The real reason Trump is getting more extreme

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

I remember when the FOX broadcast network was new and only had two hours of primetime television. They made a name for themselves by winning the right to broadcast NFL football games, which forced millions to find their number on the dial. People fell in love with The Simpsons, but they also discovered a new kind of lowest common denominator programming. The success of Married…With Children was heavily bolstered by the publicity it received from a boycott against its crude and tasteless content. Soon, all previous standards of what was appropriate for broadcast television devolved as program directors fought an arms race to provide the most outrageous material.

Cheap laughs were no longer the goal of sitcom television, but rather titillation and outrage were subject to the same rules as drugs and alcohol. You need more and more to get the same effect. Before long, though, viewers could get a better high off cable programming where there were no restrictions on foul language. That’s when reality television entered the picture and quickly replaced the sitcom as the most popular genre of primetime network programming.

This is basically how I view not only Trump’s presidency but also his behavior. His supporters are addicted to the thrill they get when he breaks the rules of decorum. But Trump can’t stick with the same old material and deliver the same effect. He constantly has to up the ante. That’s how “Mexico will pay for the wall” becomes “lock her up” becomes “the concept of chokehold sounds so innocent, so perfect.”

Trump’s latest material involves running for a third or even a fourth term, despite the constitutional restriction that limits modern presidents to two four-year terms in office.

*snip*

[captain queeg]

1. Interesting perspective. TV has definitely devolved.

[StClone]

2. It can be used for good

But nobody wants that, gimmee a rabid, snake oil salesman paint 'em orange, have him say more unhinged mentally insulting stuff, AND you have flailing Present hopelessly going "spiral."

[Ferrets are Cool]

3. It's hard to refute anything in these paragraphs.