After years of crying wolf, Donald Trump finally announced in 2015 that he was running for president as a Republican candidate in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. After officially announcing that Trump was going to “Make America Great Again” the media quickly reacted to the campaign by posting the announcement all over their websites and social media.
America quickly followed by posting either their instant support or opposition for Trump and his campaign on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Since then, Trump has led the polls in the Republican primary and continues to increase the views of the GOP debates. However, is it crazy to think that Trump’s campaign is just another reality show for Americans to sit at home and watch an already famous person run for the biggest job in the world?
I can’t help but think that part of the reason Donald Trump is leading in this primary race is because he is already a well-known reality star. After 14 seasons of "The Apprentice," Trump’s famous phrase, “You’re fired,” and his $4 billion name are widely known across America. In its final season, "The [Celebrity] Apprentice" had 7.6 million viewers tuning in to watch Donald Trump brutally fire people when they failed to impress him to get a good laugh.
How is it that a primary candidate with no political background is leading (or was near leading before Ben Carson jumped up) about six points in most states? Because Donald Trump running for president is simply entertaining. Take a wealthy, boss-man TV personnel and throw him in heated political debates and you get Donald Trump. People absolutely love watching people argue and cause problems on television. That’s why people love watching the shows "Cops" or "Keeping Up with the Kardashians." So it’s no surprise that people love watching Trump verbally attack other candidates like Jeb Bush and Hilary Clinton on television and social media -- it’s hilarious to them! On the opposing side, people love making fun of Trump’s phrases, and there are hundreds of pictures and memes making fun of his hair and facial expressions.
A lot of this stems from social media and the presence of Donald Trump on platforms like Twitter. Almost every day his account posts slanderous videos and hate tweets towards other candidates and the young audience on Twitter eats it right up. Trump is literally gaining the young liberals attention and votes because he is funny on Twitter. During the Democratic Debate on Oct. 13, 2015, he did a live tweet session during the debate and is believed to have set a record of viewers for the debate simply by tweeting how much he hated the candidates. He captures the older voters by his businesses and his show. Many of the older crowd saw him make powerful decisions on television so they assume he can make the tough decisions when it comes to being president.
Donald Trump may seem like a great primary candidate, and he very well could be. However, it is not unlikely that he is up in the polls because of his already famous persona and the fact that his name is on buildings in lots of major cities. America is in the process of witnessing the best reality television show in history, and if he wins the primary and goes on to become the president, we can all count on Ryan Seacrest producing a show about Trump’s reign in the White House.
