Dog and Pony Shows

By Henry B. Gentry [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

His photo-ops weren’t just another dog and pony show, like so many other politicians’. If his lacked substance, which they did, that was intended. The difference, despite the lack of anything telling, was that he always left the audience wanting more. They were shows, after all, and one of the prime motivations of any entertainer is to leave your audience wanting more. Besides, the camera loved him as much as he loved the camera, and the networks, cable news, and their cameras, even after his election, continued to oblige him with mountains of free publicity. What was not to like?

Dogs and ponies were a wonderful distraction and paved the way for the real show (in the 1920s the hoochie-coochie show, which, if he were honest—Stormy and the playmate—, he reveled in as well). The shows were fronts for the real substance of his policies like Zero Tolerance, no matter how much he bungled their roll-outs. Others then had to clean up the mess much as others cleaned up after the dogs and ponies. He never dirtied his hands.

The NATO meeting was mere prelude to his meeting with Putin. He’d work the former—ruffle a few feathers, allow allies to get their dander up—as a build-up to the latter. He’d seal a deal with Putin—not exactly forgive Crimea but acknowledge the fait accompli, start the torturous process of rolling back the sanctions, and make the G7 the G8 once again. That should keep Putin at bay for a while. Sometimes the poodle had to perform for the master without expecting a treat in return.

He loved the prime-time show he put on for Brett: A room full of supporters, the nominee’s family close by, how the younger daughter liked sports and talking—that was so funny—Brett’s speech hitting all of the right marks. Brett wouldn’t now dare to go against the text he wrote in 2009, the one in which he warned against conducting investigations against sitting presidents. As the sitting president under investigation and a possible future subpoena, he’d just taken out an insurance policy. Yes, he loved the idea of an “independent” judiciary, as long as it wasn’t independent of him.

Before all of that, the Montana rally, a bona fide dog and pony show if there ever were one. He’d managed to insult Pocahontas and the #MeToo movement, not to mention Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in the same sentence. He slighted President George H.W. Bush and his 1000 points of light. Those dogs and ponies kept attention away from the president’s Zero Tolerance border policies, in particular the separation of children from their parents and the resulting chaos of trying to reunite them. Trump ought to worry less about her genes, said Sen. Warren, and more about the DNA tests he’s having to conduct in order to reunite families his policy separated.

As many of us realize, any number of the president’s photo ops qualify as dog and pony shows. They’re unmistakable. Will the networks ever tire of bringing them before the public? Unlikely. Ratings are high and there’s too much money in it for them. Will his supporters ever see what the shows really are? It’s likely they already do. They simply love the shows. They’re more entertaining than big-time wrestling. His presidency has become a popular spectator sport. No, that understates. They’re an event, a kind of pseudo-event that Boorstin defined, for many must-see TV. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to America in mid-summer, 2018.

–Sobering News