Reality TV President

By: Ian Weiss

I always thought that all I wanted out of a president was a nerd. A socially awkward, good at math nerd. However, in the current state of politics, I don’t think a nerd will ever be elected again. The truth is, a politicians electability relies on so much more than being an extremely diligent person who has carefully thought out policy proposals (nerd in my mind.)

While Obama and Trump are so different, I see a major similarity between the first black and first orange president. They would both make fantastic reality TV stars. It all started with John F. Kennedy. A man elected based on his charming looks and delicate tone over a nerd nobody can understand. Then we got Clinton, followed by Bush, then Obama and now Trump.

Imagine this was an episode of 90 Day Fiance or any stupid reality TV show where they throw a bunch of different personalities into a mansion and make them live together for an extended period of time. People get voted out the house, yada yada yada, here are our contestants: a suave man, Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton and a dumb jock who makes you laugh every time he walks in the room.

As you root for the suave, thoughtful and collected man to win the whole show, you don’t want the stupid jock to lose week one and you couldn’t care less about the other two people. Which goes back to point I made when I first started writing, we don’t want a nerd we want a reality TV star. One that makes you want watch the State of the Union over South Park or Pirates of the Caribbean. Now, I’m not pleased Trumps in office, but I’ve never been a guy to dwell on a negative aspect I have no control over especially when there’s so much to be grateful for. I think one of Trump’s biggest selling points personality wise is the fact he’s funny, and if your not filtering everything he says through your selective perception, you can’t help but laugh.

After a meeting Sunday night, to say the least, the topic revolved around the fact many of our group had gone to see Mayor Pete Buttigieg for the first time. The overall consensus was that he didn’t seem presidential. And you wanna know people’s biggest qualm, he was “dull.” He went in one ear out the other. Now Warren, she was fun. She was spunky grandma with the energy of a preteen, pumping her first about and dancing with charisma and fun.

I had all this “pre-fuss” in my mind before attending Pete Monday morning and I really wanted to give him an honest shake down. I had three questions in mind: is he charismatic/personable enough to my standard, does he have an overarching message I can get behind and lastly, does he focus on good, relevant topics.

He came out with an overarching message that had me on the hook. It was simply uniting America under patriotism. That checks one of the boxes. While he was very “presidential” in the way he spoke, I felt he was very personable and certainly not dull. However I could’ve just been hooked on his message. His policy, which he touched on lightly, was an afterthought. I realized then I only really cared about his “bigger picture theme” and his persona on stage. Which made me reflect on one of the Global Engagement Goals. Where does my own personal biases come into play. How am I judging this candidate, and I mean this is my vote.

I’m looking at two things. Is he charismatic enough to get the crowd and myself rippin’ rayin’ and hayin’, and does he have that overarching message I resonate with. After those two boxes were checked, everything coming out of his mouth sounded like pure gold. What should we rank a candidate on, why does personality matter, wouldn’t some qualities be enough to outshine others?

We all share the same pain of ignorance, while it may be so easy to point out someone else’s wrong, where do we know when we’re wrong. While I thought I just wanted a smart “nerd” I actually wanted an artist with their words. I don’t think there will ever be another bland president of the United States ever again, we want reality TV star.