Are you not entertained?
America’s state of the union is horrible and rapidly becoming much worse. President Trump is the ringmaster, master of ceremonies and star of this horrible spectacle.
In her newsletter, historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat highlights the central role that the spectacle plays for the autocrat-authoritarian: “Anyone who studies authoritarianism, a political system that depends on propaganda, corruption, machismo, and violence, is well acquainted with the parade of sociopaths, sycophants, petty and grand criminals, and zealots who flourish in lawless environments where the performance of power is everything and the leader is elevated to a semi-divinity. In authoritarian states, ridiculousness often competes with brutality for center stage.”
The sum effect of the spectacle that is the Age of Trump is to make the American people feel powerless, disoriented, confused, and that they lack any agency over their personal destiny(ies) and the direction of their country, as David Remnick writes in a new essay at The New Yorker:
It was one thing to anticipate this prolonged political moment; it has been, these past weeks, quite another to live it. Each day is its own fresh hell, bringing ever more outrageous news from an autocrat who revels in his contempt for the government he leads, for the foreign allies who deserve our support, and for the Constitution he is sworn to uphold. Since beginning his second term, six weeks ago, Donald Trump has commandeered public attention to such an extent that it is hard to recall that there was ever a time when an American President went about his first weeks in office in a frenzy of activity characterized not by threat, chaos, and corruption but by discipline, competence, and compassion.
Ultimately, the spectacle is not secondary or peripheral to Trump’s authoritarian strongman approach to leadership and politics (and his core personality), it is central to it.
For example, Trump recently invited Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy to the White House to sign a mineral rights agreement that would ostensibly help to guarantee Ukraine’s protection from future Russian aggression. Instead, Donald Trump and JD Vance publicly ambushed Zelenskyy and demanded that he show more public “appreciation”, i.e. beg Trump for America’s military assistance and other help. When Zelenskyy pushed back and refused to beg, the meeting ended without an agreement and he was told by Trump’s staff to leave the White House immediately. This came after several weeks where Trump, playing the role of professional wrestling heel and comedian, repeatedly attacked Zelenskyy with insults and mockery. The next day, Trump announced that the United States would “temporarily” cut off military assistance — which now includes sharing intelligence information — in an attempt to force Zelenskyy to negotiate “peace” on terms that would be very favorable to Putin and Russia.
Trump’s actions have been widely criticized as one of the low points in modern American history where “the greatest country on Earth” and “leader of the free world” is now de facto siding with Russia and other enemies of democracy and the West.
The Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy was supposed to be a carefully staged spectacle and media event that would be shown around the world as an example of Trump’s high dominance leadership and strongman approach to government in which he is never to be challenged and all, both friends and foes, are to eagerly submit.
“Media mistakes can be consequential,” media scholar David Altheide told Salon. “The recent dressing-down of Ukraine President Zelensky by President Trump and Vice-President Vance was a glitch on a media stage.”
The discussion was staged with TV cameras present to promote Donald Trump’s strong leadership for a cease fire in the Ukraine-Russia war, although the underlying aim was to further his quest for a Nobel Peace Prize. It was to be a ceremony and a victory for harsh political pressure in the guise of statesmanship. But sloppy handling and poor execution by the Trump White House production company did not anticipate a discussion and disagreement about the price of Trump’s version of a cease fire.
As Altheide notes, “the importance of media competence and agility is underscored by this debacle as well as President Trump’s recovery attempt. Not getting the performance he desired led him to impugn President Zelensky’s motives, ability, and gratitude.”
As compared to the debacle that was his meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump’s address to a Joint Session of Congress last week was an opportunity for Trump to revel in his power as president and leader of the American “spectocracy.” The New MAGA Order.
Trump’s speech was one of the longest in the history of the presidency. He received his narcissistic fuel from the adoring Republicans and other supporters and supplicants in the audience and in the media. He boasted and exaggerated about his “successes,” dissembled and lied, performed as “Donald Trump” the symbol and character, postured and threatened, and was and is the main character in a story of American carnage that he is writing and living in real-time.
And as usual, much of what Trump said was untrue. He didn’t, as he said, inherit an economic catastrophe from Biden. His claim that foreign countries had emptied their asylums into America was not true. And he massively overinflated the true tally of the billions of dollars the Biden administration gave to Ukraine.
While Trump is a hero to his supporters, many other Americans believe his policies will not make America great again but obliterate the values and mission that have built national greatness over generations.”
The grossly surreal nature of Trump’s speech (and this era) was encapsulated by his triumphant return to the Capitol and Congress. Four years earlier, Trump’s MAGA followers attacked the Capitol as part of his coup attempt, running amok, battling the police, smearing feces on the walls of that historic building and the heart of American democracy, waving a Confederate flag, carrying a huge White Christian cross like they were Crusaders from the European Middle Ages and erecting a gallows to execute Vice President Pence and the other “traitors.” On Tuesday night, many of the same Republican members of Congress who were literally hiding for their lives on Jan. 6 applauded Trump as a conquering hero and their champion.
