate. From that moment in New Hampshire, he – and we – were truly off to the races.
And five years later, Trump showed no contrition, made no apology, for this racist canard designed purely to undercut the legitimacy, for Trump's supporters, of the first African-American president. And to the very end, Trump lied about a tie between the "issue" and Hillary Clinton – that she started it! – a lie he used to justify his original pursuit of the "issue."
In September, the Washington Post was told by Leonard Steinhorn, a professor at American University who is teaching a course on communications and the election:
"He had a lifetime of experience with TV, and he understands the power of the medium in a way that many presidents have not. Donald Trump set out in this campaign to dominate the [TV] experience, to keep people glued in and to define the parameters of how we all experience this election."
The context, the echo chamber, for today's Trump reality show is a rich cinematic library. In addition to the TV series, we are seeing this man through the lens of a panoply of motion pictures whose actors exhibit presidential virtues as they endear us to them, save the country, and sometimes the planet: The American President, Air Force One, Independence Day, Deep Impact, Primary Colors, Dave, In the Line of Fire, White House Down.
To be sure, day-to-day we see the real-world White House for what it is. But as we are seeing it, we are seeing it through the lens of our entertainment culture.
What does everyone say after they see – or survive – a terrible, violent tragedy in real life, such as a terror attack, a building exploding, a bridge collapse, an airplane crash? "It was just like a movie." No, it was just like real life.
So the issue is not just that the Trump candidacy resembles a reality television show, something President Obama strenuously called to account in May:
"This is a serious job. This is not entertainment, this is not a reality show. This is a contest for the presidency of the United States. What that means is every candidate, every nominee needs to be subject to ... exacting standards of genuine scrutiny."
The answer to the nagging question of Trump and why he has gotten this far, and won the election to become the 45th president, is that America's entertainment culture, in the way it portrays the presidency, works to legitimise even a Donald Trump as a serious contender for the highest office in the land.
As Obama's former speechwriter Jon Favreau told the New York Times in September:
"I worry that if those of us in politics and the media don't do a lot of soul-searching in this election, a slightly smarter Trump will succeed in the future. For some politicians and consultants, the takeaway from this election will be that they can get away with almost anything."
Unfortunately for us, the future is now, and Trump was just smart enough.
Trump's secret to success is not simply being identified with celebrity.
Presidents have associated with Hollywood and entertainment since motion pictures were born. Kennedy hung out with Marilyn Monroe, Peter Lawford, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. Ronald Reagan was close with Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Jimmy Stewart and dozens of Hollywood moguls and powerbrokers. Clinton with Streisand and Sheryl Crow. Obama with Beyoncé, Oprah, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney and so many more.
The issue is not presidential candidates and celebrity. The issue is not reality television. The issue is a culture that has corrupted our view of politics to such a point that over 60 million Americans could not distinguish between the virtues of a Trump and a Clinton.
That is our problem.
What's the answer? Aaron Sorkin's team knew what to do. In September, the cast of The West Wing campaigned for Hillary in Ohio. Thank you, President Bartlet!
Surely, we thought, you will prevail again so that your successor in the Oval Office is worthy of the job and the trust of the American people. A key swing state swayed by the cast of The West Wing. A cultural legacy redeemed.
But not this year. Ohio went big for Trump.
Bruce Wolpe was on the Democratic staff in Congress in President Obama's first term. He supported Hillary Clinton's campaign. He is chief of staff to former Prime Minister Julia Gillard. The views posted here are solely and exclusively his own. This is adapted from correspondence to The Quarterly magazine.
Topics: world-politics, television-broadcasting, united-states
