The pictures matter more than the words some political consultant once said so begin with the rectangular frame made by your TV screen. This is the background shot and is meant to be filled with individuals who will clap, hoot, laugh and smile as prompted by Trump and his set-up speakers. As near as I can tell, they are all white. The shot centers on the podium with the Presidential Seal, the Trump campaign slogan, one on each side, and a full background of supporters, maybe 120 or so including 3 priests, 5 in hard hats, many in MAGA shirts and hats and sprinkled with as many women as men. They are looking to their right, waiting.
At :52 Donald Trump jr. appears, his slicked hair giving him an 80’s Wall Street ‘Master of the Universe” vibe. Think Michael Douglas’ Gordon Gekko without the strong chin. The slicked hair gives his head an ovoid appearance. He has a full face moving toward pouchy and a heavy beard which even makeup cannot obscure. He does not have his father’s appeal to the impersonal gaze of the camera but he uses some of the big arm movements and extensions his father does.
What follows is about 12 minutes of warm up. He is effective. He has been doing this since June of 2015. He speaks of how he has been coming to Montana for years to hunt and fish, he attacks Montana’s Democratic Senator Jon Tester for only recently buying a hunting license, speaks of hunting elk and responds to an audience question with “Did I shoot one? What do you think?” He speaks of going “prairie dogging” (usually done by shooting them with a scoped rifle from distance). He brings on Republican Senator Daines and Rep. Gianforte. Daines twice thanks God for Donald Trump, and Gianforte claims Trump is “draining the swamp”, protecting “our precious way of life” and giving “the country hope again”. No mention is made of what that way of life is that Trump is preserving. I guess the assumption is everyone here and watching understands how to fill in that Rorschach hint. All three do take up that annoying pose of smiling at and pointing to unseen members of the audience. Every manner of celebrity and politician does this. It feels as if they are deigning to acknowledge the especially adoring disciple.
At the 7:35 mark we enter Red Meat time when politicians assume their audience is composed of slavering dolts who only want to be told to hate whomever the speaker targets.
Tonight Trump jr. begins with “People in far off lands hate our guts … our freedoms, … our religion, … everything about us.”
Democrats are more concerned about “feelings” (Jr. air quotes the word), than “the safety and well being of our kids and grandkids.”
“Do you want Montana to be a sanctuary state?”
“The America I see on TV these days is a foreign country.”
The reaction of the crowd seems relatively mild. They are waiting for the star I suspect.
Considering what his father is about to do, this is pretty mild stuff, but think about the complete impression left by this list — we are on our own, feeling feelings is weak, we are under assault by people who do not look like us, brown people are coming for your kids. All I could think of as I listened is the power of whiteness to assume the guise of victim and defender. The reek that emerges from straining after so much nobility is palpable; however, this is also a full-bellied, fully employed crowd who seem to be happy with the entertainment so far. I sense no threat, no ominous ‘Deutschland Deutschland uber alles” nonsense. What would happen if a recession hit (please, please no!)? Only imbeciles want to recreate the pain of the Weimar Republic in this country.
Someone throws on Sweet Child of Mine by Guns and Roses and for the next 6 minutes, everyone turns to their right and waits. No irony is allowed I suppose. I wonder if any member of this audience pauses to think about the 2000 plus brown children torn from their parents or the ones blown apart in classrooms? It’s all show business, and “everything about it is appealing, everything that traffic will allow.”
