Dictatorship is a branding operation. The ubiquity of the dictator’s name and image, the repetition of slogans and symbols, the hollow rituals (like “elections” with preordained winners, like “firings” with preordained losers) all contribute to the building of the spectacular state and its captive audience. This pageantry is something authoritarians and reality TV producers understand in equal measure, and Trump inhabits the worlds of both.
