Re: <nettime> made for TV, made for social media

[Dan S Wang <danswang@protonmail.com>]

Made by TV, made by social media. Trump, that is

Trump wanted to overthrow the election and his hardcore followers believed
that he would provide them direction, but in the end he proved that he is
unable to really lead when it counts. He is not a general, nor a
strategist, nor a coach, nor anything but a bluster machine (though a very
good one). Obvious to most of us, but a revelation to some not until they
were inside the capitol, wondering What now?

The backlash slapped him down and now the threats of impeachment, removal,
and sanctions yet to be figured, have Trump singing a completely different
tune. Stiff, uncomfortable, and surely fake--but a script for
self-preservation that even he knew had become necessary. (And in turn
creates dissonance among his people, some of those who vowed themselves
ready to die for his cause now crying betrayal. Hilarious.)


Why the (insincere) words acknowledging the end of his reign? Because of
all the reactions, the most important and effective in blunting the man's
thirst for chaos and desire to incite was Jack Dorsey's muzzling of the
Twitter account. Accompanied by a clear warning: keep this up and I'll ban
you from Twitter forever.

Donald Trump is addicted to Twitter, pure and simple. He doesn't want to
govern, he wants to tweet. He hates government meetings, legislative
processes, presidential ceremonies--but loves having his rapid-fire tweet
storms. More than any aspiring teen IG influencer, Twitch streamer, or
Facebook friend hoarder, Trump is addicted to hearts and retweets by the
millions. 

Some fear once out of office Trump has enough capital (wait a minute, what
about that half billion in debt that's coming due??) to start a major news
and social media platform of his own. But he's not thinking about the
platform launch a year from now. He's too busy composing in his head his
next few tweets, and like any addict, already getting a charge from the
anticipation of the effects. For him it's Twitter or nothing.

And when Twitter turned the dial to zero for 12 hours, the reports are
that he sat alone in the White House residence riding a one-man roller
coaster of negativity, going from despair to rage and back. As has become
usual, unreachable by his aides or family. But for the first time unable
to tweet any of it.

A second impeachment? Invocation of the 25th amendment? Normally his
weapon of defense would be tweeting. With that taken out from his control,
and with the company making it plain that he doesn't own the platform, he
had no choice but to return to the activated account in a different kind
of voice albeit off-key (ie fake as hell).

This is merely one element in the larger drama, still unfolding as Prem
and others have noted. But the tension between Trump and Twitter, which is
to say, in some profound sense between Trump and himself, is a key
relationship to watch and one of the theaters in which power has shifted.
Whether he will reclaim it as a weapon, and what Twitter will tolerate,
will figure into the days to come, as well as Trump's capacity to continue
as a focal point for the always almost-fragmented hard right.

Keep sharing your takes, please. We're all digesting this together.

Dan 

—Resident Artist, 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA

@type_rounds_1968
@nowtime_asianamerica
danswang.xyz




On 1/8/21, 10:52 AM, "Molly Hankwitz" <nettime-l-bounces@mail.kein.org on
behalf of mollyhankwitz@gmail.com> wrote:

>not to nitpick, but they had a command and that was from Trump...to
>"storm the capitol"
>
>after that they had no serious intent to occupy the Capitol or, for
>instance, to issue demands...
>they were there to disrupt the electoral college vote confirmation by
>Congress - on behalf of their leader (Trump)
>
>peace
>molly
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>molly hankwitz - she/her
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>http://bivoulab.org
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>On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 9:58 AM Tara Mcpherson <tmcphers@usc.edu> wrote:
>
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>It was definitely a mob, and I think Geert is right that this particular
>event had no clear command.
>
>
>
>But I would caution against assuming these rioters were all poor white
>folk or that this was primarily about class. Many in the mob
>have now been identified, and there were plenty of white collar hooligans
>in the mix, some flying in on their private jets. The formation and
>legacies of whiteness in the US are a key animating factor here in a way
>that
> crosses class lines. It also fuels the way the mob claimed the title
>“patriot” and invoked 1776.
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>Tara 
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>(Sent by pneumatic tube.)
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>________________________________________
>From: nettime-l-bounces@mail.kein.org <nettime-l-bounces@mail.kein.org>
>on behalf of Geert Lovink <geert@xs4all.nl>
>Sent: Friday, January 8, 2021 8:13:54 AM
>To: a moderated mailing list for net criticism <nettime-l@mail.kein.org>
>Subject: Re: <nettime> made for TV, made for social media
>
>Good question, Keith.
>
>Was it a putch without a purpose of a mob without a cause? For sure they
>were all revved up, dazed by meme magick and shit, looking for the best
>selfie opportunity.
>
>Once we enter the heart of the power, and roam around there, we do not
>face power as such. No need to repeat here what Foucault and many other
>after him have written about power. We know, but what if one has to
>experience this at first hand, as riot tourists?
>
>The warriors were running through corridors, without a plan, needless to
>say, without their leader, as he was sitting in front of his TV set,
>around the corner, enjoying the images, watching the spectacle unfold,
>yet remaining silent at the decisive moment.
>
>There was no command, no plan, not even a serious counterforce. At best
>it was a ‘disruption’ such as promoted by Silicon Valley venture
>capitalists.
>
>Geert
>
>> On 8 Jan 2021, at 4:39 pm, Keith Sanborn <mrzero@panix.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Put another way, was it the burning of the Reichstag or the storming of
>>the Winter Palace? or neither?
>
>
>
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