Who is the Next 'Trump'?
The average American is suffering emotionally and economically. Populism will find a new leader and the results may be much worse than Trump could have ever done.
The ongoing persecution of Trump is, of course, politicians playing their political games just as they always do. The death of 5 Americans and the ransacking of the Capitol building still can’t shake politicians out of their dogmatic positions to actually work on the problem that led to the most traumatic event in the last 20 years for America. Populism. Sure encouraging a massive crowd of angry citizens to gather in the capitol and vent their frustrations was a bad idea socially. No doubt Trump and his team expected police to be able to crowd control much better. Now many people will face the justice they rightly deserve, likely including Trump himself. However that is simply treating the symptoms of America’s political problem and not it’s root cause. Nobody seems willing to go there. Well nobody except a few brave souls, Socrates and myself.
Socrates would be scolding America if he were alive now…and much of the world that has chosen ‘democracy’. With the advent of television, Socrates’ fear of democracy has come true again and again. In ‘The Republic’ Socrates eloquently argues that people going on a journey by ship would rather choose a veteran seaman with experience rather than a passenger to be the ship’s captain. The point is experience matters and that democracy doesn’t value experience correctly. ‘Voters’ simply don’t have enough knowledge to make good choices. For the longest time nobody cared about Socrates’ complaints as Kings and Queens ruled absolutely and they sought out Machiavelli for advice. However once governments started ousting absolute rulers they had to deal with this pesky ‘popularity’ problem. This systems defect was typically mitigated by constructing a large civil service and political party system that only selected candidates who had worked their way up after many years through the civil ‘education’ system. By the time any Lord or Noble became popular enough to win they had gathered enough experience to at least do an adequate job. Not always of course but for the most part it was very rare to see top government positions held by a person with little government experience.
Since the advent of television however Populism has literally taken over politics. The TV in 1949 was insignificant, only 172,000 television sets had sold in the US, but this number skyrocketed to over 52 million sets by 1953. The 1952 election of Eisenhower was the first election decided by TV. He hired top advertisers from Madison Avenue and Hollywood actors to help polish his messaging. He went for short messages at highly watched times. His political opponent went for long speeches late at night. You probably don’t remember his opponents name and I don’t suggest you bother Googling it. In his 1956 book, Professional Public Relations and Political Power, Kelley explores the possibilities of creating a “star system in politics” through the media, in contrast to climbing up the party ladder through years of service. That was almost 65 years ago!!! Stanley Kelley certainly deserves some credit even if Socrates knew it was coming over 2400 years ago. Of course Presidential elections turned into absolute TV elections with the strikingly handsome Kennedy and a famous actor Ronald Reagan getting elected. Trump’s election in 2016 wasn’t as much of a shock as so many would have you believe. He picked off his very politically experienced opponents one by one in highly creative ways designed for maximum TV effectiveness. Of course his general election victory over Hillary Clinton was also another ‘shock’ for news pundits even though he’d already destroyed many presidential hopefuls with much less baggage than Hillary Clinton carries around after so many years in politics. With years and years of successful TV experience Trump was the pinnacle of a TV presidency to date. His complete lack of governing experience was not only ignored (Socrates flips over in his grave) it was actually spun as a positive trait! (Socrates laughs) America was the most powerful ship ever built in the history of the world…and a TV star was the captain. (Socrates says ‘told you so’)
However the TV revolution is nothing compared to what is happening in today’s modern hi tech world. Future elections will be decided not by the TV but by targeted Social Media advertising. Politicians can literally tailor their messaging directly for you. They can record 100 different short clips, all designed for different ages, sexes, races, economic positions and locations across the country. You’ll see a political ‘stump’ speech that has been carefully researched and crafted for a person exactly like you. Of course you will be more swayed to vote for that candidate…they are saying all the right things to you! This modern ‘sniper’ capability of advertising is critical moving forward. In this most recent 2020 election if Trump picked up the right mix of 42,921 votes in Arizona (10,457), Georgia (11,779), and Wisconsin (20,682), the Electoral College would have been tied at 269 all. Trump would have won the tiebreaker. So despite the ‘landslide’ victory numbers of the popular vote and electoral college Trump was literally a hairs width away from winning. What this demonstrates is that winning elections is extremely complex under the current US election system. The advent of highly focused and targeted advertising on social media has become a powerful weapon when linked to the complex election map. Trumpism will be carefully examined by the political elites. Modern political campaigns will change to ensure populist lessons are incorporated. This will be displayed in all levels of politics from city mayoral races to State governors as well as Presidents.
