@tarotbird @mekkaokereke Give it ten years, and there will be a Netflix-style doc about Dana White (who is a bad boss, and treats his competitors as wholly disposable) in the same vein as the one they did on Vince McMahon. Trump's one true skill was in reimagining federal politics as pro wrestling, complete with faces, villains, kayfabe, works, the whole thing, and as a nation, we're eating it up.

@tarotbird @mekkaokereke Neil Hebert and Jon Cogburn published a book along these lines earlier this year, _Kayfabe Nation: Professional Wrestling, Donald Trump, and the New Cynicism_. It's free to read online, and there's also a paperback you can buy: https://punctumbooks.com/titles/kayfabe-nation-professional-wrestling-donald-trump-and-the-new-cynicism/.

@tarotbird @mekkaokereke Interesting you should mention that. A few years ago, there was a Ted Talk that argued American 24 hour news channels basically copied the TV pro wrestling formula in how they cover politics.

And who made this observation?

Eric Bischoff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2RCT6Li4UQ

(For those unfamiliar with him, Bischoff was a pro wrestling promoter in the 1990s. His main claim to fame is the main weekly show for the wrestling company he ran, WCW, managed to beat the WWE in the TV ratings for 83 consecutive weeks.)

And there's merit to the argument.

I mean think about how 24-hour news channels in the US present politics.

There's a clear hero and villain.

It doesn't matter if the crowd cheers or boos, as long as they react.

There's a conflict.

There's stakes.

There's long pieces to camera, where the talent puts their case to the audience in a way that will elicit a reaction.

There's commentators who explain the characters, storylines, and highlight why one protagonist is a heel and the other is a babyface.

(You could take the argument a step further and point out the algorithms on commercial social media apps serve to present politics in a very similar way.)

Now apply that formula for news and politics to an audience that already carries strong racial prejudices.

What you get is Fox News.

It's not by accident either.

If you have a 24-hour news channel that shows a news bulletin on the hour, and the most people will watch for is 60 minutes, unless a major news event is happening.

Present it as pro-wrestling-style news entertainment, and people will watch for hours.

And after 30-odd years, what you end up with is politicians like Trump, who basically act in public life like a pro wrestling character.

#wcw #WWE #EricBischoff #politics #FoxNews #wrestling #prowrestling #auspol #uspol

@tarotbird @mekkaokereke constitutional convention. Two different countries. That's the only plausible way out I see at this time. Has to be led by CA-NY-TX to work.