The presidential election is just weeks away and so many pundits and journalists are piling on Donald Trump. He’s a felon, they say. He’s a racist. He’s a threat to democracy. He’s a bad dancer. But they don’t understand him. They aren’t giving him enough credit for his astonishing accomplishments.
Donald Trump is one of the longest-running shows in American entertainment history. He has played the role of the self-made billionaire. He has portrayed himself as highly intelligent, witty, a masterful deal maker with encyclopedic knowledge of world events and great hair. He’s handsome, charming and beloved of women everywhere. His crowds are the biggest. His buildings are the biggest. He’s the best at everything.
None of those things is true, of course. But it is so unfair to call Trump a liar. Was Marlon Brando a liar in his role in The Godfather? Was Tom Hanks a phony for playing Forest Gump? Do we hold it against Michael Keaton for portraying himself as Beetlejuice? Look at the Broadway shows of the 1970’s: Cats, Guys and Dolls, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Where are they now? But The Trump Show is still going strong.
Donald Trump has successfully created the role of Donald Trump and has managed to convince millions of Americans that the character is a real person. How many Hollywood actors could do that? It’s ironic (if frightening) that soon many voters will cast their ballots for Donald Trump although Donald Trump, the candidate is purely fictional.
Trump is running for “re-election” but, in fact, he never really was the president. He famously sauntered into the Oval Office most days around 10:30 or so, watched TV, drank Diet Coke, played some golf. He went to parties and talked on the phone and tried to get people to send him money. You know, the same thing any actor does, waiting for his next performance.
But unlike most actors, Trump never rehearsed. When a reporter asked him a question, he would wing it. “They’re eating the dogs! They’re eating the cats!” If you never had an opinion about Haitian immigrants before, now you do. Democrats want to ban red meat, Trump declared to an astonished Atlanta audience in August. “You know that means?” (We have to eat cats now?) “That means no more cows!” Oh, no! Trump suddenly grew sentimental. “I love cows,” he said. “They want to kill our cows!” Donald Trump has cows? Well, not really. Folks in Montana have an expression for the kind of rancher Trump is: “All hat and no cattle.”
Trump says the craziest things. You send your son off to school and he comes home a girl! What is our country coming to? The brutal Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was “a day of love.” Immigrants are poisoning our blood. He may not mean any of it, but he loves hearing that applause. If Trump manages to get re-elected, he’ll spend his days selling fake merchandise like his NFT trading cards and $100,000 watches (that only exist on paper). Meanwhile the real power brokers like Steve Bannon and Mike Flynn will be free to transform America into a fascist Apocalypse. But don’t blame Donald Trump. He’s not the president. He just plays one on TV.