Donald Trump recently hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live, and although his performance may have been less than stellar, it was a great night for NBC. The show received its highest rating on Saturday November 11, since January of 2012. This again proves the draw of the hopeful president as he continues to be the most polarizing figure in the 2016 presidential race. This is why he was able to draw so many viewers to the show.
These ratings from Nielsen come on a night when Trump faced many protests due to his statements about Mexican immigrants. Although this may have hurt the numbers a little bit, it is probably more likely that these comments helped attract viewers. Talk of Donald Trump can be found on all media outlets, and often it is a story about a controversial comment made from the real estate mogul. I, myself, am guilty of tuning in to something involving Trump with the hopes of seeing him say something funny. It does not matter whether a person loves or hates Trump, but everyone wants to watch him.
Trump has not been scared to speak his mind, and that’s why he has become such a hot topic in politics. It seems that people either love or hate Trump, but either way they are going to follow him. He has a way of taking a very strong stance on an even hotter topic. He has done this with his immigration policy. His views are at the very extreme end — he thinks all illegal immigrants should be deported. This idea has obviously been very highly debated and adds to the never ending buzz of Donald Trump.
Even his episode of SNL polarized the viewers. On one hand, there are people who say the show fell flat solely because of Trump, and on the other hand, there are critics who believe that the episode flopped because of the material that Trump was given. In reality, it probably falls somewhere between the two of those extremes. No one is arguing that Trump is an Oscar-quality actor, and some of the skits felt as if they wouldn’t be funny even if the late and great Chris Farley were acting. The episode was clearly trying to avoid taking a political stance, which is probably what many people were expecting. Another issue with the episode is that putting Trump into a scripted situation takes away his greatest asset in terms of his ability to entertain — his unpredictability. He has made a name for himself by being a loose cannon of sorts. Even before he was in politics, he had landed himself in hot water with statements he made on his "Celebrity Apprentice" show. He has continued this trend during his political campaign, speaking what his supporters call the truth.
I don’t know what will come of Donald Trump’s campaign, but I do believe he will have a lasting impact on American politics. The way he is able to so effectively generate buzz about himself by not worrying who he upsets when explaining his views has been a welcome change to politics because most people will try and finesse their way through a question so that they do not upset anyone. He has also had a lot of success in this presidential race for a person who is not a career politician. It appears that some celebrities may follow in his footsteps by entering politics, as Kanye West announced that he will be running for the 2020 election. So although Trump may not be our next president, the characteristics which make him so polarizing may also help him leave a lasting impact on our politics.
