Imagine a man. A narcissist. A man with what Rush Limbaugh describes as a “healthy ego”. Imagine that ego alone makes up the character of this man. Imagine he is a businessman and among his successes (amid many well-documented failures) was a “reality” television empire. Imagine that he now considers himself to be a media genius. Imagine he has an idea to propel his celebrity into media legacy. Imagine a spectacle so absurd and ridiculous it is impossible to look away.Imagine announcing a Presidential campaign by demonizing an entire group as criminals, rapists and murderers. Imagine the political risks of such a move. Now imagine the appeal to viewers of something so blatantly and publicly xenophobic. Imagine the political risks of a fraud investigation in the midst of a campaign. Imagine exacerbating the risk by focusing public attention on the legal battle by declaring a judge incompetent based on his ethnicity. Now imagine the appeal to viewers. Imagine the political risks of eschewing values of religious liberty by calling for a ban of all Muslims from entering the country. Now imagine the appeal to viewers. Imagine the political risks of cozying up to white supremacists and bigots like David Duke, eliciting their endorsement. Now imagine the appeal to viewers. Imagine the political risks of making the statement that you could murder someone in broad daylight and still poll well. Now imagine the appeal to viewers. Imagine the political risks of vowing to abandon NATO allies and giving Putin an A-rating as a leader. Now imagine the appeal to viewers. Imagine the political risks of shafting veterans out of money you claimed to raise for them. Now imagine the appeal to viewers. Imagine the political risks of a ludicrously plagiarized convention speech. Now imagine the appeal to viewers. Imagine the political risks of exhibiting a naive and dangerous lack of of understanding about the use of nuclear weapons. Now imagine the appeal to viewers. Imagine the political risks of continually reinforcing the characterization of him as a thin-skinned lunatic. Now imagine the appeal to viewers. Imagine….
Of course, this is a conspiracy theory. Why would he spend all this money self-funding a campaign to win a “reality” television show? Except he only loaned campaign financing to his campaign, which in turn spent much of that money in his business interests. Won’t his brittle ego suffer from the rejection of a lost Presidential bid? Hypothetically, a man who is baited by a tweet to bloviating attacks would be devastated. But HIS loss won’t be a loss. His loss will be the result of a rigged system that stood in his way all along. What about the very real impact of a political sham like this? It would matter little to someone who cannot see beyond his own interests.
The spectacle of the 2016 Presidential race is ridiculous and absurd. It’s worthy of a place at the very top of the heap of “reality” television. That bar is very low indeed.