Why Are We Surprised?
Reality TV and Politics
The TV bloviators are obsessed with the Twitter Fight over the wives of Trump and Cruz. But from Trump’s point of view, the only way you stay in the super-market tabloids on a reality show is by starting a feud. Trump understood from the get go that he can play the various TV networks for suckers only if he can keep the Reality Show called “Election 2016” interesting enough for the ratings to keep climbing. CBS CEO Les Moonves crows, “Donald Trump may not be good for America, but he’s good for CBS.” The networks donate $1.3 billion of free time to Trump’s campaign by covering every rally, press conference or Twitter Feud.
Trump long ago realized this was Wrestlemania, not a boxing match. There are no rules. You kick your opponent in the balls, you throw him out of the ring, you start a feud. Ted Cruz is just the sap in this shadow play. He’s Gorgeous George who’s going to get his hair pulled when the ref isn’t looking.
But without the complicity of the media, who have become instantly addicted to the increased ad dollars Trump brings as Jim Gutenberg reports, none of this would be in our view. In our consciousness.
Understandably, Jeff Zucker, the president of CNN Worldwide, was beaming when I saw him at a lunch with other reporters last week. “These numbers are crazy — crazy,” he said, referring to the ratings. How crazy? Two-hundred-thousand-dollars-per-30-second-spot crazy on debate nights, 40 times what CNN makes on an average night, according to Advertising Age. That’s found money.
Trump could have never harvested the fruit of hatred and xenophobia without Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Fox News sewing the seeds for the past eight years. Ironically, Fox is now the most responsible of the Networks in not giving Trump hours of free time. MSNBC and CNN are total Trump addicts. The synthesis of Politics and Entertainment which may have been birthed in John and Jacqueline Kennedy’s White House, has now grown beyond all imagination. Les Moonves, Jeff Zucker, Larry Page and Mark Zuckerberg may be celebrating, but none of them are sure where this may lead.
It may lead to the end of our Democracy.
