Democrats Need to Learn from Trump’s Reality TV Presence

Donald Trump has kept succeeding for a reason, and the reason isn’t so simple.

It seems logic-shaking that so many people could still support Donald Trump despite his appalling behavior and outrageousness.

I thought that way back in 2016, and now, I believe it makes complete sense — which is why liberals and Democrats should take Trump very, very seriously as a formidable foe that they did not see in 2016.

I voice this unpopular opinion among my predominantly liberal friends a lot, but Donald Trump is a very smart guy in ways that I can’t put into words. He is extremely manipulative. He knows how to get people’s attention, and then keep their attention, and he has built a cult-like following because of his intelligence.

For people who say Trump acts like a child and we should treat him like a child, we are discounting the fact that children are smart and intelligent, and can manipulate us easily to get what they want. Trump has mastered the art of reality TV, and we need to take a look at why reality TV and shows like “The Bachelor,” “Survivor,” and “The Apprentice” draw so much of our attention in the first place.

During the 2016 show and, some would argue, the entirety of Trump’s Presidency, we have been drawn into Trump’s personal reality TV show. James Poniewozik, TV critic at the ​New York Times,​ TV is deeply political, and the fact that Trump got so good at TV meant that he adjusted extremely well to the increasingly TV-like atmosphere of politics.

Poniewozik argues that the real Donald Trump doesn’t matter — but more so the character of Donald Trump who has been one of the most public, exhibitionist Americans who has ever lives. Since the 1970s, Trump made himself a tabloid name. He became a desired TV guest and media personality, had been ubiquitous in pop culture at the end of the ’80s, survived his business downfall in the ’90s, gone on ​​”​The Apprentice,” Trump would have never become an attractive guest on Fox News. He would have never captured the Republican base if he weren’t on Fox News, and he wouldn’t have been able to become the Republican candidate for President.

“[Trump] thinks like the medium of television, in that he’s all about excitement and provocation and what is entertaining and what will get attention,” Poniewozik says.

He notes that moderate Republicans like Mitt Romney and John McCain used to want enough of the power of Fox News to get themselves elected, but not enough to embrace the outrageous distastefulness of the platform. Trump, however, fully embraced the provocative, outrageous conspiracy theories.

From the get-go, Trump was never completely honest. He wasn’t always telling the truth, but viewers saw him as authentic because he said whatever was in his mind whenever he wanted to say it, and “he didn’t care whether it was false, or whether it was hurtful, or whether it was racist.” TV was the basis of Donald Trump’s success — he tried to be as exciting and provocative as possible, and few can doubt that he succeeded in that goal.

Trump understood very early on in the Republican primary that the debates weren’t the debates of the past, but reality TV competitions where you tried to establish yourself as the protagonist. The media bought wholeheartedly into Trump’s outrageousness, giving him $5 billion in free press. You can argue that a lot of the media didn’t take Trump very seriously and saw his outrageousness for ratings, but at the end of the day, many outlets simply just bought into Trump’s manipulation.

Poniewozik argues that candidates could learn that they also need to establish themselves as the protagonist, that they also need to realize that they are media stars who need media attention to survive. Obama navigated his status as a media star masterfully, weaving his personal life story into a larger narrative about the kind of America he wanted to create. Republicans called Obama a “celebrity candidate” for a reason, and Obama gave voters something a lot of candidates didn’t: a message, and a passionate one.

“Politics is a debate over what our national story is, and who has lead and supporting roles in it, and how to tell it. And that doesn’t just stop with one election, with one person not being president.”

​I believed Bernie Sanders effective in delivering that kind of vision and message as well. Bernie was authentic, honest, and said what he believed. Trump, outside the part about him being honest, was the same. For a reason that I might always fail to understand, people saw Trump as someone who was authentic and who they could trust. Both Trump and Bernie rejected the role and script of the typical politician.

I believe Biden has the potential of being an effective reality TV-star turned politician as well. Just because he “isn’t Trump” is not good enough. What makes Biden such a compelling candidate, to me? He is a grieving man, who spoke to survivors of the Sandy Hook massacre, consoled them, and related to them after his wife died and baby daughter died in a car accident in 1972, and his son died of a rare strain of brain cancer from the crash.

Joe Biden relates to the grieving in a way few politicians can. But in this story, Joe Biden resonates with the average American much more than the average politician can. Who hasn’t lost someone they loved? Who knows better than Biden, whose life was marred by personal tragedy, what it means to lose people you love?

I’m actually surprised that Biden and his campaign haven’t mentioned these life events, especially in light of negative press including a sexual assault allegation from Tara Reade. They’re the part of him that make him the most compelling and unique, not him being Obama’s Vice President, and not him being not Trump. According to Delaware Senator Chris Coons,

“Joe Biden has almost a superpower in his ability to comfort and listen and connect with people who have just suffered the greatest loss of their lives.”

​Reality TV stars often send the message that they’re normal, relatable people, according to Utpal Dholakia of ​Psychology Today. ​Despite how rich or famous they might be, they appear as normal humans who have the same thoughts and feelings to a lot of people. If you don’t recognize it, Donald Trump does not apologize. He just doubles down, attacks people that criticize him, and continues to engage in his outrageous and unacceptable behavior.

All of us probably know people like that, and, unfortunately, Trump capitalizes on that very human aspect.

Donald Trump has kept succeeding for a reason, and the reason isn’t so simple. Every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction, and to counter the reality TV force as great as Trump, Democrats need their own narrative and story.