Christopher Isherwood’s 1939 novel, “Goodbye To Berlin”, contains a scene that has been on my mind quite a bit lately. There is a boxing and wrestling tent at a fairground positioned at the distant end of Potsdamer Strasse. For a modest fee, onlookers watch the ‘combatants’ indulge in a bit of wrestling and boxing. After a few rounds, the referee announces that additional ten pfennig is required to continue watching the spectacle. One of the wrestlers is designated the loser and feigns anger upon his “defeat”. In a specific match, the taller, more robust boxer orchestrates a pretend knockout. The referee then gathers money from the spectators and invites a challenge from within the crowd. A lad, obviously an acquaintance of the ‘combatants’, then strips to reveal he’s conveniently already in boxer shorts and boots. A prize pot of five marks is declared, which our challenger predictably wins. The crowd, according to Isherwood, invested themselves earnestly in the skirmishes, cheering on their picks and hotly debating the outcomes, in spite of witnessing the obvious theatrical nature of the event. The concluding line of the scene paints a grim political commentary, stating that such people could be swayed to believe anything or anyone.
Switching to a more recent event, the colourful character Hulk Hogan—famed wrestler—made an appearance at the Republican National Convention the previous Thursday. He repeatedly referred to his “world title”—a make-believe honour in a faux sport—whilst tearing away his outer garment to expose a Trump-Vance shirt. Even by the Republic National Convention’s standards, the lack of subtlety in this pro-Trump event was quite apparent. So, if we had thought the presidential campaign of 2016 was shocking and frantic, the 2024 campaign seems to have evolved further towards theatre.
As I watched these events unfold on the television, my mind turned to Peter Thiel. Thiel was the financial muscle behind Hulk Hogan’s legal tussle with Gawker, a website that ultimately declared bankruptcy after a colossal settlement. Thiel’s feud with Gawker originated years ago when a tech gossip blog belonging to Gawker, Valleywag, published a post entitled “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people”. Thiel’s influence extended beyond the fictional wrestler to the ominous figure of Trump’s cunning Vice President choice, JD Vance. Vance once questioned if Trump was “America’s Hitler”, but that’s history now. Thiel apparently inspired Vance when he gave a lecture at Yale and went on to join Thiel’s Mithril Capital. In 2022, Thiel generously contributed $15 million to Vance’s senatorial campaign.
Meandering through the streets of New York City and intermittently listening to Hannah Arendt’s The Origins Of Totalitarianism on audiobook, I frequently find myself tackled by inquisitive questions from friends inquiring about the situation “over there.” When viewed from an outsider’s perspective, it’s akin to living inside a history textbook that is rapidly flipping its pages before being engulfed in flames. This sensation is intensified by the unfolding daily saga. Life, as it always does, continues. Normality perseveres. The queues for a viral-on-TikTok $10 fettuccine alfredo testify to this. You notice it in the kids playing basketball in the park, the man resorting to a gushing fire hydrant for some respite during a relentless heatwave, and the tech enthusiasts with luminous wristbands signifying their Burning Man affiliations, congregating at a local bar.
The 2016 US election was marked by interminable shock and panic. The anticipation for 2024 is rather a creeping dread. An unending housing crisis is inflicting a grievous toll on young children. The intervention of Emer Higgins seems to exacerbate the artificial conflict between drivers and pedestrians. As for the pride in RTÉ? It’s hard to find a trace of the ambition to distinguish it anymore.
The present situation manifests as a prologue to an increasingly dark saga. The daily occurrences seem less like all is well and more reflective of the initial stage of a catastrophic film, the so-called “they had no clue” phase. The markers of a typical day – a frisbee being thrown at a Labrador, the familiar yellow school bus halting by the pavement, the sight of a child’s ice cream cone melting away – might soon seem like fragments from a time past, a time before the monster invaded our peaceful lives.
The MAGA charade lacks any touch of subtlety. “Are you prepared to face the reckoning, you criminals, lowlife folk, scumbag individuals, drug slingers, and corrupt politicians?” Hulk Hogan bellowed from the stage, his message directed towards the offenders. “What will you do when Donald Trump and his band of Trumpamaniacs set loose on you, mate?”
The cry of a wrestler urging the “Trumpamaniacs” to “unleash havoc”, marked a jarring twist in the pandemonium on the following Sunday: Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the contest, the accumulated strain reaching such heights that it was no longer feasible to diffuse it in any meaningful way. Once again, the sea of political uncertainty stirs. Once again, its waves roll into the unexplored.
Back in 1997, a profile of Trump in “The New Yorker” revealed the ex-American President’s (and probable future leader’s) peculiar practice of watching Jean-Claude Van Damme’s “Bloodsport”. He would delegate to his son, Eric, the chore of skipping all the plot development and bland parts, moulding the action movie into a compilation of fight scenes. “Confess, you find this funny!” Trump bellowed at the reporter, Mark Singer, witnessing this scene, particularly during a shot where someone gets hit in the groin. “You want your readers to know that Donald Trump finds this absurd Jean-Claude Van Damme film amusing,” Trump stated, “but would you dare admit that you were also amused?”
Although the previous 2016 campaign was marked by shock and sudden fear, the potential 2024 campaign bears a different undertone: a persistent dread of the future. What is the final scene of this movie? The daily plot twists, no matter how startling, seem to be steering towards a bleak, climactic conclusion.