Reality Show Politics
Love him or despise him you have to admit Donald Trump is a larger than life character, a law unto himself; before he became President in 2016 he changed parties five times; launching his first campaign for President – back in 2000 – on CNN he told Larry King, ‘I hate, hate abortion but I’m pro-choice…I’m very conservative but very liberal on health care and other issues.’
Marching on, Trump became a reality TV superstar; a woman who worked beside him on The Apprentice, praising him, said reality TV hinged on two cornerstones: ‘Tension and conflict’ and Trump got it.
Over a decade later marching onto a debate stage, facing Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz, Trump spawned reality TV politics; months later as he battled Cruz in the final primaries David Pecker, Trump’s ally, owner of The National Enquirer, emailed Michael Cohen – Trump’s lawyer – a mock-up of a story.
Cohen stared at a grainy photograph beneath a headline – Ted Cruz’s Dad Tied to JFK Murder Plot – asked if the man standing beside Lee Harvey Oswald in the photo was Rafael Cruz. Pecker said:
“Does it matter? All we have to do is allege it is.”
Cohen walked down the hall into Trump’s office, handed Trump the story; Trump laughed, Pecker published the story, Trump told Fox News Ted Cruz’s father was with Oswald before Kennedy was assassinated – a fiction roared across the internet.
That fall, as Trump battled Hillary, Pecker called again…said the name Stormy Daniels. Years earlier Trump had gotten Pecker to pay playboy centerfold Karen McDougal $150,000 to buy her silence; after the smoke cleared, Trump didn’t repay Pecker – so this time Cohen asked Trump CEO Allen Weisselberg to put up $130,000 to pay Daniels; Weisselberg said no, Cohen paid Daniels himself, after the election, according to Cohen, Trump tried not to repay him.
Politics has always been a brutal world, tottering along, but in the old days lies, lethal toxins, blew up in candidates’ faces. Those days are past. When Trump steps onto stage at a rally, purses his lips, old men who years ago told their children, Don’t lie, cheer lies…it’s the harvest reaped from Trump’s reality show politics.
Reality Show Politics
Love him or despise him you have to admit Donald Trump is a larger than life character, a law unto himself; before he became President in 2016 he changed parties five times; launching his first campaign for President – back in 2000 – on CNN he told Larry King, ‘I hate, hate abortion but I’m pro-choice…I’m very conservative but very liberal on health care and other issues.’
Marching on, Trump became a reality TV superstar; a woman who worked beside him on The Apprentice, praising him, said reality TV hinged on two cornerstones: ‘Tension and conflict’ and Trump got it.
Over a decade later marching onto a debate stage, facing Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz, Trump spawned reality TV politics; months later as he battled Cruz in the final primaries David Pecker, Trump’s ally, owner of The National Enquirer, emailed Michael Cohen – Trump’s lawyer – a mock-up of a story.
Cohen stared at a grainy photograph beneath a headline – Ted Cruz’s Dad Tied to JFK Murder Plot – asked if the man standing beside Lee Harvey Oswald in the photo was Rafael Cruz. Pecker said:
“Does it matter? All we have to do is allege it is.”
Cohen walked down the hall into Trump’s office, handed Trump the story; Trump laughed, Pecker published the story, Trump told Fox News Ted Cruz’s father was with Oswald before Kennedy was assassinated – a fiction roared across the internet.
That fall, as Trump battled Hillary, Pecker called again…said the name Stormy Daniels. Years earlier Trump had gotten Pecker to pay playboy centerfold Karen McDougal $150,000 to buy her silence; after the smoke cleared, Trump didn’t repay Pecker – so this time Cohen asked Trump CEO Allen Weisselberg to put up $130,000 to pay Daniels; Weisselberg said no, Cohen paid Daniels himself, after the election, according to Cohen, Trump tried not to repay him.
Politics has always been a brutal world, tottering along, but in the old days lies, lethal toxins, blew up in candidates’ faces. Those days are past. When Trump steps onto stage at a rally, purses his lips, old men who years ago told their children, Don’t lie, cheer lies…it’s the harvest reaped from Trump’s reality show politics.