So where is this trend heading you demand! Well I’m here to tell you the Good Ship America has many potential future celebrity presidents! Some basic ingredients they’ll need are:
A strong leader who intimidates the world is likely to be the next populist. Trump’s ‘America First’ policy is still wildly popular.
Any populist leader will quickly be surrounded by elites with money that want their important changes to laws that will improve their business fortunes. The next populist doesn’t need to be super wealthy, just wealthy enough to already become super popular and smart enough to get the massive cash donations they need.
They will have learned to mobilize the mob earlier and more effectively than even Trump himself. Targeting key states needed to win elections and not holding ego boosting rallies all over the country. Targeting voting locations country wide.
The most dangerous populist will attract both sides of the right and the left. It might seem impossible given the very divergent positions of both but ultimately the vast majority of voters want a better life. They will follow a leader that seriously forces jobs back to America. A guy like Joe Scarborough from ‘Morning Joe’ although he might carry too much political baggage already to be a successful populist…and not be famous enough.
So in the spirit of Socrates I’ve assembled a list of potential populist leaders for Americans and the World to consider as Joe Biden bores everyone to death for the next 4 years and political parties begin the hunt for the next populist Captain of the Good Ship America!
Republicans:
Kelsey Grammer better known as Dr. Frasier Crane.
Kristy Swanson better known as Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Tim Allen, not sure Americans will follow Ukrainians in voting for a comedian.
Caitlyn Jenner better known as … if you don’t know Caitlyn Jenner google her.
James Woods. He’s a bit too old but he would have been great.
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Why not let an immigrant be President if he’s the terminator! He ran California already!
Clint Eastwood. He’s certainly too old now but any list of famous people needs Clint.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck from The View.
Gene Simmons of Kiss. A seriously intelligent human and TV image specialist.
Stacey Dash from ‘Clueless’ but she certainly is a savvy political actress.
Scott Baio. A dark horse from years ago and ‘Charles in Charge’.
Antonio Sabato, Jr. Melrose star and he’s looking for work as Trump is ‘retiring.
Dennis Quaid who will soon star as a president in a new movie. A prelude to him running for the real thing in 2024?
Dean Cain from ‘Lois and Clark’ Superman.
Isaiah Washington from Grey’s Anatomy.
Democrats:
Beyoncé and Jay-Z. A two for one candidate married team! Dangerous I say!
Taylor Swift. Not for the next election cycle but who knows in 2032?
Chris Evans. Who better than Captain America himself?
Tom Hanks who has already been asked to run for President. He probably thinks it’s a joke but hopefully after he reads this article realizes it’s no joke.
Amy Schumer. Well not for President but maybe Vice President? Stir things up?
Angela Bassett from Black Panther.
Eva Longoria who gets my vote if I was American and could vote for a celebrity.
Mark Ruffalo from Avengers.
Meryl Streep who is simply the best actress of her generation.
Reese Witherspoon Academy award winner.
Leonardo DiCaprio. Seriously, Leo would win any Presidential election in a landslide. You can thank me later DNC.
Cardi B. Why not a rapper as President? Future voters might be down with that.
The sooner politicians fully embrace populism the sooner we get some really interesting elections! My personal prediction for the 2024 Presidential race is Arnold ‘The Terminator’ Schwarzenegger running against Leo ‘The Titanic’ DiCaprio. Although Arnold will lead in the polls from start to finish Leo will win on election night in a landslide. Inauguration will be moved from Washington to Hollywood where it rightly belongs from now on. The 3 hour TV special will drag on for 5 hours of course. God Bless America Socrates would say because they’ll need it if something doesn’t fix politics very very soon.
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