President Trump: Celebrity-in-chief and the desecration of political authority

TY - JOUR

T1 - President Trump:

T2 - Celebrity-in-chief and the desecration of political authority

AU - Biressi, Anita

N1 - Bio: Anita Biressi is Professor of Media and Society. Her research interests span documentary and popular factual entertainment, social class and cultural studies and feminist media studies. She has published recently on the media representation of the ‘good girl’ in politics and activism and on sexual assault in the news.

PY - 2020/3/1

Y1 - 2020/3/1

N2 - Abstract: This article argues that Donald Trump’s persona and his dismissal of established conventions work to position him as a celebrity-in-chief who desecrates politics, political authority and the political scene. To pursue this, I draw on sociological and philosophical analyses of political authority developed by sociologists (including Lowenthal, Sennett and Arendt) alongside later work on political persona, celebrity and political appeal. I explore historical changes in the social function and appeal of role models and celebrity and reflect on how these changes have contributed towards a decline in political authority. The final section focuses on Trump’s early days in power in order to illustrate how he is represented and read as a rogue celebrity politician who has desecrated political authority. This is achieved through a critical engagement with Michael Wolff’s 2018 fly-on-the-wall account of life inside Team Trump entitled Fire and Fury: Inside the White House. © 2020, Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The attached document (embargoed until 01/09/2021) is an author produced version of a paper published in CELEBRITY STUDIES uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. The final published version (version of record) is available online at the link. Some minor differences between this version and the final published version may remain. We suggest you refer to the final published version should you wish to cite from it.

AB - Abstract: This article argues that Donald Trump’s persona and his dismissal of established conventions work to position him as a celebrity-in-chief who desecrates politics, political authority and the political scene. To pursue this, I draw on sociological and philosophical analyses of political authority developed by sociologists (including Lowenthal, Sennett and Arendt) alongside later work on political persona, celebrity and political appeal. I explore historical changes in the social function and appeal of role models and celebrity and reflect on how these changes have contributed towards a decline in political authority. The final section focuses on Trump’s early days in power in order to illustrate how he is represented and read as a rogue celebrity politician who has desecrated political authority. This is achieved through a critical engagement with Michael Wolff’s 2018 fly-on-the-wall account of life inside Team Trump entitled Fire and Fury: Inside the White House. © 2020, Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The attached document (embargoed until 01/09/2021) is an author produced version of a paper published in CELEBRITY STUDIES uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. The final published version (version of record) is available online at the link. Some minor differences between this version and the final published version may remain. We suggest you refer to the final published version should you wish to cite from it.

KW - Trump – authority - celebrity – persona - desecration- politics

U2 - 10.1080/19392397.2020.1704391

DO - 10.1080/19392397.2020.1704391

M3 - Article

SN - 1939-2397

VL - 11

SP - 125

EP - 139

JO - Celebrity Studies

JF - Celebrity Studies

IS - 1

ER -