How Snooki Can Shape the Presidential Contest

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There are still a few Americans who haven’t decided whom they will vote for in November. I believe most of these people are Republicans—their candidate doesn’t exactly model their values, and they certainly don’t plan to vote for the Democrat. Given their choices, they cannot decide who would be the better President.

But even though the question of “who will be a better President” will divide the country for the next few months, we can all agree on who would be a terrible choice for President. And that person is Snooki from The Real Jersey Shore.

Snooki can’t exactly become President: she’s not thirty-five-years-old, nor was she born in the United States, which are two qualifications for being the President. Plus, she’s not running.

But let’s say she were a thirty-five-year-old natural-born U.S. citizen, and she were running a campaign for the presidency. She’d still be a terrible President.

We expect Presidents to demonstrate gravitas. They must be capable of tackling complicated issues with both dignity and empathy. Presidents must be intellectually curious, able to understand and appreciate conflicting arguments, listen to advisers who are smarter than they are, and make decisions that best serve the nation’s interests of promoting democracy and liberty.

Snooki is known for embarrassing herself on national television. Her noteworthy choices include picking fights, getting drunk, and saying remarkably stupid things while knowingly and approvingly having those decisions recorded and broadcast. Her cultural cache comes not from honor or dignity, but from being a fool.

We don’t expect Presidents to be honored with a WWE Slammy Award for “A-Lister of the Year.” Snooki won hers in 2011.

If you are still one of those Americans who can’t decide which Presidential candidate is best for our country, I encourage you to ask yourself, “Which candidate reminds me the most of Snooki?”

Then vote for the other candidate.

A thought about comic book villains and Donald Trump

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The best movie, television, and comic book villains don’t believe they are evil. That’s not to say they aren’t evil–they clearly are–but they believe their dastardly plans serve a noble purpose. It’s what separates the Joker–who terrorizes Gotham because he believes chaos is preferable to order–from bank robbers–who terrorize Gotham because they want money. The bank robbers know they are doing something bad, and as such are merely generic bad guys–many of them don’t even have names. The Joker’s motivations extend beyond merely being bad for the sake of being bad–he is motivated by a purpose he believes to be noble.

Many of these villains believe their noble purpose is to accumulate power. Their pursuit toward the top of the hierarchy trumps the crimes they commit. They may not want to be at the top merely to terrorize or hurt others once they get there, but they are willing to hurt others in order to maintain their status as the Most Powerful Person in their Universe. They don’t want to be at the top just to be bad; they just want to be at the top.

The more I reflect on the motivations behind these villains who are willing to do evil in the purpose toward what they believe is a noble goal, the more I understand Donald Trump. He doesn’t believe he is evil. He believes becoming the President is a noble goal, and is oblivious to the evil implications of his presidency. He believes his immigration stance is moral, not reprehensible. He believes rousing violence at his rallies is patriotism, not hatred. He believes an attack on his character is an attack on all that is good and noble about America.

Like the Joker, and Lex Luthor, and the League of Shadows, and any other well-written villain, Donald Trump doesn’t know he’s evil. And like the villains of the fictional worlds, that’s what makes him dangerous.