Will the 2016 presidential election come to be viewed as a cringe-worthy moment in American history?
We can only hope.
America can’t handle another bizarre, dumbed-down campaign like this one. Most voters seem to be almost anxiety-ridden waiting these last two weeks of the current contest to end.
Ron French at Bridge Magazine has spent months documenting the most outrageous accusations and fake claims made in Campaign 2016 and today he offers 12 of his favorites (with more to come). The giggle-inducing summary is a pretty good indicator: “Pickle jars, lesbian farmers and Tic Tacs.”
The slideshow French compiled is a hilarious and, yes, cringe-worthy look at what democracy means in 2016.
The headline: “Strangest. Election. Ever. Or how choosing a president sank from civics to reality TV.”
Largely due to the outright hatred many voters have for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, this year’s race has given a whole new meaning to “the silly season.”
This election is not about policies, it’s about conspiracy theories and fake websites and vile Facebook posts. And, thanks to Trump, it’s about entertainment.
Mind-boggling poll numbers show that millions of Americans who don’t like the New York billionaire and aren’t sure if he’s fit for the presidency nonetheless plan to vote for him. That’s because he’s not Hillary. And he’s entertaining. He plays his character well.
Of course, politics is not supposed to be entertaining. Yet, with the dawn of the television age then 24-hour cable news coverage then social media, the dumbing down of the quadrennial election season began long before the dawn of Trump.
Princeton University researchers have found that the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 were engaged at roughly a high school senior level of discourse. A century later, the presidential debate of 1960 was a notch below, at a 10th grade level. By the year 2000, the two contenders were speaking like sixth graders. Trump speeches have been analyzed and determined to be a form of communication at the fourth- or fifth-grade level.
When the Republican nominee was chastised earlier this month for his crude past remarks about women, he responded: “A lot of that was done for the purpose of entertainment.”
When President Obama delivered a pro-Hillary campaign speech a few days ago, he referred to some of the more outrageous Republican rhetoric as an example of the “swamp of crazy.” But he warned his Democratic audience that those on the left were also guilty of gullibility and bombast.
The anti-vaxxers and the fanatical GMO critics, after all, are mostly on the left not the right.
But this election season, marked by anti-intellectualism, a disdain for facts and history, and a dismissal of basic science – combined with genuine anger aimed at the elites and establishment in all walks of life – offered the perfect opening for Trump.
One political writer, Mark Peysha, reached this conclusion about the Trump phenomenon:
As a reality show character, he was perfect for the part. He seemed to have been transplanted from fiction into real life. Is this a joke? Does he really mean what he’s saying? Can he be stopped? We are amused and paralyzed. And Trump became our new dark protagonist.
As an entertainer, Trump has an enormous range. He can play the straight man. He can do broad comedy. He can threaten like a thug. He can sound like a billionaire. He can cut someone down in five seconds. He can be gracious. When his mouth is closed, you never know what might come out next. He has mystique.
When Trump shows up at a debate, it’s surreal. The ratings go through the roof (these ratings are about entertainment, remember).
In the past, a brutally honest criticism of our means of choosing a president was that it often amounted to little more than a popularity contest. JFK was young and handsome. Reagan had a patriotic flair and a talent for tugging at the heartstrings.
But in a year when the unpopularity of both candidates dominates, what we have is not a stage show, it’s a carnival act.
