Trump 2.0: A presidency aired live 24/7
Musk in the Oval Office, televised signings of executive orders, announcements on board Air Force One... With his return to power, the US president is taking the concept of politics as spectacle further than ever
Tuesday was a special day on the big set of Donald Trump’s White House. The programming schedule started in the morning with a visit by the King of Jordan and the classic fixed shot reserved for heads of state, with the U.S. president on the right, the visitor on the left, and the fireplace in the background. Audience ratings peaked when the afternoon slot began, with a staging that made more than one person rub their eyes: Trump sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office, and Elon Musk, his richest ally, standing next to him with his four-year-old son on his shoulders or walking around. The broadcast stretched into late-night programming, with images of the president going out to the gardens of the White House to greet Marc Fogel as snow fell on Washington. The U.S. citizen had been released that day from a Russian prison, where he had been “wrongfully detained” for three and a half years, according to the State Department, and he showed up wrapped in an American flag.
