The Politicians Who Are Trying To Break The System Are Using GameStop Stock
The go-to-play of those who represent the disenfranchised
It’s a new day when Ted Cruz, AOC, Trump Jr, and savvy Twitter stars such as Elon Musk agree on something and fight the system in lockstep. It’s like a weird crossover episode in our favorite show, America. The controversial figures are now voicing their thoughts on the craziness that is GameStop stock. And all of their involvement is predictable.
The above politicians represent a part of the country that feels the rules of our country do not work in their favor. They hold office for the people that want to break the system. The people who voted for Donald Trump but also would have supported Bernie Sanders are the breakers. And sometimes the people who represent the breakers find themselves on the same side.
Although it is a hilarious meme that Wall Street is getting owned by high schoolers and Redditors with usernames like “WarrenPuffit”; it’s become much more than that. This is about sticking it to the Wall Street establishment.
And here’s how the political play works:
1. Bring attention to a national issue. In doing so, create a sense of injustice. Teaching about the problem might be necessary, but that’s good when in control of the narrative.
2. Concisely show who are the victims, villains, and tribes. The base must be able to sympathize with the victim and root for the hero.
3. Rail against the system as a whole for being unfair. Parallel the problem with inequities that others feel.
4. Go to battle on behalf of the victim, which now a much larger population sees as the embodiment of themselves. Become tied to the cause that is “good.”
5. Gain political influence.
In reality there might be a different order. Since the politician is communicating the injustice, rather than commenting about it, they can mold the story, like a landscaper trims hedges.
The GameStop stock is an isolated event, but now there are reminders of the Great Recession bailouts. It would be interesting if this morphs into a larger conversation about what is the economy and is it accurately represented by the stock market.
Here’s a famous example and break down of the play in action when TikTokers shocked the MAGA campaign:
1. AOC praises teenagers who used TikTok to orchestrate an embarrassing Trump Rally where no one showed up. The injustice is holding a rally in a pandemic.
2. The hero is clearly established as those who outwitted the Trump campaign. The villain is Trump and his campaign manager for holding a rally in a pandemic. Additionally, the evil is Trumpism.
3. AOC calls out white supremacy and the pandemic.
4. In this case, the battle is just tweeting and drawing attention. Anyone that didn’t want a Trump rally sees AOC as a fighter.
5. AOC’s tweet is widely shared.
This is a tool in the world of politics and influence. It’s not inherently bad. It’s like a new play for a football team: the play is great if it’s being used by the hometown team, but terrible if it’s being used by a rival. Yet, imagine how a public figure could manipulate the facts to create a false narrative of victims and a dangerous call to action.
Just because you see the injustice does not mean that others are looking at the same material. The people they follow and watch may be telling them the exact opposite. This isn’t the 1970s: news isn’t distributed through a few reputable TV stations and newspapers. We see different things, and are called to do different actions by different people on a day-to-day basis.
