Ethan Silver
James W. Carey famously argued that communications can be understood in two distinct overlapping forms of logic: communication as transmission and communication as a ritual. While the transmission model emphasizes efficient information sending across spaces, the ritual model instead focuses on communication being a symbolic process, sustaining shared beliefs, identities, and social order over a period of time (Carey, 2009). These two frameworks provide a powerful lens through which helps analyze contemporary political communication, especially in the spectate-driven politics associated with Donald Trump. The Current Affairs article “The Line Between Politics and Pro Wrestling Has Disappeared” argues that Trump political style is deeply shaped by his experiences with professional wrestling, which is not only a form of entertainment but an experience that is built not on truths or persuasion but on performance, reputation, and emotional investment. When analyzing through Carey’s frameworks and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s concept of sintering, Trump’s politics do not just come off as simply misinformation or a source of manipulation, but as a form of a ritualized communication system that fragments a collective meaning and accelerates political polarization.
Carey’s transmission model of communication understands that communication is the movement of messages from a sender to a receiver with the purpose of using these messages for control, influence, and information delivery (Carey, 2009). This model of communication dominates a substantial portion of political analysis, particularly critiquing the use of propaganda, “fake news,” and disinformation. Using this perspective, Trump’s communication from a political standpoint appears to be incoherent and deceptive: stating often factually inaccurate, inflammatory, and contradictory information. Though focusing exclusively on the transmission of Trump’s communication functions for his audience. His messages and speeches are not primarily designed to inform or persuade his audience through factual evidence and information; rather he actually operates and uses his messages to provoke emotions and reactions, dominating media cycles, and maintaining visibility, recently even discussing how he thought that the Bad Bunny half time show at the super bowl was a ‘slap in the face’ to America, even though Porta Rico being a part of the United States, in order to have his name in the news and to stay ‘relevant.’ In this sense, Trump exploits the logic of transmission in modern media, particularly by using cable news and social media, being able to ensure that his statements travel rapidly and fast, regardless of what he is saying being truthful and of value.
Carey’s ritual model offers a more illuminating framework. Communication as a ritual is not about just sending added information but about the maintaining of the shared meaning through things like repetition, participation, and symbolic action (Carey, 2009). The Current Affairs article highlights how professional wrestling operates within almost entirely through a ritualistic logic Wresting, not aiming to convince an audience that the events are so called “real” in a factual sense; instead, it actually invites fans into the shared performances where the characters are exaggerated, there is moral binaries and a recurring themes of conflicts that reaffirms collective emotional investment and engagement. Trump's use of media appearances, political rallies and his online persona and presence function at similarly. His use of antagonistic nicknames, repeated slogans, and staged confrontations do not seek to resolve anything or to create political clarity. Rather, they play a part in affirming a worldview where Trump is the heroic outsider that is battling the corrupt elites and hostile enemies.
Through this use of ritualized information, Trump’s supporters are not passive recipients of information but actively being participants in a symbolic order and reinforcing group identity. By chanting slogans, defending trump on online platforms, and dismissing critical media all function as ritualistic actions supporting the MAGA group identity. The emotional intensity of these rituals matters more than simple factual coherence, explaining why fact checking and journalistic rebuttals often fail to weaken trump’s overall appearance and influence. They often address transmission issues but ignore the ritual success and Trump’s politics thrive because his politics do not depend on rational persuasion.
This dynamic connects to Leanne Betasamosake Simpson's concept of sintering, as explained in Theory of Water. Simpson uses sintering to describe the process through relational systems to crumble under pressure, and that the fragmented collective understanding and shared meaning (Simpson, 2017). In a political sense, sintering helps breakdown a shared public reality. Rather than simply fostering a collective understanding, Trump instead, communicates through intensifying division by encouraging his listeners and supporters to reject all external sources of actual substance like journalism, science, and democratic institutions, especially in favor of an internally reinforced narrative.
Trump’s use of wrestling inspired politics do not just paralyze opinions; they actively erode the conditions for shared communication. Each spectacle he created, regardless of how large or small deepened sintering by hardening the symbolic boundaries between ‘us’ and ‘them.’ In this case, media and communication cause a deeper divide and separation rather than building a bridge between groups. Simpson’s framework highlights that this is not accidental but produced through repeated uses of communication practices that privilege domination rather than relational accountability.
Importantly, this analysis does not suggest that Trump also is responsible for political sintering. Instead, it is the media systems who support, and reward spectacle create fertile ground for ritualized performance politics. Trump's success reveals a far deeper crisis in political communication. That is the domination of transmission-oriented critiques of media environments and their increasingly governed ritual dynamics. Without recognizing these shifts, the media attempts to use counter spectacle politics which risks reinforcing this behavior.
Conclusively, applying Carey’s model of communication and Simpsons concept of sintering to “The Line Between Politics and Pro Wrestling Has Disappeared” reveals that trumps political power is not only primarily focused on persuasion and misinformation, but rather on ritualized communication that continues to sustain emotion, identity and create division. Understanding politics as a spectacle requires moving beyond just factual transmission
I found your take on this article really interesting as I enjoyed your way of breaking down the functions of the larger MAGA group under Trump. One thing I really liked was your comment on the end focusing on how the media plays a larger part in creating sintering for his audience. I really liked this point as they do serve a large part of creating unity by helping to normalize or ground Trumps knowledge in a way that holds their audience together. Particularly I think influencers become this medium between Trumps extremism and an uninformed public that does the extra leg work to keep them emotionally attached to his way of running the government. Anyways, you had a very interesting take and it was a good read.
ReplyDeleteIt was really interesting to read about the connection Trump's political style to pro wrestling. As someone who has watched pro wrestling, the connection is uncanny as it is indeed a spectacle that is based on hype, drama and entertainment and creates a sense of false empowerment. Your understanding of ritualistic communication in relation to Trump and his followers is quite intriguing as they create a community of their own truths through social media chants rallies and appear to be connected and caring for each other. This highlights how integral communication can be and how it is used to promote a certain truth and how audiences can be effected and manipulated to follow an agenda. I enjoyed reading your perspective on the article that I did not use.
ReplyDeleteHello, I think you made a really point of addressing how Trump's political style works through ritual communication. Your connection to professional wrestling and the focus on emotion and performance made me think about how rallies and repeated phrases work like shared rituals that reinforce group identity. I also liked your point about fact checking not really weakening his influence. If communication is operating on a more ritual level then responding by correcting facts might miss what is actually happening. It definitely made me think about how emotional participation is what is keeping the communication powerful for supporters even if it is harmful.
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