The map devours the territory
June 23, 2017 1:11 AM Subscribe
It's odd, I recently purchased some used books from the nineties dealing with cultural issues, but unrelated to anything Trump was doing, but each of the books refers to Trump at some point in an offhand, mocking manner. I was of course aware of Trump at the time and his bizarre fame, but only now do I notice how indelible his persona has been on the culture for all these many years. It's a little like finding out some unusual personal mannerisms one had were all along signs of some horrible congenital illness which you never bothered to have looked at until the disease was fully malignant and diagnosed as incurable.
posted by gusottertrout at 2:08 AM on June 23, 2017 [29 favorites]
posted by gusottertrout at 2:08 AM on June 23, 2017 [29 favorites]
Trumps in the 90s? If you have never read Vanity Fair's 1990 dissection of the Donald/Ivanka divorce, you don't have the magic key to unlocking the horror.
posted by hippybear at 2:13 AM on June 23, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 2:13 AM on June 23, 2017 [9 favorites]
I remember visiting NYC for the first time in -86 or -87 and already then Trump was a huge joke. Well, I guess the joke's on us now. But it's a good point in the article that there is no there, there. Trump is already a parody of himself and the impersonator needs to dial down on the absurdity rather than exaggerate the mannerisms and obscene phrases.
Also, that for this very reason, that parodies of Trump risk softening his image. They cannot show the mean spirit under the bumbling facade, the racism, the sexism, the hate towards those who are smarter and handsomer and richer than himself, the endless threats and litigation against opponents, the mob-methods, the disregard for fellow humans including his own family (Ivanka excepted), because if the impersonator includes all of this, the audience will be revolted.
posted by mumimor at 4:10 AM on June 23, 2017 [11 favorites]
Also, that for this very reason, that parodies of Trump risk softening his image. They cannot show the mean spirit under the bumbling facade, the racism, the sexism, the hate towards those who are smarter and handsomer and richer than himself, the endless threats and litigation against opponents, the mob-methods, the disregard for fellow humans including his own family (Ivanka excepted), because if the impersonator includes all of this, the audience will be revolted.
posted by mumimor at 4:10 AM on June 23, 2017 [11 favorites]
It's a little like finding out some unusual personal mannerisms one had were all along signs of some horrible congenital illness which you never bothered to have looked at until the disease was fully malignant and diagnosed as incurable
Or like waking to discover that unsightly pimple has turned into a second head. (Cf. How To Get Ahead In Advertising.)
The first time I recall actually being conscious of the short-fingered vulgarian was shortly after Shart Of The Deal was published. On a flight back from the UK a guy next to me was reading it and I rolled my eyes at him all the way across the Atlantic.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:20 AM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Or like waking to discover that unsightly pimple has turned into a second head. (Cf. How To Get Ahead In Advertising.)
The first time I recall actually being conscious of the short-fingered vulgarian was shortly after Shart Of The Deal was published. On a flight back from the UK a guy next to me was reading it and I rolled my eyes at him all the way across the Atlantic.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:20 AM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also, that for this very reason, that parodies of Trump risk softening his image.
Yes and no, maybe. Despite regaining a modicum of respectability near the end of life, Nixon remained and remains "a crook," possibly in large part because of all the parodies.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:24 AM on June 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
Yes and no, maybe. Despite regaining a modicum of respectability near the end of life, Nixon remained and remains "a crook," possibly in large part because of all the parodies.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:24 AM on June 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
Donald/Ivanka divorce
I read the same sentence three times before I realized what was wrong with it.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:27 AM on June 23, 2017 [8 favorites]
I read the same sentence three times before I realized what was wrong with it.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:27 AM on June 23, 2017 [8 favorites]
Also, that for this very reason, that parodies of Trump risk softening his image.
Indirectly, perhaps. The parodies might feed the idea that Donald is being persecuted, and that reinforces the tribalism that supports him.
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:40 AM on June 23, 2017
Indirectly, perhaps. The parodies might feed the idea that Donald is being persecuted, and that reinforces the tribalism that supports him.
