Reality TV can make or break a politician (unless you’re Donald Trump) – POLITICO

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Welcome to Declassified, a weekly humor column.

Living in Belgium is a giant reality TV show, albeit designed by people on the strongest psychedelic drugs.

But actual reality television proved too much this week for Georges-Louis Bouchez, leader of the French-speaking Reformist Movement political party, who quit the Flemish reality show Special Forces: Who Dares Wins after just two episodes. Bouchez’s performance was criticized for a perceived lack of team spirit and effort that seemed exactly like the performance of each party in each dialogue on the formation of the Belgian coalition government but was clearly too much for a bit of television.

I take responsibility. If the group is punished because of me every time, I cannot continue, said Bouchez, which sounds like something a party leader would say after the collapse of the Belgian coalition government talks.

While we’re talking about reality TV politicians, all eyes during the UK coronation will be on Penny Mordaunt (some eyes will of course be on King Charles and some eyes will be on Prince Andrew did not receive anything. unpleasant).

Mordaunt carried an important constitutional symbol, the sword of state, into Westminster Abbey as part of the procession for the coronation of King Charles III.

The sword of state is important for two reasons: it represents the authority of kings, and it is also intended to prevent Boris Johnson from staging a coup in a desperate attempt to cling to relevancy.

In 2014, Mordaunt was a contestant in a celebrity diving competition called “Splash!” and his good job at the coronation did his chances of one day becoming British prime minister unharmed at all. If he drops the sword, however, it could be the end of his ambitions to reach high office and if he drops the sword on an important member of the royal family (usually anyone above Prince Edward in the line of succession) he is in the Tower of London.

But some people are not bulletproof. We’re now in the middle of a debate over whether it’s legal to be labeled a sexual predator as reality TV’s Donald Trump last week after a New York jury found he sexually abused advice columnist E Jean Carroll in a department store changing room. room 27 years ago will affect his chances of becoming US president again. Spoiler alert: Nope.

Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina (who, to borrow a joke from Saturday Night Live, Trump must have called “Joe Tapioca”) the former president is “firm in his belief … that he will not get fair trial in New York City based on a jury pool.” The population of New York City in 2021 is 8.4 million and every one of them hates him!

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“I hope they all go home. My feet are really killing me.”

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Paul Dallison is POLITICO’s slot news editor.

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