Lately, two television series serve as fillers between movie offerings for our nighttime entertainment. Madam Secretary is one and Borgen is the other. Both feature female leads in atypical political roles, and both shows cover family lives complicated by the pressures of politics. Between the complexities of their jobs and the exhaustive strain on their marriages and families, one might reasonably ask, who in their right mind would want such a thing?
For those unfamiliar with Borgen (aired between 2010-2022), it is a dubbed-in-English Danish political drama covering Denmark’s first female prime minister. After a slow start with character development and a somewhat difficult-to-follow fast pace, Borgen evolves into a good show with strong parallels with the more familiar American political drama, Madam Secretary. It’s kind of like Madam Secretary meets West Wing but in Denmark. Both shows are fictional but deal with real-world problems and events. Borgen was somewhat prescient given it was written a year before Denmark actually had its first female prime minister.
Both of the shows mentioned cover the work-life balance issue and how bleak life may be when work overshadows all else. In these shows the inference is that we may tend to accept such situations more readily when it is the man who has the important job.
Returning to our titled topic question, why would any sane person want to put themselves through such an ordeal? I think the answer is in the question when it mentions sanity. Only crazy people would want such a job. Enter Donald John Trump, and I rest my case. Just kidding, about resting.
Yes, Donald Trump is due to be sworn into office tomorrow, for the second time. I feel he is both stupid and smart in a sort of idiot-savant way. I understand that this term is now considered offensive to some so the more preferred term is “savant syndrome” or “autistic savant.” Whatever term we use, the original reference is from the French words idiot and savant meaning “learned idiot.” Fictional savants include Forrest Gump, Sherlock Holmes, Will Hunting, and Sheldon Cooper.
Elon Musk has autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and was described by Time magazine as a “business savant.” His self-declaration is that he has Aspergers Syndrome. This explains his affected speech pattern and perhaps some of his technical skillset. Donald Trump is not a savant by any stretch of the term, but he does exhibit some limited advanced skills coupled with a total lack of empathy which allow him to function in the rarified atmosphere of wealthy politicians. While savant is off the table in reference to Trump, the idiot part will be in the eye of the beholder.
What our new president lacks in intelligence, political experience, and character, he makes up for with being entertaining. Being the center of attention is like a drug for him, and he is willing to act a fool to get his moment of fame. He is willing to do this even at the risk of infamy. As a nation, we are so upset with the status quo and bored with what we see from our traditional political leaders we seem to be willing to risk our democracy to be entertained. The money-politics hamster wheel has mandated that we just sit back and watch the show. With both Trump and Musk in the West Wing, I think we have both our idiot and our savant, just not all in the same person.
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