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Real Life Survival Guide

Without TV, There's No Trump

Connecticut Public Radio | By Jonathan McNicol
Published April 21, 2020 at 1:00 PM EDT
Netflix
A still image from the Netflix limited series 'When They See Us,' set in 1989.

That headline is just a direct quote from James Poniewozik's Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America. I was torn between that line from the book and this one:

Donald Trump is not a person.

Poniewozik's take is that "Donald Trump" is really a character that Donald Trump has been playing on television since at least the early 1980s.

"Television has entertained America, television has ensorcelled America, and with the election of Donald J. Trump, television has conquered America," Poniewozik writes. Audience of One is a cultural history of television and a television history of Donald Trump.

Poniewozik joins us for the hour.

GUEST:

  • James Poniewozik - Chief television critic for The New York Times and the author of Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired October 24, 2019.
Tags
historyentertainmentpoliticianstelevisioncelebritiespop culture
Jonathan McNicol
Jonathan is a producer for ‘The Colin McEnroe Show.’ His work has been heard nationally on NPR and locally on Connecticut Public’s talk shows and news magazines. He’s as likely to host a podcast on minor league baseball as he is to cover a presidential debate almost by accident. Jonathan can be reached at jmcnicol@ctpublic.org.
See stories by Jonathan McNicol

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