Anyone who followed the White House social media accounts during both the Obama and Trump presidencies will see a difference not just in ideology but also in general aptitude. Where the Obama administration’s online content was sleek and consistent, the Trump administration’s is sloppy and amateurish. Must we remind you of the truck? Or this abomination? One might assume The Donald hired Neil Breen to make his videos.
In “The iMovie President,” a new piece from The Outline, writer Tolulope Edionwe shines a light on just how this bargain bin-aesthetic dovetails with the persona Trump cultivated to help entice his voter base.
“To some, these flaws may actually signal the scrappy authenticity that Trump has tried to lay claim to,” Edionwe writes. Later, she quotes RebelMouse founder Paul Berry, who says that “when you polish everything and make everything perfect, then that’s what people don’t want anymore.” Trump’s voter base repeatedly said they’d prefer an “unpolished” candidate over one as deeply rooted in politics as Hillary Clinton.
Lauryn McCarter of New York Code and Design Academy agrees. As she tells The Outline:
Talking about the resolution and the editing specifically of the video quality there, we’re looking at something from a couple of decades ago, and that’s when I think a lot of his base was probably more comfortable. It probably feels familiar. It probably feels like it’s something out of a time where they felt the government was more aligned with their interests. And it probably feels like it’s not as slick, not him trying to be a politician.
And thus we inch ever closer to a world where competency, innovation, and articulation are deemed untrustworthy by a large portion of the population.
Whatever the case, this phenomenon isn’t limited to American politics. Just look at U.K. politician Greg Knight’s baffling campaign ad from earlier this week. Conservatives are weird, man.