An oversimplified juxtaposition?
Suspension of disbelief, sometimes called willing suspension of disbelief, is the intentional avoidance of critical thinking or logic in examining something unreal or impossible in reality, such as a work of speculative fiction, in order to believe it for the sake of enjoyment. Wikipedia
Political theater or political drama, a theatrical genre. Guerrilla theatre, a type of political protest with a theatrical quality. Political posturing or Kabuki, political acts made only for the sake of appearance. Political stunt, a type of publicity stunt intended to sway public opinion on a political issue.
The juxtaposition of the terms can explain, to a degree, the Trump phenomenon with a through line from Trump’s first campaign and nomination for the Presidency, to his election to a term in office, to his refusal to accept defeat, to the orchestration of an insurrection and the continued articulation of his ‘big lie’.
In my view, the answer to the conundrum re overcoming the political fever and fervor of Trump cultism and cultists and their stranglehold on the Republican Party lies somewhere in the articulation and narrative of the disambiguation of this juxtaposition such that it can be understood by the average American citizen and voter.
So, for example, we don’t counter Trump’s hyperbolic lies with facts and fact checking. Facts no longer matter in contemporary political discourse.
We should counter Trump with some asymmetrical hyperbole of our own:
‘Trump’s policies and proposals aren’t merely ‘restrictive’ they are oppressive and aimed directly at the average citizen….’
If overturning Roe v Wade isn’t oppressive, there’s no such creature.
We must push the common Trump supporters to the limits of their willing suspension of disbelief and create cognitive dissonance on a scale that can be disconcerting, uncomfortable, and even painful.
In Koshersalaami’s words we should break it down so that a twelve year old could understand the meaning and impact of Trump’s presence in the American political ecosystem.
Support of Trump shouldn’t be some kind of comfort zone….
Suspension of disbelief should be explained to Trumpists as a form of self denial which, in the context of the current social and political environment, can only lead to self destruction along with the deconstruction of the administrative state and our democracy….
05/16/2022 @ 8:42 am
The question, and I don’t know the answer, is whether our hyperbole will be believed by them.
What I would hit them with, and I don’t know if it would work, is the contention that 1/6 was a result of Trump not being enough of a man to face that he lost an election, to Sleepy Joe no less. When Al Gore lost he accepted it, when Hillary Clinton lost she accepted it, and unlike Trump they both won the popular votes. Trump was so bad a handling it that he was willing to jeopardize American democracy to stay in the White House. That’s how little of a patriot he is. The election was clean. A lot of the people who certified the election, notably the heads of the Arizona and Georgia election commissions and a lot of the judges who told Rudi Giuliani he had no evidence (if Trump had a case he would have had evidence) were Republicans. We have Trump on tape trying to get the head of the Georgia election commission to commit fraud for him. And that Biden won is one of the few things Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell agree on.
But the big message here is that Trump is less of a man than Hillary was. Hillary handled it, Trump couldn’t.
05/16/2022 @ 9:19 am
“But the big message here is that Trump is less of a man than Hillary was. Hillary handled it, Trump couldn’t.”
Kosh, I don’t believe that attacking Trump’s manhood is hyperbolic enough to turn heads and raise eyebrows…
Try this:
Trump took an oath that required him to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic…
Refusal and failure to relinquish power and leave office peacefully, if not gracefully, as required by the Constitution was not only cowardly it was a clear violation of his oath of office and an act of treason.
Trump is a traitor who should never be permitted to hold office in America again…
It doesn’t matter whether or not people ‘believe it’. It’s about grabbing their attention long enough to plant a seed of doubt in what they do believe.
05/16/2022 @ 10:47 am
The suspension of disbelief combined with 3 cel animation is what made us believe Wile E. Coyote was suspended in mid-air before plummeting to the canyon floor.
We’re just as duped to believe anything we were told by the former president and his minions.
05/16/2022 @ 12:55 pm
Art, the suspension of disbelief re the coyote and the roadrunner is tied to the notion that anyone or anything real could be THAT stupid…
05/18/2022 @ 6:19 am
I do not believe that there is a rational road into or out of the camp which is occupied by Trump believers. While those of us who oppose Trump, or any individual with Trump’s characteristics or history, for objective reasons, occupy an intellectual space with roads to and from political history, science, and a general humanitarian understanding of human needs and frailties, we lack the ability to build rhetorical roads between reality and MAGA mania.
In addition to the differences that can’t be rationally reconciled, I see two obstacles to reconciliation. The first obstacle is those who believe what they believe with no rational basis whatsoever. There is no reason to value reason over what they already feel comfortable accepting. The second involves those who occasionally use reason, and understand it, but have chosen Trumpism anyway. Many of those will be reluctant to change because of the investment they have already made. The investment may be entirely how they define themselves to themselves. If they acknowledge that they were wrong, then who are they? The power of Trumpism is that it attacks objectivity first.
05/18/2022 @ 11:01 am
Bitey,
I think you are absolutely correct. When employed I tried, albeit failed to either understand and/or convince any co-worker to change their mind about their Trumpism. I see and talk with far fewer people these days, but sense that it would not be different.
I’m talking about people who seemed intelligent, had the same job as I did, which if done well took thousands of interactions with a myriad of personalities with divergent opinions. It was business that fluctuated constantly requiring adaptation to changing market conditions. One could not get stuck in the amber and survive, yet being able to flex one iota in their adulation of the carnival barker President seemed impossible. It was transactional. They could not accept that they had gone all in on a bluff, mindlessly allegiant to someone who looked for everything conceivable method of fleecing them.
05/26/2022 @ 10:15 am
“…mindlessly allegiant to someone who looked for everything conceivable method of fleecing them.”
President Lyndon B. Johnson once said, “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”