That was the number one most googled phrase of the night during CBS’s broadcast of the ninth Republican Debate.
The answer, of course, lies in that flaming mass of tangerine-color—Donald J. Trump.
Donald Trump has turned this political campaign into a must-see sporting event. It’s yet another ailment on his crusade to vitiate the pressure points of our entire political system.
The spectators are letting their voices be heard or, rather, Trump is bringing attention to their voices. It began in the previous debate when he attacked the pro-Jeb audience as nothing more than Bush’s special interest and lobby members. Paid seat stuffers don’t take kindly to their puppeteers being criticized.
So called ‘moderators’ of these events have given in to the spectacle of it all, allowing candidates to do as they see fit with no repercussions or any semblance of direction.
“We’re going to drive this into the dirt,” the languid CBS moderator stammered. Indeed, we are well beyond that point. There’s no end in sight for this off-roading expedition….
In a desperate grasp to refocus the action away from a bickering Trump and Bush, John Dickerson looked to Marco Rubio, not even asking a question, telling the senator from Florida to talk about whatever he deemed fit. “On what? Anything I want? How about poverty?” a half sardonic Rubio quipped.
What’s more, Dr. Carson made a pitiful attempt at using the volleyed haymakers and upper-cuts to his advantage by playing the nice-guy card. “Is that really what you want?” he asked the boisterous crowd. The question was answered rather emphatically with an inaudible mumbling of claps.
Of course that’s what they want. In a time where football has never been more popular and mixed martial arts is on the rise—even with the media spotlight shining brightly on concussions, people are craving violence, and people crave it because their voice is being ignored by the Establishment. Violence is the ultimate outlet for the man unable to communicate.
Trump knows this, and the media knows it, too. Whether it’s the multicolored, zig-zagging graphs and charts displayed at the bottom of the screen, the live Twitter commentary on the right hand side by a whose who of political junkies, or the instant replays and analysis between commercial breaks, we have before us a product that is directly consumed, dissected, and indulged in like it never has been before. It’s no surprise then debate ratings are through the roof.
The absurdity of it all continues to evolve as it’s clear Cruz and Rubio will continue to take pages out of Trump’s playbook. Rubio labeled Cruz a liar and things got ugly as the two jousted with insults even the Donald could get behind.
Football Sundays may be over for now, but the American public has plenty to fawn over and plenty of fanatics looking to fill an unquenchable void this election year.
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