If the US campaign were a stage play, it would be a box office hit

I'm listening to The Daily Beast podcast right now, where Joanna Coles tells her co-host Samantha Bee how her friends called her to go to the theater and she sheepishly replied that she couldn't imagine anything more interesting that the actors could offer her than what is happening around the presidential elections in America. As a theater person it is not easy for me to admit, but Mrs. Coles is absolutely right.

Theatricalization of politics is, of course, nothing new, especially when it comes to public political events, but it seems that this time it has gone quite far in that direction. It can be noted that the two campaigns have opted for different approaches, not to mention genres.

Performance trumps

The Republicans chose more expressive solutions, organizing drama events in which their candidate, dressed in different costumes, plays the role of a McDonald's worker or a garbage man, probably with the aim of making fun or, as the kids would say, trolling.

Photo: AP

Also, quasi-religious performances are performed in cooperation with evangelists, where the main character, in this case Trump of course, sits in the position of a saint-martyr and the gathered place their hands on him in prayer, pressing themselves in a circle. The goal, clearly, is to emphasize the piety and messianic role of the main actor with this form of church theater, originating directly from medieval mysteries and miracles.

Apart from these ancient forms, the Trump campaign, which is to be commended, also uses some methods of more modern theater. In the tradition of the avant-garde of the sixties and seventies, they include the audience in the stage events, so at a rally in Wisconsin, after his performance with a garbage truck, Trump appeared in the costume of a garbage man, while many spectators simultaneously carried garbage bags and attached various wastes, thus taking an active role in the event.

Similarly, at the Republican Convention this summer, after public doubts were raised about Trump's health and vitality in his advanced years, a group dressed only in adult diapers was spotted in the audience.

And here, just when we thought things about Donald Trump's performance couldn't get any more bizarre, we have the opportunity to watch the Republican Party candidate perform a simulated explicit sexual act with the help of a microphone as props in a live broadcast from a rally in Milwaukee. The clip with that performance is already viral.

Kamala's emphasis on quality

On the other hand, the Kamala Harris campaign takes a much more delicate, low-key approach. They decided to stay within the framework of classical, masterful theater and to emphasize the quality of the production and the performance itself.

An excellent example of this approach was the election rally held a few days ago in Washington. The organizers decided that the choice of location itself should be a message, so the meeting was held at the exact place from where Trump called his supporters four years ago to go to Congress and try to stop the declaration of Joe Biden's election victory.

The chosen form was monodramatic, without other important speakers. The scenography consisted of two tribunes for the audience behind the lectern, but spaced apart so that in the background you can see the White House, lit for the occasion, with a more than clear message.

For the costume, a formal, almost presidential black combination was chosen, as a contrast to the much more relaxed style during the campaign and the now famous All Stars sneakers that Harris often wears. The lighting was dimmed and the audience was left in theatrical darkness, emphasizing the two main characters in the narrative – the candidate herself and the building that is a symbol of American democracy and power.

Choice of topics

The dramaturgy of the speech itself was simple. It began with a prologue that reminded the audience of the enormous importance of this election, and the fundamental difference between the candidates: "In less than 90 days, either Donald Trump or I will be in the Oval Office." On day one, if elected, Donald Trump will walk into that office with a list of enemies. When I'm elected, I'll go in with a to-do list."

It continued with the introduction of topics related to the economy, women's rights, immigration and, above all, the defense of democracy against the autocratic tendencies shown by the main antagonist of the drama, Trump, of course. It ended with a historical parable about the generations who made sacrifices in defense of democracy and the admonition: "They did not fight, sacrifice and lay down their lives, just to see us surrender our basic freedoms, just to see us submit to the will of yet another petty tyrant."

The mise-en-scène was completely stripped down, the main character stepped out alone onto the huge catwalk and went to the lectern, with very few gesticulations afterwards, with the idea of ​​highlighting the power of the text itself and her personal self-confidence. This time the outing was not accompanied by music, while at all previous gatherings an extraordinary track was broadcast Freedom, performed by Beyoncé, just to remind us musical puritans that pop should never be underestimated, all in keeping with the very low-key, festive style of the whole event.

Organization

The organization itself, the reception and send-off of an unexpectedly large number of spectators, the protocol and the technical implementation were, as all reporters noted, extraordinary. We in the theater like to justify the small and big mistakes that inevitably happen to us by explaining that they bring liveliness and contribute to the naturalness of the play. If that's true, that might be the only objection to this political spectacle - it was perhaps too polished, if you'll forgive the colloquialism.

These are not only the most significant, but also the most interesting, and perhaps we dare to say the most entertaining elections since the beginning of the century. They are characterized by a complete thematic turn when it comes to voters' priorities, (too) high dramatic charge and a high degree of theatricalization of public events. And here is a good opportunity to look at the two political campaigns of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, as well as the elections as a whole, from a director's point of view.

Thematic twist

After a months-long campaign, it became clear that the usual topics that traditionally interest voters the most - economy, security, foreign policy or ideology, no longer have such importance.

This election is dominated by the issues of abortion rights and immigration. Misogyny and racism, which are hidden behind those two topics, have thus become two key concepts in American politics. The Democrats and their candidate emphasized the issues of women's rights, especially reproductive rights.

After, in 2022, the conservative judges of the Constitutional Court overturned the famous ruling in the case of Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the right to abortion, its ban was introduced in 22 American states. In most of them, abortion is also prohibited in case of rape or incest.

