Trump “Unshackled”
Many hours have been spent discussing the American Presidency between Scott Woods, Phil Dellio and I, so it shouldn’t surprise me that they’ve now written a book on our sitting executive, Donald Trump.
Unshackled is not a political book, but more a cultural exploration of the figures, real and fictional, who came before Mr. Trump, paving the way for this unprecedented candidate and presidency. But how unprecedented is it? Unshackled unpacks this question.
I spoke with my old friend Scott Woods about the book, and Trump himself, in January of 2017, a week before the president’s swearing in.
Chris Buck: Let’s talk about the book’s title, “Unshackled.”
Scott Woods: We’d been struggling with the title, with maybe about 3 or 4 weeks left in the general election, and he makes one of the oddest statements of the campaign. It was after the Access Hollywood tape was released and Paul Ryan had sort of disowned him and Trump responded by saying, “At last, the shackles can come off and I can really express how I feel.”
The word “shackled” just lingered around in my brain…and then ‘unshackled’ came up, and then we thought it’s not a bad word to describe where things are going. And that this might be one of Trump’s long lasting impacts, that the filters are now off.
In reading the book I thought you guys were very fair. I didn’t vote for Trump, but I get annoyed with the overall reaction to him. The way people are freaking out is moving to an area of narcissism that it is no longer about your concern for the country, this is about you expressing your personal anxiety.
When Rob Ford was elected mayor in Toronto people went on Facebook and said, “Stop embarrassing the city!” But I’m thinking, “You’re loving this.” (Laughter). I’m thinking, “There’s policies and all that sort of stuff, but you’re out there ranting about this everyday on Facebook - you’re as energized about this as anyone.”
Funny enough, the first two people in the book are Sarah Palin and Rob Ford. And I’m glad of that because they’re both current and they both do sort of provide maybe the clearest direct path. It is kind of hard to think of Trump without Sarah Palin having cleared some of the way.
How self-aware is Trump’s genius? Or is it? Did a perfect storm allow a holy fool to arrive in the White House? Or is he really a master of media manipulation and game strategy?
It’s probably a bit of both. But I would come down more on the, “He’s a mastermind” for sure.
It’s a playbook based on confusing people all the time, playing head games. I am convinced that there are going to be times in the years ahead that Trump is fully going to piss off those who love him, and he’s going to be doing it purposely. It’s all about, “Keeping them on their toes.”
One chapter in our book that I think maybe goes into this a little bit - and I’m really happy with this chapter - is The Church of the Subgenius. It’s a really interesting book, a satire from the early eighties, but you read it now, and it’s like, “My God, this reads like a playbook for team Trump.” It’s not like, “Here’s how to cover your lies,” it’s “Here’s how to make the most of your lies.” It says, “Go out and lie, and then lie some more.” I’m reading it and think, “They’re being prophetic!”
So, you don’t just see him as bumbling through things. To me it’s almost like the whole thing is improvised.
I don’t think he has it all mapped out but I think part of the strategy is, “Just say what comes to mind, and people will love it.”
One of the scary parts of it is, yeah, I think that some of it is fumbling through it and there are certain aspects where he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing. But I think that, itself, is adapted as part of the strategy. Like, in a way, I don’t know how to explain it any further than, it’s just a sense he has - but don’t use that as a weakness, actually use it as kind of a strength.
Does he still surprise you? Given how much thought you’ve put into him and everything?
I think people are going to be forced to be walking on eggshells for the next four years because every day is just going to be totally crazy. It’s possible that maybe in two years from now, we’ll be so outrage-fatigued that maybe it will have died down a little bit, but right now it’s still so weird, it’s so interesting, that I want to know about it.
Obama was such a superstar but Trump already has trumped him…Obama seems diminished.
It’s too soon to say right now, but in the present moment, I agree with you. It’s kind of a clever line, but I’ve been saying that Trump has basically been the president for over a year now - in the sense that the president is the voice of the country.
Let’s talk about Trump as comedian. I heard a commentator at NPR maybe two weeks ago say, “I’m really going to miss Obama, he’s so witty, he’s almost like a comedian, and Trump’s just not funny.” And I was like, you’re crazy, man, Trump’s hilarious.” And I don’t even mean mistakenly, ironically hilarious. He’s actually got great timing.
The best example I can think of is, during a debate with Hillary, when she was mocking him for getting upset that the Apprentice didn’t win an Emmy 3 years in a row, and he interjected “It shoulda won!”
Yeah, I agree with you but it almost depends on what I read and what I watch. There is this stuff that Greil Marcus has been writing about Trump recently, and after I read it, I’ve been like, holy fuck, this actually is kind of terrifying. I don’t find this funny right now. And then I’ll think of it in a different context and it’s like well, I can’t deny the fact that the guy can still make me laugh.
Photo: courtesy Scott Woods