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SINCE WHEN DID POLITICIANS BECOME CELEBRITIES?


By Katharine McLean

I distinctly remember the day Donald Trump announced that he was going to be running for president. I was sitting at my kitchen table with my mother as the highlights of his speech came on the news. That is when my mom rolled her eyes and says, “Well, this will be pretty entertaining.” She wasn’t wrong. I argue that the mediatized age that we live in has caused politicians to integrate celebrity tactics that can threaten the integrity of our politics, turning politicians and politics into a form of entertainment.

A study conducted by Matthew Wood, Jack Corbett, and Matthew Flinders finds that past and current politicians are “gain(ing) popularity by adopting strategies from within the world of entertainment” (2016). Their research finds that there are two types of celebrity politicians based on what celebrity tactics are adopted based on three categories-- media platforms, marketing techniques and performative roles.

When looking at Donald Trump through this lens, it is clear that he takes on the role of a superstar celebrity politician rather than the everyday celebrity politician founded by this study. Politicians of this superstar category appear on one-way broadcast programs, where the celebrity is able to behave on the public stage while we, the audience, observe (2016). Donald Trump gained attention as a wealthy real estate developer in New York City, but a large part of his fame came from his role as host on the reality television show The Apprentice in 2004.

According to Woods et al., a SCP in the performative role presents themselves as “strong, decisive leaders as opposed to ordinary citizens who are ‘weak,’ ‘emotional’ or ‘vulnerable’” (2016). It doesn’t take a genius to know that Trump thinks very highly of himself, especially in his role as president. Even from the beginning of his candidacy, Trump was establishing himself as better than all of his candidates, commenting on the crowd he had gathered compared to the others running, stating that “There’s been no crowd like this. And, I can tell, some of the candidates, they went in. They didn’t know the air-conditioner didn’t work. They sweated like dogs” (Time Staff, 2015).

The last criteria, marketing technique, says that SCP’s focus on presenting themselves in “self-consciously staged environments with highly structured visits and interviews” (2016). On June 16th, 2015, Donald Trump descended the golden escalators of the Trump Towers in New York City and announced his presidency. Every decision made by Trump was structured and thought out and everything about that day allowed him to maintain his performative role as strong, decisive and superior to everyone around him as well as control the settings in which is being interviewed, addressing issues and so on.

Donald Trump is a superstar celebrity politician. He gained his fame by hosting the one-way broadcasting television show The Apprentice. By being a part of a reality TV show, Trump brings a sense of entertainment to the political world the day he announced his candidacy. The role he takes on as a strong, decisive and superior individual combined with the competitiveness that is the political arena leads to him attacking anyone and everyone who criticizes him. This behavior creates drama that draws attention away from real issues that he should be addressing as our president. The structured interviews and environments that he employs as marketing strategies allows him to further send the image that everyone else around him is inferior to him. Donald Trump proves that the superstar celebrity politician is dangerous in which “politics is transmuted into a spectacle that is to be performed to an audience, not of citizens, but of spectators” (Street, 2012). My mother said it best-- Trump's political career has been "entertaining" since day one. However, politicians are not here to serve as entertainment for our people or our nation. That must be remembered now and forever. 

 References

Street, J. (2012). Do celebrity politics and celebrity politicians matter? British Journal of Politics & International Relations, 14(3), 346-356.
https://doi-org.duproxy.palni.edu/10.1111/j.1467-856X.2011.00480.x

Time, S., (2015). Here’s donald trump’s presidential announcement speech. Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/

Wood, M., Corbett, J., & Flinders, M. (2016). Just like us: Everyday celebrity politicians and the pursuit of popularity in an age of anti-politics. British Journal of Politics & International Relations, 18(3), 581-598. https://doi-org.duproxy.palni.edu/10.1177/1369148116632182

Word count: 640 words
Keywords: celebrity politician, superstar celebrity politician, Donald Trump, media


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Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 11, 2018 at 9:50 PM

    Nice post, Katharine. This is a well-sourced, engaging read.

    However, there are some issues with pacing throughout. You cite the (2016) piece that indicates there are two types of celebrity politicians, but don't expand on that until you bring up the SCP bit in the next paragraph. These terms could use better setup and unpacking. What is the other type? Why does that other type not define Trump? It might be conducive to briefly qualify that.

    You make effective use of a plentiful amount of sources and direct quotations. Nice work, your quotes are deliberate, sparing, and you still manage to expand on each one. I might consider ending the piece without a quote - I'd say it may be a bit more effective if you end the piece on your own terms.

    All in all, this is a very solid post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. KHNovember 12, 2018 at 9:02 AM

    That's the stuff, Katharine!

    Your post is engaging, timely, and makes productive use of "outside sources" to consider the rise of a new class of politician: the superstar celebrity politician (SCP).

    Your contribution: applying this concept to The Donald. This is the stuff of original analysis. That is to say, you've identified a concept in the relevant literature and provided evidence and examples of Trump's campaign and presidency to support a central argument.

    All told, this is very well done. What's more, it offers your classmates a model of sorts for their work going forward.

    In the meantime, here are a few suggestions. First, make certain to include page references for your quotes. Second, and more substantively, rework your final paragraph. Seems you can incorporate some of those points into appropriate passages above. Then finish strong by returning to your anecdote as you've done and driving your point home.

    28 pts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 13, 2018 at 11:34 AM

    Katharine-

    This post is extremely well written. The blend of casual and scholarly writing is exactly what this blog aims to do. Additionally, your choice to write about politics and media's intersection is relevant to the recent elections.

    Going forward, I think you should work on relying less on direct quotations. Try paraphrasing authors' ideas, but still citing, of course. Using a mixture of direct quotes and paraphrasing will elevate your writing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousNovember 14, 2018 at 7:06 AM

    Katherine-

    I really enjoyed reading this extremely well written blog post. I find it impressing how you were able to professionally critique the current presidency with scholarly articles and ideas.

    I agree with Colleen about relying less upon direct quotes. I believe by paraphrasing or getting rid of a few direct quotes, your post would be even better than it already is. That being said, I still really enjoyed reading this post from your view as well the scholars you chose to use.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousDecember 6, 2018 at 5:49 PM

    Katharine,

    As someone that is very interested in politics I found this piece really interesting. I had previously never heard of the term "SCP", and it was intriguing to be able to learn more about that term and how you applied it to Donald Trump. I also think quotes are good. Why not use quotes when they're effective? I didn't think you had too many. Great stuff.

    ReplyDelete

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