Donald Drumpf Theatre: Political Technology or Why The Fascist is the 47th President

'Political technology' is a Russian term for the professional engineering of politics. It has turned Russian politics into theatre and propaganda. — Andrew WilsonThis week: "Political Technology or Why The Fascist is the 47th President." The fascist candidate with a fondness for Hitler takes his throne after a theatrical campaign. Opening theme includes clips from Rod Serling; Bill Cosby; Jon Stewart; Larys Strong; Andrew Weissmann; Rudy Giuliani; Eric Cartman; Richard Nixon; and Kent Brockman. Thanks for the songs from Golden Earring ("Twilight Zone"), and Bernard Hermann (“Prelude and Rooftop” and “Scene D’Amour” from “Vertigo.”). Clips and excerpts from Michael Corleone; Colin Jost; Jimmy Kimmel; Desi Lydic; Seth Meyers; Donald Drumpf; The Onion; Stephen Colbert; Trae Crowder; Michael Che; Symone Sanders; John Oliver; Bernie Sanders; Heather Cox Richardson; and Ego Nwodim, Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang, Sarah Sherman, Heidi Gardner, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, and Dana Carvey from “Saturday Night Live.” Episode 212.Below, the source material for this show."Donald Drumpf Theatre" is the weekly radio theatre show about a fictional presidency, with parody radio coverage of the radio and its headlines. Now with computerized news readers, and fewer meddling reporters, plus aggregated reporting, and automated music. It is often a mash-up of the week's news, and sometimes a radio news fantasy with song parodies and covers all mixed in a style similar to Spike Jones, Dickie Goodman, Dr. Demento, or Richard Foreman with comedy skits, sketches, radio waves, and more. Produced by Tom Roe. Clips and songs are from some of the sources below.'Political technology' is a Russian term for the professional engineering of politics. It has turned Russian politics into theatre and propaganda, and metastasised to take over foreign policy and weaponise history. The war against Ukraine is one outcome. In the West, spin doctors and political consultants do more than influence media or run campaigns: they have also helped build parallel universes of alternative political reality. Hungary has used political technology to dismantle democracy. The BJP in India has used it to consolidate unprecedented power. Different countries learn from each other. Some types of political technology have become notorious, like troll farms or data mining; but there is now a global wholesale industry selling a range of manipulation techniques, from astroturfing to fake parties to propaganda apps. This book shows that 'political technology' is about much more than online disinformation: it is about whole new industries of political engineering. — Andrew Wilson. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tomroeradio.substack.com/subscribe