Trump’s “Reality” Hustle

Bibliographic Data

ID12756017
AuthorsA Hearn (0000-0003-4598-0930, Western University, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume17
Issue7
Pages656-659
Publication date2016-06-09
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTelevision & New Media (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1527-4764 • E-ISSN: 1552-8316
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1527476416652699
OpenAlexW2411197903
LanguageEN
Citations received13

This brief editorial links Trump’s popularity to reality television’s messages of promotionalism and the spread of overt forms of self-branding and reputation-seeking across the population at large thanks to social media. Against the backdrop of growing economic insecurity, most people must now assiduously self-promote and hustle in order to find or protect their jobs. Trump supporters are not ‘dupes’ buying the hype then; they recognize that Trump’s brand is his skill set, admire it, and see it as all the qualification he needs to become president. While Trump’s ‘brand’ is figured as the result of his own personal style and power, it is actually the product of the underpaid, highly exploited labour of thousands of workers. Trump the Brand and reality television’s gauzy promise of mini-celebrity are symptoms of, and alibis for a flawed and failing political economic system. It will take the concerted, collective power of people in the streets, demanding something better, to stop him

Advertising · Business · Media studies · Order (exchange · Political science · Politics · Popularity · Population · Power (physics · Product (mathematics · Public relations · Reality tv · Reputation · Sociology · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Sociopolitical Dynamics in Russia · South Asian Cinema and Culture

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