The Kayfabe Manifesto
The Trump presidency Mk II and Australian higher education
One of my most popular substack posts thus far was Manifesto. This generated the sum total of seven reads, six likes and two comments. Manifesto was drafted just after the Biden Trump presidential debate and predicted a Trump landslide. Much has happened since then. The Republican Party published its 2024 platform (the first in eight years). Biden dropped out of the race, and Kamala Harris narrowed the gap in polling but was ultimately unsuccessful. The eight readers of this post might also have read the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and be recoiling in horror at the prospect of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian Gilead becoming a prescient reality.
Analysis of Trump Mk I’s passage to power included the line that many of the liberal elite took Trump literally, but not seriously. When Trump’s core supports took Trump seriously but not literally. The question many will be asking is what to expect with Trump Mk II. I’m not remotely equipped to provide authoritative insight as to what comes next, but I have been thinking about Kayfabe of late, and hope that what comes next is more theatrical performance than the erosion of democracy.
“Kayfabe” in wrestling, the practice of trying to make people believe that wrestlers are particular characters, when in fact they are only pretending to be those characters.
Growing up with Deaf parents meant that the television was important in my acquisition of English language. Extended family were dismayed by my fixation on the idiot box. I found out just recently that a well meaning relative subjected me (without my parents consent) to an intellectual disability assessment as a child. Some who know me well might suggest that was well founded. To me it demonstrates my parents made an intelligent choice to leave England and the interference of their family to start a new life in Australia. We did just fine by ourselves independently.
My television fixation saw me watch far too much Wide World of Sports on a Saturday afternoon. The costumes and catch phrases of UK’s Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy, and US’s Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, are stored in the deep recesses of my mind. I was perplexed by anyone who took this seriously. I’d have let this stay hidden had it not been for that pesky heel Dominic Cummings.
For those that don’t know Dominic Cummings, he’s former Chief Advisor to Boris Johnstone, was Director of the Vote Leave campaign, and portrayed as the mastermind behind Brexit. In a recent conversation I had with an Associate Professor of Public Policy, Cummings was categorised as a ‘non-serious person’, as one could not be both a serious person and a supporter of Brexit. Nonetheless I try to read widely, and find Cummings’ substack interesting. In various posts Cummings has referred to the media as a form of kayfabe.
Cummings’ recent example of this Kayfabe in political coverage is President Biden. Reputable media outlets regularly dismissed reports of Biden’s cognitive decline as misinformation. The presidential debate between Biden and Trump exposed the extent of this cognitive decline and contributed to Biden’s withdrawal from the race and Harris’s elevation to nominee. I’m not validating Cummings thesis by writing about this, just using this a launching pad to explore what is fake and what is real in American politics… and higher education. And a reminder here, Trump has been inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame. He’s well versed in the performative nature of entertainment industries, being the character he’s scripted to portray, and how breaking Kayfabe was a big no no.
Potentially Kayfabe policy positions
The Republican Party Platform 2024 is written as Trumpian hyperbole. Not only will it MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN (written in ALL CAPS) it will be achieved by some of the following claims:
CARRY OUT THE LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY
PREVENT WORLD WAR THREE, RESTORE PEACE IN EUROPE AND IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND BUILD A GREAT IRON DOME MISSILE DEFENCE SHIELD OVER OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY - - ALL MADE IN AMERICA
KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORT
UNITE OUR COUNTRY BY BRINGING IT TO NEW AND RECORD LEVELS OF SUCCESS
Taken literally, some of the Republican Party’s policy commitments could provide legitimacy to very alarming use of state powers, and as per my original Manifesto, provide Australian political parties and policy actors with US policy precedents to import for our collective enjoyment. My hope (perhaps ill informed and naive) is that these claims are just the Kayfabe of American politics. Scripted remarks to engage an electorate keen to be entertained, delivered by the political equivalent of Randy the ‘Macho Man’ Savage.
A few high profile deportations with media coverage would satisfy platform 2, but not require millions funnelled into detention camps ahead of deportation. The added benefit of not rounding up the illegal masses is that they can also blame the ‘deep state’ liberals and keep the intensity of grievance sustained for the next election or two, and potentially do enough to stay in power indefinitely. As for platform 20 and new and record levels of success, Wall Street just needs to increase marginally from its current record highs, and hey presto , America has successfully been made great again, complete with a mission accomplished sign on an aircraft carrier. As for platform 8, if Trump can achieve these aims then I’ll join the MAGA bandwagon, but I suspect that the underlying challenges won’t be resolved this decade, nor in some cases, this century.
Kayfabe and Australian Higher Education policy
This piece may have started with Trump, but its real origin story is with the Accord and suggests that a Kayfabe approach to politics is not just an American phenomena. Recent conversations have suggested that the Accord has been a tremendous success. Its main purpose (according to my cynical interlocutors) has been to buy time and distract the sector from the implementation of real reform. On that basis, the Accord has surpassed expectations. The big policy announcements like a 20% write off in HELP debts were not front and centre of Accord recommendations. International student caps were also not what enthusiastic readers understood the Accord to be aiming for. The multi billion price tag for HELP reform and revenue forgone for enrolment caps could have gone some way to providing more places, or unwinding the JRG funding changes, or supporting equity for enrolled or future students. I suspect that the showmanship of communicating comings and goings in the portfolio will continue to be well received, even if the reality is drifting further away from the promise with each passing day.
Concerning non-Kayfabe policy positions
World peace and record levels of success are perfect Trumpian claims that can be celebrated as achieved with exagerated falsehoods. There are other policy positions detailed in the Republican platform which are of more genuine concern. Questions of what is fake and what is real are taking on existential levels of seriousness given developments around generative artificial intelligence. On this front there is the intention to:
Repeal Joe Biden’s dangerous Executive Order that hinders AI innovation, and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology. In its place, Republicans support AI development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing.
Constraints on what AI might be trained to do are about to be wound back, and this is more worrisome to me than the bulk of the platform. At the very least, the energy demands of AI un-hindered will be huge and intersect with another platform commitment:
The Republican Party will once again make America Energy Independent, and then Energy Dominant, lowering Energy prices even below the record lows achieved under President Trump’s first term.
It’s Trumpian exaggeration that energy was cheaper under Trump than ever before, but the support for oil, gas and coal does not bode well for any reduction in CO2 emissions, and that is globally more significant than a geographically isolated socially regressive America that might emerge.
Bold Prediction
For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction. My recollection is that me-too and BLM protests emerged from the Trump MK I social context. It’s inevitable in my view that there will be parallels to these movements in the next four years. Not sure what the flash points will be, but there will be backlashes that have global relevance and are coming to a campus near you. Some of the protagonists will be in full Kayfabe mode - outraged by issue X - but in character as professional protestors who’ll not care two hoots about the impact of their disruption on the education of those that are keen to keep things real.
It's a powerful metaphor Matt. Among the best analyses I've seen. It reminds me of a point made by some of my favourite podcasters, Matt Sitman and Sam Alder-Bell on Know Your Enemy. Leftists whose point was picked up by the very not left wing WSJ. Trump's first term was very unsucessful politically and from a policy perspective. The real question is, does he surround himself this time with people who can navigate the shredded but still significant political and process barriers and implement positions that were promised last time but never delivered? Or does it remain in the realms of rhetoric that, within the bubble in which most of his voters live, can be represented as policy achievements despite nothing really changing?