Trevor Noah discussed Donald Trump’s variety of public personas, referring to them as an extreme form of acting.
On The Daily Show, the host looked at the president’s week of wildly differing speeches. “Three days, three Trumps. Maybe Hillary only has one setting, but Trump is like one of those Japanese toilets: he’s got too many settings to figure out.”
But while many have used these performances as proof that Trump is unhinged, Noah thinks differently. “Although people would like to believe that Donald Trump switches every day because he’s not in control, I think it’s the opposite,” he said. “This is not a bug of Donald Trump, it’s a feature. He’s in full control of whatever persona shows up.”
He described how other politicians switch styles on stage. “Obama speaks differently in a black and a white crowd; Bush spoke differently to farmers and bankers; Ted Cruz speaks differently to people and that pile of human heads in his basement that he says are his friends,” he said. “Trump is different. When he talks to different audiences, even within just a few days, he doesn’t just tweak his style, he changes his message.”
Noah then discussed his ultimate theory about Trump and how this week has proved him right. “Trump’s swings are only surprising if you expect Trump to actually be president. But Donald Trump isn’t a president, he’s just playing one on TV,” he said. “Trump is simply exploiting something we’ve all known about politics: half of it is performance.”
He continued: “It’s acting. It’s just like Denzel Washington: he can be a lawyer, or a pilot, or a football coach. Trump can be a statesman, a demagogue or a standup comedian – he can choose.”
In conclusion, he found a way to reward Trump’s work as a politician. “Don’t think of Donald Trump as America’s worst president. Think of him as the Academy Award winner for best actor in a presidency,” he said.
