Donald Trump will be indicted for a second time today. Michael Harris isn't convinced that he'll ever face justice. To begin with, a judge who twice ruled in Trump's favour -- until she was reversed by a higher court -- will preside over the trial. But there is something else -- what Harris calls The Bonnie and Clyde Factor:
U.S. culture is steeped in romanticizing, if not glorifying, the bandit, the bad guy, and the outlaw.
Jesse James got a TV series; Growing up Gotti, based on the offspring of notorious Mafia boss John Gotti, became a reality TV show; the Godfather and its sequel made over $500 million; John Dillinger, once America’s most wanted gangster, has his own museum in Indiana; according to the New York Times, a photograph of William Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, was bought at a flea market for ten dollars. The paper reported that the image of the legendary outlaw could be worth millions.
What do Americans find so irresistible about gunslingers, mobsters, and bank-robbers?
Could it be the notion that these outlaws are somehow freer than the rest of us, like the drug dealing bikers in Easy Rider? They don’t obey the normal rules, and they don’t come when called. They are a law unto themselves, and perhaps they remind a lot of people how timidly they have lived in harness to the usual conventions.
Could that be why Donald Trump’s popularity went up after he was indicted in New York?
A lot of Americans just don’t want Donny the Kid, their outlaw politician and bad-boy billionaire, to be caught.
Something to think about.
Image: The New Yorker
13 comments:
Harris could be on to something here. I would go further into the rabbit hole of glorifying and rewarding obvious hucksters. Millions of people living paycheque to paycheque don't hesitate to send him money whenever he asks- Trump is in tune with this and that's why he keeps on with it. The more outrageous he gets, the more $$ they send him. Compare and contrast to the evangelical preachers who've all gotten rich of stupid people. At the end of the day, Trump only succeeds by having a following, that's his oxygen and keeps his bottomless narcissism fed, not to mention the media who reports 24/7 on his every move. Trump will not go away until he dies and even dead, he may still win the electoral college. BC Watervoy
Trump has figured out who to profit grandly from stupid people, waterboy. He will not change.
I was incredulous in 2015/16 as tRump tap-danced to power.
I soon faced reality and predicted his win well ahead of the election.
At this point I'm 50/50 on his 2024 chances.
'a republic, if you can keep it'
This was exactly the kind of test Ben Franklin had in mind, PoV.
I saw a comment yesterday by an Italian woman on the death of Berlusconi, Owen. She said she will miss him, as he made politics exciting, better than anything on Netflix. I do wonder if the American people have developed the same addiction to Trump's shenanigans. Given their generally low intelligence, it would seem he provides a distraction and fulfillment for their empty lives.
Trump and Berlusconi were made for television and they know how to use it, Lorne. As Newton Minnow -- the former head of the Federal Communication Commission -- reminded us decades ago, commercial television is a "wasteland."
What you all are describing is the best show in town. Think of gladiator sports including throwing Christians to the lions, burning heretics or witches at the stake, decapitations, Hitler rallies; all well attended. Trump follows a long tradition.
It is a long tradition, Toby, going back to the Roman circuses. And, like Nero, Trump intends to burn the whole thing down.
I think Trump follows more the tradition of the flimflam drummers, marketers of religiosity and crooked politicians who spread out across America in the wake its military conquest of its half of the continent. The country owes a great deal of its exceptionalism to them. Who doesn't have a respectful soft spot for Elmer Gantry and the Music Man?
Harold Hill was portrayed as basically harmless, John. Elmer Gantry ended his story where he began. Con men -- real con men -- are the source of a lot of destruction.
What about the popularity of the Sopranos? I have my opinions....AN
It would appear that Americans are attracted to bad guys as moths are attracted to flames, AN.
An interesting piece, TB. Only Americans could believe that living in a trailer park in Florida is paradise.
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