TRUMP 2.0, THE REALITY TV SHOW

Anybody who has ever worked in television (or watched it) will instantly recognise Trump 2.0 for what it is: a reality TV show.

Season Two opened with an all-day broadcast on January 20, starting with the inauguration, moved inside to the Capitol Rotunda, which was transformed into a shiny-floor TV studio. The set dressers placed Trump’s fawning tech bros (the ‘broligarchy’) in front of his prospective cabinet members, alongside his family and camp followers.

As is his want, Trump then tap danced to his audience, which, clearly, he imagines as America’s TV and streaming audience and where he sees success as victory in the ‘ratings’:

“America will be respected again and admired again, including by people of religion, faith, and goodwill. We will be prosperous, we will be proud, we will be strong, and we will win like never before.”

After the inauguration, the show switched to official luncheons, then to live public signings of his executive orders. On Day One, Trump managed to scratch his name on 26 Executive Orders, almost three times more than the previous record (nine, by Joe Biden in 2020). Many of these orders have been immediately challenged in courts across the land because they exceed presidential powers.

The tech bros have paid millions, some of them billions, to join this show. How long it will take them to realise that the show exists solely to promote and make money for its host, ‘The Presenter of the United States’. How long before, one by one, they bail as their conflicting interests clash with Trump’s aims.

The next questions will be how long it takes for the audience to realise they’ve been scammed yet again by the old stager.

The show’s promos promised everything from ending the war in Ukraine (firstly, even before he took office, then the day after, now within 100 days), lowering the cost of US petrol to $US2 a gallon (“drill baby, drill”), halving car insurance, imposing tariffs on Canadian, Mexican and Chinese imports, closing the border with Mexico, lowering US food prices (originally on Day One, now “it’s very hard”), and slashing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (affecting one third of the US population, that’s a lot of voters).

It's going to get harder and harder for a 78-year old to keep tap dancing when the show’s ‘reality’ kicks in.