The Circus

There is one program on television that is absolutely guaranteed to rile me up and have me shouting and swearing at the telly, even though I’m watching it by myself.  And, surprisingly, it isn’t a sporting event.  It’s The Circus on Showtime.  It’s a documentary style program that follows some of the political stories each week.  And the reason it gets me so agitated is that it is the only program I watch that covers Trump’s rallies/news conferences and general Republican goings on in more detail, without being too scathing compared to something like John Oliver’s show.  And it’s disturbing just how many untruths, misinformation and downright fabrications come out of Trump (and his cronies) every day, and the way all his supporters lap up his lies.  It tries to be a non-partisan show, but it is difficult to think that way when for example they did a Steve Bannon interview yesterday that made him seem absolutely unhinged (which he is).  And when you see coverage of these Trump rallies, it is scary just how passionate and inflamed his base can get.  And as much as there are all these articles predicting how badly Trump and Republicans will do in the mid-term elections coming up, I worry that just like 2 years ago we are underestimating the support he has.  His supporters are predominantly old and white – the kind of people who are guaranteed to come out and vote.  The Democrats still seem mixed on just how left and progressive they can be without turning voters off – and whose supporters are predominantly young, multicultural and less inclined to get out and vote.  So as much as people may dislike Trump – and I think the vast majority of Americans do recognize that he is an embarrassment and entirely unpresidential – I’m not sure that will be enough to vote against him in numbers when things like the American economy are doing so well (though I think this is despite of rather than because of Trump).