Some of Trump's associates, however, have decided to go a little further, so that, in the event of his coming to power, it is requested that the state monitor women's pregnancies and menstrual cycles, a complete ban on abortion throughout the country, taking away women's voting rights, banning contraception and prohibition of divorce. Trump himself publicly supported only some of these demands, but it is noticeable that he did not reject the rest.

There is another key issue - immigration from the countries of South and Central America, which essentially boils down to the issue of racism, with, in this particular case, elements of fascism. Trump himself, a few years ago, said that he would have nothing against immigrants, but only if they are from Norway. His current plan is to expel from the country fifteen million migrants who, as he says, are "rapists and criminals" and who "polluted the blood of the nation" after coming to power.

Knowing all this, it is not particularly surprising that less dramatic topics such as social issues or international relations took a back seat, and that the dramaturgy of the current elections must be sought at the intersection of those two topics - attitudes towards women and their rights and immigration.

Dramatic turn

And three and a half months before the elections, when it was not his time, we had a big dramatic turn. President Biden withdrew from the race and gave way to his vice president, Kamala Harris. Instead of an older, white man, a man of the old political world, a much younger black woman came. Instead of a class struggle - the leftist Biden against the rightist Trump, we got a war of the sexes.

On Tuesday, Americans will make a decision about their future, and to a large extent, the future of all of us, in a situation where the two candidates and their campaigns could not be more different.

Fair of machismo

Trump's campaign looks like a machismo fair and only men speak at rallies. In addition to Trump, there is the unconventional candidate for vice president J.D. Vance, the recently somewhat unbalanced billionaire Elon Musk and the outcast from the Kennedy clan, in many ways the bizarre Robert Kennedy Jr., there is talk of punishing women, prosecuting political opponents, expelling migrants, bloodshed , blood baths and shooting of political opponents. It promises cooperation with tough, masculine leaders like Putin, Xi and Orban and a turn away from too soft, not to say effeminate, European allies.

From the loudspeakers come volleys of insults, mostly racial ones, ex-wrestlers tear their shirts in front of the audience, and the main and only musical star is a slightly shrill Kid Rock. The macho tone is so dominant that even Trump's former rival and now follower, the cheerless political figure Nikki Haley, had to admit that it is a campaign that repels women, apparently not realizing that it is being done on purpose.

Orange complexion and bodice

However, several details from that campaign do not fit into this picture. In the theater it would be said that they deviate from the basic concept of the play and can be considered a stylistic error.

Namely, as can be noticed, Donald Trump uses orange face tan in industrial quantities at every public appearance, wears a toupee, corset and shoe insoles that make him taller. His vice-presidential candidate Vance, probably wanting to highlight the color of his eyes, uses eyeliner or mascara, we're not quite sure. In addition, the musical leitmotif at all of Trump's campaign rallies is an informal gay anthem, an upbeat track YMCA, of the "Village People" group.

Be that as it may, even with these stylistic stumbles, the Republican campaign is producing certain results. Whether it will be enough for Donald Trump's second presidential term remains to be seen.

Michelle, Beyonce, JL, Oprah

On the other hand, Kamala Harris campaign is quite different. Apart from former presidents Obama and Clinton and candidate for vice president Tim Walz, there are many women at the speakers - the most popular figure of the Democratic Party Michelle Obama and the upcoming star Gretchen Whitmer, music superstars Kelly Roland, Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez and, as they say, the most influential Oprah Winfrey.

It has become a custom that at the beginning of the gatherings, the crowd dances and sings en masse, the messages from the stage are usually moderate, they talk about helping the population to buy apartments and start businesses, child allowances, cooperation with political opponents, and mostly about the endangered rights of women. In recent weeks, Trump and his followers have often been entangled, with less choice words. Madonna, Jennifer Aniston and Taylor Swift, among others, supported the campaign on social networks, which, as the young people informed me, is a very big deal.

The stakes are huge and it is quite expected that such major differences between the protagonists of the drama will lead to major conflicts and even harsher words.

Republicans for Democrats claim that they are "killers of children", "communists", "lunatics", Trump would gladly put Liz Cheney, otherwise an icon of the conservative movement who opposed him, in front of a firing machine, expel legal immigrants if he doesn't like them and prosecute women who go to another country to have an abortion. Democrats call the opposing party a "personality cult", "religious fanatics" and "a Russian agency".

Trump is said to be "senile", "sexual predator", "convicted criminal" and "fascist". To be fair to the Democrats, Trump has indeed been convicted of 34 felonies and rape.

 Audience engagement

An interesting phenomenon was noticed, that the actors do not only insult each other, but also the voters of the other side, not to mention the audience, which in our theater analogy would correspond to avant-garde theater. Trump and the Trumps say that Democratic voters are "internal enemies" and "bags of garbage", and Democrats say that Republican voters are "stupid" and "garbage".

The drama from the stage was also transferred to the audience, where, apart from the usual bickering of dissidents on networks and political gatherings, which has a direct parallel with the famous premiere of Ibsen's Doll's houses, when there was a mass fight in the hall between opponents and advocates of the heroine Nora's right to leave her husband, a very unusual phenomenon was also noticed.

Namely, there have been many cases of women, especially in rural areas and more conservative areas, voting for Kamala Harris in large numbers, hiding it from their husbands and partners, who are Trump voters on the list, so we also got small, family dramas along with this main .

In short, we are talking about a situation that is the dream of all theater creators - big drama, motivated participants, the temperature on the stage, so high that it was transmitted to the audience.

We will find out on Tuesday whether such campaigns and how much they will help the selection of candidates, but the almost unanimous assessment of both parties and neutral observers is that the performance in Washington was a huge success. Theater cashiers would say cash register.