At a special White House news briefing for youngsters on Bring Your Child to Work Day, Karoline Leavitt, Donald Trump’s press secretary and mother of 10-month-old Niko, was asked what the President’s favourite room was.
Her answer? The Oval Office. Now repurposed as a gilded pleasure dome, this is where Trump stages his daily reality show. It is the stage where he signs executive orders, greets visitors and plays to the camera, sometimes to chilling effect.
For South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, the Oval Office was transformed into a theatre of cruelty. With lights dimmed, Trump put on a video show for his startled guest which was riddled with fake news about the alleged genocide of white South African farmers.
Imagine if their roles had been reversed, and Ramaphosa had played footage of January 6 rioters chanting “hang Mike Pence” instead of being treated to a film of opposition politician Julius Malema at a rally leading cries of “kill the Boer”.
Trump, let’s not forget, has pardoned all the Capitol rioters and his administration has just agreed to pay nearly $5m compensation to the family of the Maga martyr, Ashli Babbitt, who was shot trying to break into the House speaker’s chamber.
These are mere details. What matters is the spectacle. The stocks or pillory haven’t been used for punishment since the 19th century, but Trump has revived them by throwing rotten eggs and tomatoes at his guests.
Starting with the pelting of Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, no foreign leader or VIP can be sure of their reception. Who will be the next to endure ritual humiliation or – varying the plotline – to earn Trump’s goodwill? Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and our own Keir Starmer can count themselves lucky.
The return of the pillory has spread to other branches of government. Trump wasn’t joking when he vowed, “I am your retribution”, to delegates at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) back in March 2023. Perceived enemies in the liberal media and elite institutions appear to have found themselves at the sharp edge of expensive lawsuits, firings and pressure campaigns.
Harvard is in a doom spiral after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem peremptorily banned the Ivy League university from enrolling international students on top of a $2bn grant freeze. The university is challenging both these orders in court and on Friday a US District Court judge temporarily blocked Noem’s ban. But, win or lose, it appears to be being punished for permitting “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” on campus and refusing to hand over disciplinary records. Not just the stocks, then, but also the rack until it buckles.
Ed Martin, the newly-appointed head of the Department of Justice’s so-called “weaponisation working group”, boasts that the bully pulpit is a useful method of attack against Trump’s foes. “If they can be charged, we’ll charge them,” he said. “But if they can’t be charged, we’ll name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed.”
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This tactic is being deployed against former FBI chief James Comey, who has been pilloried for an Instagram post showing seashells on a beach forming the numbers 8647, purportedly calling for the assassination of the 47th president (his old nemesis) – something Comey denied.
After a farcical hue and cry over the use of “86”, which can mean to kill someone but mostly means “to eject”, Comey was questioned by the Secret Service. Despite calls from intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard to “put him behind bars”, he is unlikely to be locked up but has received a thorough verbal punishment beating for his lèse-majesté.
Following their leader’s tactics, Maga politicians in Florida are seemingly duffing-up Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey, after he had the gall to challenge Trump for the presidential nomination. State prosecutors are now investigating the alleged misuse of funds at Hope Florida Foundation, a charity linked to his wife’s office.
This is playing havoc with the first lady of Florida’s hopes of succeeding DeSantis as governor. DeSantis has called the investigation a “smear campaign”, claiming “everything that’s been thrown at it is pure politics”. But then, what isn’t?
Only Trump, with his brass neck, seems immune to the stocks. On Thursday night, he hosted a gala dinner at his Virginia golf course for the top 220 investors in his $TRUMP meme coin, raising ethical questions about selling access to the president. Protesters greeted their arrival with cries of “shame”.
Together, the dinner guests have invested $148m in Trump’s highly profitable vanity project. The biggest 25 holders were granted a private VIP reception.
“It’s absurd for anyone to insinuate that this President is profiteering off the presidency,” said Leavitt at a press briefing for grown-ups. From the theatre of cruelty to the theatre of the absurd, Trump is always the master of ceremonies.
Sarah Baxter is director of the Marie Colvin Centre for International Reporting
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