Insane Ordeal

The Times interviewed a young, uncommitted voter on her reaction to Trump's speech: “You read a lot of stuff about what this guy says, but to actually sit down and hear it and sit through it, it was just insane to me,” she said. “That’s the only way I can describe this whole ordeal.” Unfortunately, she will have to get used to it. I find alcohol helps but whatever works. There is a fine line between a hilarious comedy routine and an insane speech and as the first post-postmodern politician, Trump walks it. All the rhetoric about "fascism" or "authoritarianism" or "populism" is just old language trying to capture a new phenomenon. Trump transcends our descriptors because this fusion of power and entertainment is unique. As I've tried to point out, Hulk Hogan is the perfect sign in the symbolic register. A fake wrestler and cultural icon, with his own line of mechandise, media, cartoons etc.. Inspiring the masses who willfully embrace the illusion, the Spectacle, their own sacrifice to the machine. Immersing oneself in "the insane ordeal" is a way to dull the pain, to be "free" of the grotesque indignity, of "ideology" as such. Just laugh! Enjoy! Let the joisance wash over you! Or you can join the resistance, set yourself outside all the fun and loaded weapons and hilarity. Anxiously watching polls and global unrest and rising CO2 levels.