Trump 2016: The Ultimate Reality TV Show?

The Takeaway

Click on the audio player above to hear this interview.

On Saturday, American voters filled in another piece of the 2016 puzzle. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Caucus in Nevada, and billionaire businessman Donald Trump secured victory in the Republican primary in South Carolina.

The two parties will crisscross this week. Democratic voters will head to the polls in South Carolina on Saturday, and Republicans will cast their ballots tomorrow in Nevada.

America can’t take its eyes off Donald Trump. And even though we’re all watching, his shifting answers and half truths never seem to catch up with him. That’s the Donald Trump way—brushing off previous answers, and staying one step ahead of candidates by using his own standard of truthfulness.

Those are all skills he took time honing as a reality television star. Mark Singer, a staff writer for The New Yorker, first identified Trump as a performance artist in 1997. Eli Attie, a TV writer and producer known for shows like “The West Wing,” was once chief speech writer for Vice President Al Gore.

Singer and Attie join The Takeaway to examine Trump 2016 through the lens of political entertainment.

What you’ll learn from this segment:

  • Why Attie and Singer call Trump’s campaign the ultimate reality TV show.
  • How Trump has tailored his personality for entertainment and politics.
  • How the political landscape overall has evolved to be more like entertainment.
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