For 20 years, 40 seasons, the television show,Survivor, has been extremely popular in the United States.  The motto, Outwit, Outplay, Outlast, epitomizes the environment that contestants must navigate in order to win the grand prize of one million dollars (or in the most recent contest, two million dollars). Importantly, the skills used to win the game are the antithesis of those needed in a real survival situation. They are, however, strikingly similar to those of modern American politics.

In the television game, contestants form temporary relationships, ones that can be broken at a moment’s notice.  Like Trump, egocentrism is the main focus at the expense of all others. Though artificial, often based on happenstance of assignment, tribal alliances are forged and often transcend mergers and may even be counterproductive to the participant in the long run.   To their detriment, many players believe such bonds to […]