The Orange Cheetos Revolutionary

There was always something that reminded me of the notorious snack called 'Cheetos' about Mr. Donald Trump, from the very first time I saw him on TV about a decade ago. I had heard and seen ads for his program - 'The Apprentice'. The orange aura, his ill-fitting suit, unusual hair style and the repeated staged-for-effect stock phrase 'You're Fired!!' seemed to lend a 'cheesy' flavour to the program. I was not very keen when I was once invited to sit and watch with my children, who liked to watch it among other programs.

"Sounds and looks too 'cheesy'," I said.

They said they liked it and so I decided to watch it sometime.

One day, I found time to sit with them and actually watched an episode. It was better than I expected - there was some good thinking, analysis and values involved - taking responsibility and motivation to succeed. While some of the decisions seemed harsh on some participants, it was clear that they were based on an open, transparent criteria. The participants had willingly come forward to go through the challenge and perhaps accept disappointment after a lot of well-intentioned effort. It seemed like a reasonable representation of real life. Also, I noted that Mr. Trump was not as harsh as made out to be in the promotional clips and that he listened calmly to everyone before making his decisions and explained his decisions really well.

I shared those thoughts with my little kids and moved on, not watching many episodes but sometimes checked with my kids on their favourite candidates and their progress. Privately, I must confess that I felt a bit ashamed of myself for being a bit too judgemental based on the initial appearance. I was glad that my kids could still focus on other things and not be put-off by just one aspect or person.

Over the years, I had also heard fleetingly of Mr. Trump's oscillating fortunes in the real-estate business and some book he wrote, some beauty pageants and his casino called the "Taj Mahal". It all seemed typical of a high-flying capitalist in the USA and really off my radar.

Recently, his name cropped up again in the news regarding his Presidential bid. It was mentioned in a manner ridiculing him - like one among a bunch of clowns in the run. I too laughed. Then I heard about some 'outrageous' statement he had reportedly made about 'all Mexicans being murderers and rapists' and 'building a wall'. Then there was the one about 'Stopping all Muslims from entering the USA'. The first reports about his statements seemed utterly racist and bigoted, without really really knowing exactly what was said by Mr. Trump, it seemed reasonable to go along with the take in the media that, he would not last long in the political arena and did not deserve to. I did not pay much attention to it.

When I read again that he had won some support in some polls and that he was being talked about more and more, even if negatively, it intrigued me. When I next came across an article I looked up exactly what he had said about Mexicans and Muslims. It was then I realised that the media did not repeatedly mention the full statement made. It was spliced and misinterpreted his whole statement by focusing on a part of the whole statement. The gist of his statements 'Some illegal immigrants that come from Mexico are criminals - murderers and rapists while some are good people'. He contended that the large number of illegal immigrants - figures of about 11 million was proof that something was terribly wrong. This was being deliberately and repeatedly twisted, misrepresented with great energy and vigour in the media. The same with his statement about Muslims - it was about stopping the intake of Muslims until they figured out what exacly was going on. Taking Mr. Trump's full statement into account would require the USA to self-reflect to 'figure out what exactly was going on these countries. It meant to honestly think and judge their own role and actions. Just blindly proclaiming anyone the media suggested as a villain and all the actions of the USA as saintly and 'good' was ridiculous. The mainstream media seemed just too motivated and energetic in its attempts to pull down Mr. Trump.

That made it even more suspicious. If all the media did was report his exact statements and left it at that, any reasonable thinking person could judge for themselves and make up their minds. But that apparently was not desirable for the mainstream media. The more they set out to obfuscate someone's message and demonize them, the more they raise suspicions. If one could simply see what the person had said, it was becoming clear that there was a great, unusual fear of Mr. Trump in the mass media.

Once again, like I once made time to watch an episode of 'The Apprentice', I made time to watch the Presidential debates on TV, not letting the blanket negative 'editorializing' by the obviously biased TV commentators tell me what to think of him. It became clear that an establishment outsider with an ugly mug, cheesy aura and orange hair, whatever else he may have said in the past, was making more sense on the current political and economic situation of the USA and the world than the 'elegant', 'Presidential looking', 'synthetic plastic' candidates, with years and years of 'experience' in groomed, modulated tones wearing better fitting suits.

It was also becoming clear from the concerted manner in which the mainstream media from all over the world attacked him viciously and persistently - his voice, appearance, his past, his loyalty to his country, caricatured him, insulted him and his supporters, that there was something they seriously feared about him. It was not what the other candidates claimed and many of their statements did not make sense. They were meant to soothe, reassure and give a feeling of being 'not cheesy' and sounding 'Presidential'.

After thinking about all he faced and what he says and does, in the final days of the campaign, I saw a man beyond the orange snack aura - a man with a clear message from a lot of people who have been betrayed by the system and their governments in the past from both parties. I see a man with grit, determination, a brilliant tactician with a sharp intellect - one who knew how to turn the most pervasive, biased and corrupt media on its head. He seems fearless and does not buckle under duress. In fact, the opposite. It seems to bring out the best in him, the fight in him and he is an intelligent fighter.

With cleverness, he and his campaign made the negative media coverage be one of his best selling points - they could not afford to ignore him. the more they wrote about him negatively, the more it garned support for him, revealing the state of affairs to any person who cared to think about it a little rather than blindly follow it. Apparently, many have.

I have learned not to judge a snack by its flavour now - 'cheesy' flavours might mask something wholesome while 'wholesome' flavours might hide something really cheesy.

Way to go Mr. Trump! Good luck! A lot of people would like you to hear say to a lot of other people - "You're Fired!"


Copyright  (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2016
All rights reserved