Showtime’s "The Circus" Delves Beyond the Usual Three Rings of Politics

The halfhour segments average about 850000 weekly viewers across multiple platforms making The Circus the premium networkamp8217s top docuseries Hosts John Heilemann Mark McKinnon and Alex Wagner spend time with people we donamp8217t often hear very much from beyond soundbites Heilemann national affairs analyst for NBC News and MSNBC cowrote the bestsellers Game Changeamp160andamp160Double Down McKinnon a political strategist worked with President George W Bush and Senator John McCain Wagner a longtime journalist currently writes for The Atlantic They were joined this season by Jennifer Palmieri who worked for President Barack Obama and on Secretary Hillary Clintonamp8217s presidential campaignClearly this group understands the political spectrumThe series began by covering the 2016 election Since then as the country has grown increasingly more divided it has also become more political When this season began on Jan 26 the first voice heard was Sen Bernie Sanders DVT urging defeat of the quotmost dangerous president in the modern history of this countryquot In the months that followed the number of Democratic hopefuls winnowed to one and The Circus followed along the way Are their questions tough Absolutely reflecting the questions any sentient person would ask but they are not unduly tough on any one candidate The show would no more fit on MSNBC than it would on FoxquotI think of it as a weekly chronicle of American politicsquot Wagner says of The Circus quotThere is nothing else like it on television We are the only people really out in the field showing what is happening from the grassroots So much political coverage is from airconditioned offices on both coastsquotBefore the pandemic one of the showamp8217s hallmarks had the three mainstays sharing a meal and chatting on every episode They still eat and drink now separately as they go about looking at the news from perspectives glossed over elsewhere Heilemann watching the first debate with President Donald J Trumpamp8217s former chief strategist Steve Bannon is a perfect example of letting a segment breathe and allowing viewers in on what would otherwise have been a private momentJust after the final debate Wagner shared some of her thoughts with MediaVillage As usual she was on the go this time in an airport heading home to her sons one and threeyearsold in New YorkquotYou could argue that I have been covering politics since I was in uteroquot Wagner says The true number is 17 years quotI come from a very political family in Washington DCquot This administration and campaign as we are reminded daily is like none other Wagner considers what happens if Trump refuses to leave the Oval Office given that he has repeatedly called into question the accuracy of next week39s election as a hedge if he losesquotI think we are engaged in a national fire drill around this election and there is a lot of gaming out of disaster scenariosquot Wagner says quotBut I donamp8217t think by any means it is a foregone conclusion that it will be a violent transfer of power or something that plunges us into a constitutional crisisquotWagner recently interviewed the leader and other members of III Security Force an active militia in Atlanta Rather than focus on a couple of sensational quotes she listened closely to these wellarmed individuals They may come across as scary to many as they vow to defend themselves against all foreign and domestic enemies but they do not come off as insane as they might be presented in other outlets That is because Wagner connected with them not as an ally but as an American and as a journalistquotThose guys were all armedquot Wagner notes quotI wasnamp8217t worried about anything they would do I had to figure out how to approach this on some level of humanity to figure out how they think and what they think There are blanket statements about certain people And the job of The Circus is to get behind that and reveal political factions for who they are and what they are and remind us of our shared humanity You need to have a conversation with them to understandquotThese men and this woman are convinced that the only legitimate outcome of the election is Trumpamp8217s reelection Whether anyone takes to the streets Nov 3 and given the tumult of this year to date it39s unlikely the streets will stay empty there is going to be much to cope with after The season finale is the Sunday after the election A sixth season has not been announcedquotThere is an open question of the legacy of Trumpism and what happens to America after Election Dayquot Wagner notes quotTrump and Trumpism have divided the country and that does not heal up the minute he is not in office Is there a possibility for a longterm fracture in American politics Absolutely These are deep breaks In American society we have to figure out how to healquotClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

Showtime’s "The Circus" Delves Beyond the Usual Three Rings of Politics

Author

Publish date

Channel

Archived in

Jacqueline Cutler

Jon Miller | Cofounder Marketo, Engagio | The Gumball Machine is Broken - Rethinking B2B Marketing - By Mike Linton

More Videos:

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

Showtime’s "The Circus" Delves Beyond the Usual Three Rings of Politics

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Jacqueline Cutler

Stay in the know with more from MediaVillage

TAGS:

Jon Miller | Cofounder Marketo, Engagio | The Gumball Machine is Broken - Rethinking B2B Marketing - By Mike Linton

The payment was successful

Cookies