The Trump-Musk breakup is performance art for the Age of the Internet Era. Two cartoon-like celebrities with massive egos went from a superhero duo to arch-nemeses with the tap of a phone. It’s no different from Wrestlemania III, when friends and “faces” Hulk Hogan and André the Giant went from friends to enemies in the twinkling of a body blow. Back then, only 8-year-old boys took the performances seriously. Now, the entire commentariat is atwitter with apprehension and advice.
I think the same people love/hate Trump as professional wrestling. It's hard not to take it seriously now that it involves the highest levels of government and there can be real consequences that affect many people, but it's important to refuse to take it seriously anyway. It's the truth that they're not being serious, after all, and seeing and speaking the truth is crucial.
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One then has to ask, if it is performance, is it "untrue"?
I said on Twitter I suspected it was keyfabe but didn't get much support with that view, so it's interesting to see someone with this angle.
Kayfabe, sorry. Never was a wrestling fan.
Heh. I didn't know the word at all!
I was a consumer of professional wrestling television for a very short time when I was a young teenager, 13 or so. It used to be that we didn't have a lot of choices for entertainment, and it was on either right before or right after another show I liked (which I can't remember). I remember thinking that the matches were almost unimportant to the show, which was really built around the dramatic (and staged) interviews before and after the matches. The matches just gave them something to talk about.
Never heard of "kayfabe" eithe, but never really watched WWF or any of that. I wrestled in junior & high school and what they were doing just seemed bizarre to me.
A related observation we've probably all heard is that Trump supporters take him seriously but not literally while Trump's enemies take him literally but not seriously.
I thought it might be a setup to allow for cover for those who opposed the BBB to come back into the fold with Elon later.
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