They make fun of people and audiences enjoy it even though it displays a mean streak.
Today Maureen Dowd writes about Trump making fun of opponents and getting away with it.
The connection I made is that Trump gets away with giving people disparaging nicknames and doing put downs because he is viewed as doing show biz shtick, put-down comedy a la Don Rickles. We get that we aren’t supposed to take the put-downs seriously, that it’s done in a spirit of slightly mean fun.
Trump draws huge crowds because he is a successful performer, in a show biz sense. Politics is his “act. Now I wonder if Ronald Reagan made this same connection? Only his act wasn’t put-down comedy but rather Arthur Godfrey folksiness, the kindly, wise older uncle?
If a good performer is what the electorate wants, Ron DeSantis might as well go home, he’s robotic. Vivek’s act is the frenetic nerd, not bad. Nikki’s act is the too-smart-for-her-own-good girl-boss, who also has heart. For a daughter of immigrants Nikki has “American” down pat, Vivek doesn’t quite.
Joe Biden’s act is as the old guy who still thinks he has “it” but obviously doesn’t and maybe never did. He tells the same lies he’s told all his life, and they haven’t improved with age. It is a sad commentary on Delaware’s gene pool that he’s the best they could come up with for a senator.
Afterthought: Trump learned “living your life as an act” from the fantasy world of “professional wrestling” where vendettas and feuds are the tools of the trade, invented to maintain audience involvement. A seemingly violent soap opera, done for entertainment.
