I don’t know about you but I devoured Ryan Murphy’s The People v. O.J. Simpson on FX. It was fascinating and almost quaint to see the world as it was before tweets and TMZ.
I giggled as John Travolta lifted his nose higher and higher in his attempt to capture Robert Shapiro’s clueless condescension. I marveled at Sarah Paulson for the umpteenth time as she pulled yet another trick out of her bottomless bag. And I had to remind myself again and again, that’s Robert Kardashian not “Ross”, to limited success.
And then halfway through Episode 2 it hit me: this is where it all began. This is where America collectively took a hard turn to a new reality. It was right here in 1994 – along with MTV’s The Real World and Howard Stern’s brilliant circus – that made “Donald Trump for President” possible in 2016.
Before Judge Lance Ito’s hunger for fame and Puck’s hunger for peanut butter, our TV set gave us two-dimensional characters who existed over there, in Hollywood somewhere. They danced around for thirty or sixty minutes and then disappeared to their mansions as the credits rolled.
They were there. We were here.
But that would change the day Judge Ito ruled in favor of cameras in his courtroom and millions of bleary-eyed Americans cleared their calendars and couches to witness a hero become human.
And while our moms were upstairs playing living room legal experts, we hid out in the basement watching nobodies become somebodies on The Real World. Pedro and Judd and Puck made an oath to stop being polite in exchange for something way better: fame.
Suddenly a path in both directions opened up. “The Juice” plummeted to sad old “Orenthal J.” and David Rainey became “Puck.”
Unbeknownst to us all, the seeds for The Donald Trump Era were planted. Three seeds actually.
1) Trump as reality TV cast member. 2) Trump as Judge Ito and CNN. 3) Trump as appointment television.
Trump As Reality TV Cast Member.
Long before Donald Trump was host of The Apprentice he was cast in another reality show. It wasn’t The Real World (if only) but rather The Howard Stern Show of the 90’s. Back then Howard’s #1 radio show was broadcast on the E! channel and the heart of the show was the orchestrated infighting.
Staff member vs. management, host vs. underling, caller vs. guest. Howard Stern was more reality television than anything else up to that point. And if you could stand strong, and be entertaining, Howard would bring you back again and again.
Trump loved the challenge. He would call in every other week and mouth off about flat-chested women or stealing A.J. Benza’s girlfriend. He wasn’t a celebrity. He didn’t have a talent. He was just an outspoken rich guy dying to be famous. And Howard knew exactly how to produce him. Trump could be always be counted on for an hour of oh my god, I can’t believe he just said that.
Over the years as our thirst for conflict increased, Donald eagerly shoveled more and more coal into the furnace. Until somebody at NBC took notice.
Like Puck and Pedro, Trump had fought his way into relevance and we couldn’t wait to see who he’d punch next. Rosie O’Donnell, Jon Stewart and President Obama were no match for someone who cut his teeth on Stuttering John.
Trump as Judge Ito and CNN
Without a doubt, Judge Ito’s courtroom could not have skinned and deboned the legendary O.J. Simpson quite so thoroughly without the ever-present TV cameras. The video stream that Johnnie Cochran wielded to free Simpson had an equally corrosive effect that would strip him of his superstar veneer forever.
In fact, I’m convinced O.J. would’ve found his way back on TV if the trial had only unfolded in newsprint and court reporter accounts.
But the cameras were there and the same way Ito saw everything, so did we. And if we missed even the smallest ding in Simpson’s armor, CNN stepped in to replay the blow over and over, and over.
Trump does the same thing to his opponents. He knows we see everything in the 24-hour news cycle and he looks for the ding that resonates the most. And then repeats it over and over, and over.
“Low Energy Jeb”, “Little Marco”and “Lyin’ Ted” are sure to end up in the post-political obituaries for each these fallen foes. Donald doesn’t just hit, he hits until your political veneer cracks and falls away completely.
Trump As Appointment Television
This may be the most formidable arrow in Trump’s quiver. Donald Trump knows how to be appointment television.
For twenty years we’ve watched hours and hours of reality programming where inevitably one of the cast members declares, “I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to win.” And back in the 90’s when it was all just getting warmed up, most of us recoiled at the statement. Of course loyalty and friendship always came first. Right? Wrong.
Those seemingly heartless cast members started winning. And if they weren’t winning, well, they were being talked about. In some cases, years after their season ended. They became more than contestants. They were TV villains we secretly pulled for. Bonding and friendship is nice but it doesn’t set the VCR. And if the producers were dumb enough to let a good villain be voted off, they didn’t deserve our eyeballs.
After years of The Apprentice Donald Trump understood how important villains were. It was obvious those early Real World producers knew exactly what they were talking about. You do need to “stop being polite.” If you want to be watched.
And So The Donald Trump Era Began
We watched our hero become human in the O.J. Simpson trial. We witnessed our justice department become a circus. Howard Stern taught us conflict was as entertaining as talent. And The Real World convinced us to stop being polite.
It really shouldn’t surprise anyone that Donald Trump is the leading Republican candidate. It’s clearly his era and we’re just living in it.
Drew Pokorny 