Trickster Trump
Winging It makes the case that Trickster, that charming, charismatic troublemaker, is the engine and voice of improvisation.
One of Trickster’s incarnations is the African / African-American figure named Compère Lapin / Br’er (brother) Rabbit, a West African tale first recorded by Alcee Fortier at Laura Plantation in St. James Parish upriver from New Orleans.
Trickster is the original Energizer bunny. All the cartoon tricksters, from Bugs to Tom to the Roadrunner's Coyote, are relentless. They keep on coming. They operate on an endless supply of desire. Ever wonder at Trump's energy? Sleepy Don is now slipping out of character.
We dismiss Trump's relentless lies as so transparent and so ridiculous they are beneath notice. Ted Cruz’s father hung out with Lee Oswald? Why bother to refute it? But his base eats each lie up, each a slap in the face of common sense, the more ridiculous, the better. For his base, the lies humanize Trump. It's not that they are believable. Their truth value is that they are gestures of disruption. That’s all Trump has had to offer from the day he came down the escalator: disruption.
Trickster—or Trump—carries off his absurd agenda with bravado and nonchalance by some turnabout that makes only metaphoric sense. It's rabbit season so Elmer's got his shot gun. Bugs changes the Rabbit Season sign to a Duck Season sign. Daffy objects, no, it's rabbit season.
Bugs: Duck Season!
Daffy: Rabbit Season!
Bugs: Duck Season!
Daffy: Rabbit Season!
Bugs: Duck Season!
Daffy: Rabbit Season!
Bugs: Rabbit Season!
Daffy: Duck Season!
Elmer: Duck Season! BLAM!
We love Bugs Bunny for the patently ridiculous treatment of Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck. Only fools would fall for such persuasion. What’s up, base? Let’s build a wall.
I invite you to consider how much of cultural discourse and even political discourse follows this pattern. Always created in the moment, it is always disruptive. It stirs the pot, causes trouble for its own sake. It promises to disrupt accepted norms, to drain the swamp. To allay all your fears and anger. To make your world great again. To create something new under the sun. All by improvising.
And why should you trust this disruptor? Because he’s giving it no thought. Because he's making it up as he goes along. Because his gut knows more than many brains. Hence, he’s authentic. He’s got authority.
It’s absurd that a reality show host and serial liar with a spray tan could strike anyone as authentic. And yet in Trump’s hands, smart is stupid and stupid smart, the way back to an imagined American paradise before the Civil and Voting Rights Acts.
At bottom, it’s Trickster’s gesture of spontaneity that gives authority: I did this without thinking, so trust me.
I’m not like those coastal elites with the Ivy League degrees. I’ve got one of those too, but you won’t see me making a cogent case.
What could go wrong? BLAM!
