Posted on 07/22/2015 3:35:54 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” the protagonist, Willy Loman, goes to the office of his boss, Howard Wagner, hoping for a promotion. Instead he essentially hears two of the most chilling words in the American lexicon: “You’re fired.”
The antagonist of that great stage classic is now embodied in the billionaire Donald Trump, who has stirred up the presidential race in ways that have made him a folk hero to a large segment of the Republican Party and a clown and fake to millions of others.
“The irony is that Trump, because of his presence in the country’s imagination as the ‘You’re Fired’ guy, has been performing the role of the Destroyer in the quintessential American dream play,’” said Sherry Kramer, a playwright who teaches her craft at Bennington College. “So it’s kind of wacky that he is now the container of the American Dream. In this country, anyone who makes a lot of money is perceived to be more authentic and smarter in some vital way. He has slipped into an existing narrative that some people find irresistible.”
Whatever one thinks of Trump, added Kramer, he is “great theater.” And that is why he has been generating headlines and boosting ratings for news programs even if, at the same time, pundits are decrying his trivialization of the political game.
“He appeals to people the way theater does, as an artificial construct,” said Kramer. “He’s a persona performing the role of a presidential candidate. A lot of his power consists of telling people what they want to hear about themselves.”
As an entertainer, Trump is part Hulk Hogan and part Dame Edna Everage, the Australian drag artiste who has a viperish personality and look to go with it. In his braggadocio, the billionaire businessman is like a wrestler who enters the ring, praising himself as “the greatest” while insulting his opponents as “losers” (or Willy Lomans). Dame Edna, the popular persona of actor Barry Humphries, has visual markers — the lavender-hued bouffant hair and rhinestone-rimmed glasses — which are the emblems of any great performance artist.
Trump’s visual marker, noted Kramer, is his hair. And his stock-in-trade meanness is most essential to his image. Referring to the billionaire’s much-remarked-upon comb-over, the playwright said, “He is clearly always in ‘costume.’ It’s the hair. He doesn’t look like anybody else. And, like Dame Edna, he’s very mean. There have been studies which posit that if someone is either negative or nasty in an essay, people tend to rank them as having a higher intelligence than someone who is positive. Mean is smart. Mean is true.”
Little wonder then that Trump is managing to attract crowds. As Bob Kerrey, the former Nebraska senator and US Navy SEAL, recently told Frank Bruni of the New York Times, “Yeah, 5,000 people showed up at your event. I could get 5,000 people to show up at the bearded lady. [Trump] is, in his way, a freak show.”
If a politician is not an actor I don’t know who would be, many other traits they need but performing on stage is certainly one of them. And Bob Kerry is embarrassing.
I’d pity his enemies if he ever became President. He’s not the type to let things slide.
I can imagine his first week in office saying something like “You know... I just got passed the files the former administration has been using to blackmail people.
Would you believe that they’ve been blackmailing Lindsey Graham for hiring male prostitutes?”
Every single person, who met Donald one on one, comes away liking him. The other day I was channel flipping and tuned into Last Word by Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC. I was simply shocked to hear his monologue. He basically said, he hates what Trump stands for (Lawrence is unabashedly liberal) but when he was on leave from job due to health problem, Trump got in touch with him and wished him a speedy recovery. Lawrence admitted, he was going to disappoint all his viewers by saying “I actually like him as a person”!
Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, Sean Hannity, Greta, etc have all met Donald one on one and came away feeling his warmth as a friend and human being.
Now of course Rick Perry is his direct rival and stands 10th in polls. If Kasich gains slight traction, Perry could slide to 11th and be out of the debates. So Perry picks a fight with Trump, hoping that will somehow enhance his standing. It will not be a boring debate on Fox.
Oh how I do. Love Trump....he has this families votes.
It’ll give the political cartoonists something to fixate on like they do on Obama’s Dumbo sized ears and Kerry’s horse face. Not to worry. OTOH Madame Canckles is untouchable.
Remember Doc in Back to the future? He sees a camcorder and says a portable television station! no wonder the President is an actor.
The lame stream media would have you believe that Trump is a freak show. Little do they realize that what Trump is about is a deadly serious shoot out with established political elites. I watch because I want to see him stick it to the elitists at every opportunity. It has been a long walk through the desert.
Only a leftist would call Death of a Salesman that. It's actually the quintessential anti-American Dream play, written by a leftie and mocking the idea of middle-class success as a literal dead end.
“A lot of his power consists of telling people what they want to hear about themselves.”
No you fools, I like what he says about the ISSUES that are vital for the survival of this nation. These people are ransacking the Alinksy play book trying to come up with a more cunning angle that no one else has thought of.
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