On January 8th 2017, Meryl Streep gave one of the
most defiant and dead-on speeches against the current United States president.
The speech was not without some problematic elements – what,
for instance, is considered “art” within the paradigm of Western culture as
opposed to the rest of the world and not (MMA within the United States versus
Hong Kong cinema), which is not entirely out of line with Ms. Streep’s speckled
resume of ahistorical interpretations of race relations and power dynamics – but
at its very core, the speech was noteworthy not only for its advocacy of free
press, good journalism, and human decency, but also because it hit a note that
many seemed to miss:
Demagoguery is performative.
It was no accident that Streep focused in on Trump’s mockery of a journalist with a disability – there were many other instances of his bigotry that she could have focused on – because at the very heart of that moment, he was performing for a crowd.
A performance needs an audience.
In the case of Mr. Kovaleski being targeted, the performance drew mockery, jeer, and debauchery. The performance in question was successful in arousing some of the worse guttural instincts of a crowd that revels in a severe lack of empathy, and even more successful because it was circulated through news and cascaded into further marked outrage or dehumanizing validation.
Demagogues thrive under any reaction.
Streep, among many of the best actors, understands that reaction is centerfold to how effective any performance is, and she correctly zeroed in who Trump is:
He is Hollywood, and he is a performer – and Hollywood will never accept his performance, no matter how successful he arouses the basest of emotions.
It was a brilliant and humane craftsmanship of speech writing.
In these next four years, it will be even more important to consider the performative nature of demagoguery that comes with an individual defined by narcissism and a delusionary reality of alternative facts: we must understand that such a performance is designed to instigate the worse of instincts, to rile up bigotry, to gaslight one’s sense of reality, to shift blame and accountability against the unsuspecting, to ultimately manipulate.
Streep understood this, and hit back – hard.
Everyone should be taking note of her rallying cry, especially as we navigate a White House dominated solely by narcissism that, amongst many other forms reminiscent of autocracies, aims control of the media narrative.
Demagogues do not forego their public performance of abuse because morality and ethics do not bely their conscious. Given that he has employed Steve Bannon – former editor of the 21st Century version of “alternative facts” (read: lies) for the “alternative right” (read: white supremacists; Nazis; misogynists) outlet, “Breibart” – as one of his top strategic advisors, it will be even more imperative to stay on target in following and covering the political reality show as it unfolds.
The ensuing story of this country’s politics will not adhere to human decency: Bannon understands this, and will continue to guide Trump in this manner because traditional American media does not know how to cover a man so publicly and proudly devoid of such.
The next four years (dare I even suggest eight?) will be a constant stream of performative demagoguery, a performance that designed to derange and derail public attention from the more insidious underpinnings of legislative undermining and redesign to render the most powerful even more powerful, and the most vulnerable even more vulnerable to the point of nonexistence. We have already seen it with the rising advent of Richard Spencer and hate crimes since that fateful election day, as well as the advent of blatant, baseless lies.
We must continue to be vigilant as to how the performance and lies of a demagogue point not to the truth, but to the intended effect of their words: that is, when someone claims that “millions of illegals voted,” do not waste your attention on refuting and providing facts, but remember that they do not care, and that such a lie is a proclamation of intent – “millions of people did not vote for me, and I intend to make voting even more difficult because of that.”
They have already done it before with voting rights restrictions as recently as last year, and they will continue to do so.
Do not accept such a performance, and do not lose sight of the mechanisms and intent behind a performance.
Streep understood this, which is why her speech was particularly powerful.
She refused to accept this performance, and rightfully advocated for continued free and investigative journalism that runs counter to an Orweillian possibility of an unrelenting propaganda of “alternative facts” from the “alternative right.” She focused in what was actually happening behind the performance, rightfully deemed it demagoguery, and rejected it.
Hollywood followed in suit, and we must too.
Rejecting performative demagoguery will be core to our own sanity and survival, especially since truly terrible, terrifying forces are puppeteering the whole orchestration.
Do not accept the demagogue’s performance, anticipate the intents of its puppeteers, and do everything you can to protect their intended targets.
It seems apt that, as I finish writing this, Ms. Streep just received her 20th Oscar nomination. Congratulations Meryl – for rejecting a demagogue on all of our behalf, for advocating and rallying for the free press, and for breaking your own award record in the process.