Reality TV and the Politics of the Poorly Educated

America has a love affair with reality TV shows. On any given day the entertainment industry provides a buffet of shows that run the gamut from ratchet and ghetto to outright educational. For instance you can feast on "Love & Hip Hop," or "Married At First Sight" during primetime and then wash it down with a nice helping of "Alaskan Bush People" or "Treehouse Masters."

Admittedly, some of the programs are pretty entertaining. I have spent to many hours watching "Alaska The Last Frontier" and imagined myself to be a tough frontier man, hunting and trapping wild game to put food on the table for my family before the onset of winter. Yeah, that’s right, man vs. nature from the comfort of my coach.

Guilty pleasures not withstanding, there is a dangerous and often unnoticed downside to reality TV. For better of worse, the American viewing public believes what they see on TV, and more troubling, they see reality TV celebrities as trust worthy and knowledgeable.  

Who can forget “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertso, and his infamous GQ magazine interview? His definition of sinful behavior:

“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men.”

The LGBT community was understandably upset and A&E Networks (which produces Duck Dynasty) quickly went into damage control mode and suspended Robertso. In the same interview, the reality TV celebrity also said cotton-picking blacks — back in the good old days — were singing and happy. It should be noted, that many fans of the show, conservative politicians and political pundits agreed with Robertso’s comments and defended him.

Obviously, reality TV celebrities are very knowledgeable and the viewing public can wholeheartedly trust their expertise and views on modern immorality, history, and  slavery.

 The best and most extreme example of this phenomenon is the ascension of reality TV celebrity Donald Trump  as the frontrunner in the 2016 Republican presidential race.

Putting aside fact that the Antichrist of NY is making a mockery out of our political process, and he is completely unqualified to be our next President, he is also, like it or not, a glaring example of America’s downward spiral in terms of civility, critical thinking and education.

To be sure, race, income level, religious afflictions, and gender all play a crucial role in voting tendencies, however, voter education level is the glaring eight hundred pound gorilla in the room, that no one wants to acknowledge, let alone talk about.

The Pew Research Center released data in August of 2012 about the GOP gains among working class voters that found: “Lower-income and less educated whites also have shifted substantially toward the Republican party since 2008 election cycle.” Moreover, among white voters without a college education, the GOP holds a 54 percent to 37 percent advantage among non-college whites.

After winning the Nevada caucus, Donald Trump, attributed his victory in part to the poorly educated that supported him, “We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.”

And the poorly educated love him.

According to an entrance poll conducted by CNN, Trump polled highest in Nevada among those with a high school education or less. To be clear, Donald Trumps recent surge has less to do with his “Make America Great Again,” campaign slogan, and more to do with "poorly educated" Americans voting against their best interest.

Nine months ago, the thought of a reality TV celebrity actually becoming President of the United States was completely laughable.  Fast forward nine months later and laughter has turned to outrage and disbelief. The Antichrist of NY is having a good laugh at our collective shock.

 To recap:

The presidential race of 2016 is actually a political I.Q. test, and much to the dismay of most people with half a brain cell, we are failing gloriously.

And here comes the punch line…

The American electorate, comprised of — overwhelmingly but not limited to — poorly educated, white Republicans might make a reality TV celebrity our next Commander in Chief, who by the way, will have the nuclear launch codes. 

Pretty funny, right?