Via email, David Altheide also shared this analysis of Donald Trump’s address to Congress and how Trump, again, demonstrated his mastery of propaganda and the spectacle:
President Trump’s nearly 100-minute speech to Congress was a campaign talk of slow talking points supported by dozens of lies. His slow and measured delivery was built around pauses for applause and affirmation of his presence. It was very good television. As linguist Professor John McWhorter noted nearly 8 years ago, Trump never leaves the casual talk mode when speaking more formally, perhaps because he never developed a more adult style and some basic sophistication in school. His casual style epitomizes the intersection of narcissism and linguistics. Stuck with a limited vocabulary, his attention-based style of speaking reinforces his proclaimed stature and knowledge. For example, his talk to Congress used the following words a lot: most (28), beautiful (17), big (13), nobody (8), and incredible (6). He also referred to former President Joe Biden 13 times, while disparaging Democrats 4 times.
Ironically, President Trump’s limited use of language in short repetitive sentences is also well-suited to digital social media that stress few words, little context, and resonate emotionally, often with visual support. This style lends itself to the major themes Trump stressed, including power, dominance, punishment and threat.
Altheide went deeper with these specifics:
Power was apparent in noting his successful election, “all 7 swing states,” and signing 100 executive orders, taking 400 executive actions.
Dominance appeared in insults to President Biden, former Vice-President Kamala Harris, and Senator Warren (‘Pocahontas’). He also stressed his dominance on issues associated with the ‘culture wars,’ e.g., DEI, LGBTQ+, ‘And our country will be woke no longer.’
Punishment was apparent in boasts about negative characterizing and deporting of migrants, and firing of federal workers (‘we have hundreds of thousands of federal workers who have not been showing up to work.’)
Finally, threat was a dominant theme, also related to firing workers, “And any federal bureaucrat who resists this change will be removed from office immediately. Because we are draining the swamp.” Most poignantly were threats to take back the Panama Canal and annex Greenland.
The upshot is that a typical “big,” “beautiful,” “never seen before,” “incredible” Trump performance was presented to obedient Republican supporters and a divided country, without a hint of reconciliation, or a positive legislative agenda —except for a tax break that will benefit wealthy people.
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What about the Democrats? They continued with their months of being a hapless, ineffective, and neutered opposition party. Rep. Al Green of Texas showed some fire as he protested and heckled Trump. The Sergeant-at-Arms ejected him. Other Democrats sat in silence or displayed placards that had the words “liar” or “false” on them. Some Democrats walked out during Trump’s speech. In the face of Trump’s will to unlimited power, the Democratic Party’s response was not inspiring, an ongoing theme since they were routed by Trump and his MAGA Republican Party last November.
How did the mainstream news media cover Trump’s address to Congress? It repeatedly used language such as “partisan” and “polarizing”. Those descriptions have been robbed of their meaning and now distort and minimize Trump and his allies’ attempts to end America’s multiracial pluralistic democracy.
In another example of media malpractice and normalizing of Trump and his MAGA anti-democracy movement, the New York Times described his speech to Congress as exemplifying “Game Show Flair” where “A child with cancer, the mother of a murder victim and a newly admitted student to an American military academy were given the spotlight during the president’s speech.” This is an example of exactly how not to report on President Trump. There is nothing harmless or “game show-like” about Trump’s aspirations and plans to become the country’s first autocrat and ruler for life.
Donald Trump has only been president for seven weeks. His shock and awe campaign has been devastatingly effective in inflicting trauma and uncertainty on the American people, pushing the country closer to economic disaster, undermining the country’s democratic norms and institutions, making a mockery of the rule of law, destabilizing the international order and empowering Putin and Russia and other malign actors and enemies of democracy and freedom, and in total pushing the United States much closer to a state of competitive authoritarianism or outright fascism.
Echoing my warnings, Thomas Edsall explains how these are the good times compared to what comes next:
Assuming that the past six weeks are predictive of what’s next, expect an age of anxiety; expect the elimination of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of jobs; expect the decimation of liberal institutions to go on for all four years of Trump’s second term; expect government services to deteriorate; expect reduced funding of the safety net; and expect more homelessness, hunger and disease. Expect poverty; expect the financial starvation of universities and of nongovernmental organizations; and expect unannounced raids, unreliable data and an America increasingly aligned with authoritarians worldwide. Expect a pervasive climate of suspicion and a preoccupation with revenge. Expect more suffering, more fear, less security and less happiness.
In other words, expect the worst.
This is not sustainable. Like individuals, societies have limits and can be pushed towards a state of psychological, emotional, psychic, spiritual and physical collapse.
During his address to Congress, Trump bragged and threatened that his administration “is just getting started.” Always believe the autocrat-authoritarian. They mean what they say both literally and figuratively.
What will America look like 30 days from now? Six months from now? A year in the future? I shudder at the very thought of this New MAGA America. But one thing is almost certain, Trump’s spectacle and theater of pain and domination will only get worse — much, much worse.
Read more
about Trump’s first month in office