By Dr. Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker
Theater kids, especially those in politics, are described as those who are overly dramatic, prone to theatrical gestures, insincere, and unnecessarily showy.
Google’s AI highlights several characteristics of theater kids:
Performance – Politicians’ public personae are like acts on a stage, focusing on presentation and emotion rather than substance or real engagement with their constituents.
Cringe factor – In trying to seem relatable, “one of the gang,” they come off as inauthentic, forced, awkward, and embarrassing.
Lack of authenticity – The term “theater kid” is a pejorative, suggesting that the politician is insincere and only performing to advance their political agenda or goals.
Negative connotation – A genuine theater kid, a child or young adult passionate about acting and exhibiting a dramatic or comedic personality in everyday life, is very different from theater kid politicians, who are perceived as insincere drama queens with no credibility.
These theatrics are among the reasons why, according to Pew Research, “just 26% of U.S. adults have a favorable view of Congress, while 72% have an unfavorable view.”
Let’s review some examples, noting that while most political theater kids are on the left, some on the right also fall into this category.
President Donald Trump and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez exchanged insults on X regarding Trump’s bombing of Iranian nuclear sites and her call for Trump’s impeachment.
Trump called her “dumb,” and she responded with, “I’m a Bronx girl. You should know that we can eat Queens boys for breakfast. Respectfully.”
AOC’s claim to be a “Bronx girl” is performative. While she currently represents the Bronx, she is not “a girl from the Bronx.”
Watch this Benny Johnson video for a summary of the melodramatic act of this theater kid.
AOC grew up in Yorktown Heights, New York, 34 miles north of the Bronx, where the median sold home price is $721,000, according to Realtor.com.
Back in the day, she was known as Sandy Cortez. Now she calls herself “Sandy from the block,” but the block isn’t in the Bronx; it’s in affluent Westchester County. This kind of act lines up with staged photos of her crying next to a fence near an ICE detention center.
As a side note, why do far-left politicians change their childhood names when they start their political careers? How many well-known actors and actresses use stage names different from their birth names?
Barack Obama was known as Barry Soetoro during his childhood, but chose a more exotic name when he recognized it would help his political career.
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was born Warren Wilhelm Jr. and changed his name as an adult.
The socialist/communist theater kids include Hillary Clinton. In 2007, while campaigning for her first failed presidential bid, she spoke to a black church congregation in Selma, Alabama.
Pandering to the Southern black audience, she theatrically adopted a Southern drawl, saying, “I don’t feel no ways tired” in a cringeworthy manner.
Hillary from the hood?
Rep. Eric Swalwell, best known for sleeping with a Chinese spy, was in tears over a Trump meme, an AI-generated image of Trump holding a duck and a cat, mocking Trump’s campaign claim that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Ohio.
Sen. Cory “Spartacus” Booker is another emerging actor. During Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court justice confirmation hearings, Booker pushed for the release of classified documents and dramatically stated, “this is the closest I’ll get to an ‘I am Spartacus’ moment,” channeling Kirk Douglas in the 1960 Oscar-winning film.
Sen. Alex Padilla, without revealing his identity to event organizers or security officials, dramatically interrupted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Los Angeles press conference. As expected, he received the FAFO response, was escorted out, and got himself handcuffed.
Secretary Noem’s account states, “This man burst into the room, started lunging toward the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice, and was stopped — did not identify himself – and was removed from the room.”
Like many talented actors who enjoy encores, Padilla shifted from Rambo to Alan Alda, delivering a tearful soliloquy in the U.S. Senate chambers worthy of an Oscar.
It’s unfortunate that he doesn’t display tears or outrage over the dire situation in the state he represents, California.
Sen. Cory Booker followed Padilla, aiming for a best supporting actor nomination, and took to the Senate podium, outraged over the treatment of “this son of Mexican immigrants.” From Spartacus to Atticus Finch.
The media chorus then joined in and across all cable news platforms, defended the “mild-mannered” Padilla, who disrupted a cabinet secretary’s press conference like a crazed madman. Another example of the media’s “fiery but peaceful” protests.
Across the fertile plains of New York, New York City mayoral candidate Brad Lander was detained by ICE agents “for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer.” All part of a highly theatrical display for the T.V. cameras.
READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT THE AMERICAN THINKER
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