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:40 AM on June 23, 2017
From that Grauniad long read...
posted by Mister Bijou at 7:47 AM on June 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
Under this new dispensation, celebrities emerged as the unpredictable “real-life” stars of a never-ending show unfolding in real time. Thirty years later, Americans remain so compelled by the power of celebrity to make life feel entertaining and meaningful that we are thrilled by the mere facsimile of a famous person, so long as he conveys a hint of the same magic.Celebrity culture? Sounds kind of familar. Ah, yes, The Society of the Spectacle. Most especially, Guy Debord's thesis 60.
posted by Mister Bijou at 7:47 AM on June 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
I was of course aware of Trump at the time and his bizarre fame, but only now do I notice how indelible his persona has been on the culture for all these many years
Not sure why, but I just had an intense flashback to the horrified fascination I felt as a small child when I found out just how bad the white gunk I could scrape out from under the corners of my toenails made my finger smell.
posted by flabdablet at 10:48 AM on June 23, 2017
Not sure why, but I just had an intense flashback to the horrified fascination I felt as a small child when I found out just how bad the white gunk I could scrape out from under the corners of my toenails made my finger smell.
posted by flabdablet at 10:48 AM on June 23, 2017
actually being conscious of the short-fingered vulgarian
It has recently come to my attention that his birthday just managed to slip by without my having noticed it.
The satisfaction of that small personal win was tempered by the realization that I had missed my chance to send the man a care package of half-sized fidget spinners. Ah well. Next year.
posted by flabdablet at 10:52 AM on June 23, 2017
It has recently come to my attention that his birthday just managed to slip by without my having noticed it.
The satisfaction of that small personal win was tempered by the realization that I had missed my chance to send the man a care package of half-sized fidget spinners. Ah well. Next year.
posted by flabdablet at 10:52 AM on June 23, 2017
It's odd, I recently purchased some used books from the nineties dealing with cultural issues, but unrelated to anything Trump was doing, but each of the books refers to Trump at some point in an offhand, mocking manner. I was of course aware of Trump at the time and his bizarre fame, but only now do I notice how indelible his persona has been on the culture for all these many years.
I was watching an old Rage Against the Machine video the other day, and caught a crowd shot with a guy waving a "Donald J. Trump for President" sign, which I think would be from his 2000 campaign on the Reform Party ticket, a thing I had completely forgotten about.
posted by Copronymus at 3:11 PM on June 23, 2017
I was watching an old Rage Against the Machine video the other day, and caught a crowd shot with a guy waving a "Donald J. Trump for President" sign, which I think would be from his 2000 campaign on the Reform Party ticket, a thing I had completely forgotten about.
posted by Copronymus at 3:11 PM on June 23, 2017
My favorite description of impersonating Drumpf came from a video of Alec Baldwin who said - I'm paraphrasing a bit - "the secret to impersonating Trump is his vocabulary. He's always searching his mind for a better word but he can never find one."
posted by bendy at 7:26 PM on June 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by bendy at 7:26 PM on June 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
It has recently come to my attention that his birthday just managed to slip by without my having noticed it.
Well, a big ol' congressional shooting happened that day. Even Trump knew it was too tacky to trumpet about his birthday and break out the cakes and hookers under those circumstances.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:32 PM on June 23, 2017
Well, a big ol' congressional shooting happened that day. Even Trump knew it was too tacky to trumpet about his birthday and break out the cakes and hookers under those circumstances.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:32 PM on June 23, 2017
Trump knew it was too tacky
That can't possibly be right.
posted by flabdablet at 11:44 AM on June 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
That can't possibly be right.
posted by flabdablet at 11:44 AM on June 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
There is an idea of a Donald Trump; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable, I simply am not there.
posted by Sutekh at 7:21 PM on June 25, 2017
posted by Sutekh at 7:21 PM on June 25, 2017
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This was an interesting read about something that I truly am not interested in engaging with. So, thanks for posting, I guess. :P
posted by hippybear at 1:59 AM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]