President, Wrestler, Spectacle: An Examination of Donald Trump’s Firing Tweets and The Celebrity Appresident as Response to Trump’s Media Landscape

Abstract

Between January and April 2017, the Trump administration underwent a period of extensive cabinet turnover that was publicized via Donald Trump’s Twitter feed. Accessibility to such information creates a “break” with the mythos of a president and raises questions concerning the relationship between presidential decorum and social media usage. Trump’s Twitter usage operates as a platform to reinforce populist rhetoric and pushes his various spectacles (e.g., entertainment, business, and presidency) through the notion of “winners” and “losers.” This conflation of Trump’s positions enables his Twitter usage to mimic the Barthian mythos of the wrestler, an overly aggressive figure that borders the line between pantomime and entertainer. Twitter also enables a space for satirical response, specifically through The Daily Show with Trevor Noah’s The Celebrity Appresident. As such, the nexus of Trump’s twitter behavior and satirical response is indicative of the current political climate that combines myth, spectacle, and social media.