Celebrity Warfare: Image and Politics in the Age of Trump

DONALD TRUMP IS the most powerful man on earth and the world's foremost celebrity. The difference is increasingly negligible. Power and celebrity are becoming one and the same. If Kanye West were to declare his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, no one could stop him — not the press, not the party functionaries, not even Saturday Night Live. Other celebrities are openly considering the newly revealed electoral possibilities of their positions. On Saturday Night Live just last week, Dwayne Johnson and Tom Hanks announced a run for president in the opening monologue. They were joking, but The Rock has sounded much more serious about the possibility on other occasions, saying that “the idea of one day becoming President to create real positive impact and global change is very alluring.” In the United States in the 21st century, real candidacies can easily be born out of jokes anyway. Does anyone imagine that if The Rock jumped into the presidential race some merely successful senator could challenge him? American politics is turning into something you do after you become famous.