What A Presidential Candidate and a Tik-Tok Influencer Have In Common.

- Is a headline you never thought you’d read…

Jul 15, 2024

Nor is it the start of a bad joke.

The fact that anyone could even ask this question signifies that we’re in late-stage cultural decay, with the rot only exacerbated by an art of deception that so many have seemed to master.

But all we can know for certain in the age of misinformation and through our history is that almost nothing is ever as it first seems. This, being our only place of comfort or assurance, commands that we question everything that we see now from that which threatens to really impact our lives, to more trivial instances that we’re trying to decide may or may not deserve our full attention. The blossoming marriage between organic material and images generated by A.I. has only skewed our perception further, with deep fake video and audio becoming alarmingly over-realistic as well as being far too accessible for the general population. We really don’t (and shouldn’t) trust everything we see and hear these days, especially when there is so much to be gained from our impressionability and our willingness to assume the best of humankind should we choose to lean into it.

With that in mind, what are we to make of Trump’s assassination attempt?

Let’s Talk about Trump

The news was brought to me via Twitter (or ‘X’), in the most informal way. Quips and jokes were being made all over my timeline to the point where I wasn’t entirely sure at first what exactly had happened. ‘How did he miss?’, was the lingering question, even if in reality people were asking themselves ‘Why did he miss? God, Why?!’. Of course, the people on my twitter feed, being typically aligned with the political left, weren’t happy about this failed attempt. But after the air of disappointment had dispersed, we found a fragment of something else left behind; a small seed of doubt which would in no doubt grow tall and far and wide, though not far or wide enough to pervade the minds of Trump’s most fearsome supporters.

The word "staged" quickly trended on X with many speculating that the attack was fabricated. This phenomenon was not limited to fringe groups but was actively promoted in users' feeds, often by verified accounts. The speculation centred on security failings and quickly escalated into disbelief and disinformation. Images and videos from the event only fuelled the speculation, with some suggesting the incident was staged to garner sympathy or as part of a larger conspiracy involving trumps bid for his second go at the Presidency. Primarily, incorrect attempts to identify the shooter helped support the narrative of a far-right agenda, with Trump’s recent esablishment as a convicted felon and his unsettling past as a symbol of American

Fascism and unavowed bigotry ensuring that he remains an untrustworthy figure. Trumps plans for ‘project 2025’ only compounds feelings of distrust, as this plan would only further disenfranchise and disadvantage already marginalised communities, setting the States back a few years in the way of societal progress. The infectious disdain for this presidential candidate even against another who’s pacifist indifference has left him only marginally more popular begs the question as to what exactly was to be done to reform Trump’s image? For his more pliable supporters this (well timed) assassination attempt might have been enough to justify a re-ignited faith in him. The man did ‘take a bullet for his country’ after all….

Across the other side of the western world, circulating the phones of teens and young adults everywhere, were accusations of a different kind of deception (though symptomatic of the same societal affliction).

What About Maddy?

British Tik Tok influencer Madeline Argy and British Rapper Central Cee's relationship which began in 2022 and ended in September 2023, was rumoured to have rekindled after they were seen together in Nigeria recently. However, speculation arose that Central Cee cheated on Madeline with American Rapper Ice Spice after they were spotted shopping together in London and released a song and music video with suggestive lyrics about cheating.

Wait.

**Before I continue, I apologise to those of you who are no more interested in this supposed love triangle any more than I am bored writing about it, but I promise there is (as per usual) a larger point here**

Anyway, Madeline took to Tik-Tok a few days ago to share her side of the story, alleging that she was unaware of the collaboration between Central Cee and Ice Spice and that she felt used in Central Cee's marketing scheme. Despite the drama, Central Cee and Ice Spice have not directly responded to the allegations but were seen performing together at Wireless Festival, and Ice Spice has included a photo of them together on her Instagram, sparking further public reaction, and doubt (of course) into whether or not her multi-part Tik Tok series detailing this latest outrage was all a part of the same marketing scheme.

After all we have to wonder whether Madeline, who as somebody with millions of followers online and as a result an entire team behind her, would be as careless as to spread gossip about her personal life (unless she also had something to gain here). Of course she might have posted the series in an effort to position herself as somebody with more respect than to be side-lined in favour of a new princess in pop-culture who just so happens to ‘fit’ better with the rapper canonically. Still having only watched the video once I also noticed the way in which she managed to promote not only the pair’s newest song, but her own podcast on which she mentioned we could listen to more details of this ‘woman scorned’. I have to admit marketing tactics are only getting more and more impressive, with this one (even in it’s efforts to appear genuine) seemed entirely unimpressive, as nothing more than yet another effort to… sell something.

Where there’s common ground…

In a similar way to Trump, ‘Madz’ faced her own fall from grace when she made careless comments about ‘One day wanting to live in a …sundown town’ of all places back in 2023, revealing her as somebody who might be just another person the internet regretted making so famous so quickly. Again, this begs the question ‘What exactly was to be done here?’ and once again our eyes and naivety seemed to satisfy an answer.

The commonalities between these two seemingly unassociated instances lie in a truth that those after fame, money and influence are becoming increasingly familiar with. Where there is doubt in almost everything we see and hear, there is also room for credulity, and so, whilst it appears that some of us are more vigilant than ever, there are also those who fall susceptible to believing just about anything too.

It's also incredibly sad that we’ve gotten to a point where a presidential candidate has just as much credibility as an entirely unserious Tik Tok influencer, having more in common with her than former presidential candidates. His mockable nature has removed him from a pedestal from which he can be respected as a supreme authority to a level at which he can be… meme-i-fied…

Q: ‘What do Trump and Tik Tok influencer have in common?’

A: They both recognise the opportunity before them in this era we’re in, the opportunity to exploit our willingness to believe almost anything. Even when we’re wrong in doubting their honesty, there is an opportunity to ride the wave of mass hysteria all the way to the bank (or capitol hill).

Where it looks like the pair might both benefit from these latest news stories and the element of distrust in the air, it’s

Misinformation: 2, Us: 0

Asisa