Trump’s makeup mask strategically hides something that we might never see

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Trump’s makeup mask strategically hides something that we might never see

President-elect Donald Trump, at the time a candidate for president, speaks on May 28, 2022, in Casper, Wyoming. (Chet Strange/Getty Images)

Despite both being nominally from the same political party, our last two Republican presidents, Donald Trump and George W. Bush, don’t share much common ground these days. In fact, some politicos hoped that Bush

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— or at least criticize Trump — in the lead-up to last month’s election.

But this week, I’ve been thinking about a 20-year-old political movie that, at least in my mind, ties the two presidents together.

Perhaps you’ve seen

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the 2004 documentary by Michael Moore that lambasts the Bush administration. The movie blames the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania on a cartoonishly silly president who loved vacations and chumming it up with the press more than protecting the country.

The movie fumes about the White House’s reaction to 9/11, especially its use of a national tragedy to drag the country into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I admit that this plotline doesn’t seem to have much to do with Trump’s return to power in January (although Moore did make a sequel of sorts about Trump, called

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).

The micro-portion of the original movie that illuminates Trump is the opening credits. After imagining an America in which Al Gore, rather than Bush, won the 2000 election, Moore introduces the main characters in crafting Bush’s foolhardy foreign policy.

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, the movie provides footage of Bush’s coterie as they are prepped for interviews. They stand in front of broadcast cameras while hands jut into the frame to dab on foundation and fix their hair.

Vice President ***** Cheney serenely waits for a makeup brush to finish on his bald forehead. The camera zooms in uncomfortably on the eyes of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Condoleeza Rice, bathed in studio lights, stands in front of a capitol city nightscape. Preposterously, Paul Wolfowitz wets a comb in his mouth before running it through his hair (it doesn’t help much).

Finally, Bush sits behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, waiting to address the nation. A stylist finds a small bit of Bush’s hair that needs tamed, flicking at it with a comb. The president, a bit goofy and a bit nervous, glances off screen. It appears that someone just said a joke, as if he is trying to stifle a laugh.

These moments are quietly ferocious, mocking the political leaders from the turn of the century as being trifling at a time of national peril, of death and destruction. In 2004, I remember snickering derisively along with others in the theater where I saw the movie. The audience was thinking of the horrific twisted metal at New York City’s Ground Zero while watching the soft-lit vanity of conservative politicians, one by one.

Moore’s first few minutes reduced the powerful of Washington. It shattered the preening lens that political consultants hand-polished to make America’s leaders shine.

Watching that footage, we saw the emperor’s clothing — and his makeup — fall away. To watch these opening credits is to understand: As a politician, don’t ever let the public see you unguarded. Don’t ever let them see you without your mask firmly in place.

Whether he learned the lesson from Moore’s footage or not, Trump has digested and deployed this political truism since coming down the escalator to his first press conference in 2015. His instinct more likely comes from years on his reality show, “The Apprentice,” and

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.

Many mock Trump’s appearance: the pink circles surrounding his eyes peeping through an orange face, his neck often showing a stark line where the makeup fades and the more natural skin tone shows. While Trump must think this look projects youth and power, it also suggests insecurity and vanity. He is likely the

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over the past 10 years, and not every camera angle and lighting set-up flatters him. His skin can appear a

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in some situations and a

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in others.

People wonder why this look is mandatory for Trump. Sure, the bronzed look, if delicately applied and carefully lit, might suggest a Florida playboy of leisure, lounging on a yacht on the intercoastal waterway with a fishing rod in one hand and a business call in the other. It’s a glitzy, coastal image that seems certain to repel Kansans — except it’s had the opposite effect. If Midwesterners don’t relate to Trump’s manicured sunbaked image, maybe Midwesterners aspire to it? 

Even with this signature look being a feature of three consecutive presidential campaigns, please help me find a photo of Trump having his trademark orange makeup applied. I have searched photo agencies and the internet. It’s easier to find a photo of a

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receiving make-up or a

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creating that famous face on herself than the president getting makeup.

For what it’s worth, his campaign has said that he doesn’t use makeup at all.

Trump and his staff must know that photo would wound — if not hobble — Trump. Imagine his face, half in orange and half natural, illuminated by the soft glow of a green room mirror as stylists hover around. Imagine the careful preparation needed to place his thinning, yet long, hair just so. Imagine social media crackling with memes and jabs and takedowns.

Some photos —

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— seem to show him without makeup. Still, I can’t find him in the makeup chair, the moment that so effectively skewered the Bush administration officials in “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

While we might worry about what drives a public figure toward an appearance as extreme and outlandish as Trump’s, I think there is a larger message here — one that will likely continue to be important through Trump’s upcoming second term.

Some say Trump is undisciplined in his politics. “Unhinged.” “Norm-breaking.” “Reckless.” “Criminal.” “Flailing.” He doesn’t always follow through on his campaign promises. His vetting of appointees might cause PR heartburn. His rhetoric might seem unelectable. It might seem that Trump relishes swerves more than straight lines.

Nevertheless, Trump remains disciplined about his mask. We, the public, must never see him in the moment of transformation, because that would reveal that there are two Trumps.

If my focus on Trump and his make-up seems trivial, consider how much his playboy bravado helped his campaigns. How much his swagger has fueled his cult of personality and its sycophants. How the make-up masked his age. And how this discipline about his image could very easily creep into more consequential matters.

In the folktale of “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” the public laughs at the strut of the naked ruler parading through the streets.

In the reality of Trump’s second term, the public might stare blank-faced each day as the president emerges from the White House with news of his latest retribution — but with his orange mask firmly in place.

Eric Thomas teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, 

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#Trumps #makeup #mask #strategically #hides

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