Glitz! Gold! Glamour! In the ever-intensifying presence of American right-wing conservatism, it may seem unusual that ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) draws so fundamentally from the aesthetics of queer culture, 18th-century opulence, and kitschy theatricality for their image. Through the rococo ballrooms, fake tans, parading pageantry, an image of prestige, wealth, and power is sought to be curated. However, the excess of this scheme goes so far that one might call it ‘camp.’ As Susan Sontag’s Notes on Camp reminds us, the essence of camp is an aesthetic of seriousness heightened to a point of becoming mere artifice. Trump’s curated spectacle becomes ‘pure camp,’ as its sincerity collapses into parody through excessive exaggeration. In this accidental camp, MAGA’s attempt at visual prestige becomes its own critique, revealing an extravagant performance masked in conservative intent.
If camp is as Sontag writes, the aesthetic of exaggerated “stylisation and artifice,” to a point of “neutralised sentiment,” then Trump’s redecorated Oval Office can be understood as its most ostentatious accidental perpetrator. Where in previous terms the Oval Office was characterised by a restrained, modest interior, Trump’s new interior is redecorated in a Versailles-esque grandeur. The inclusion of gold vessels, painted frames, carpets, and faux gold cornicing displays an attempt to exude wealth and magnificence through material means. However, in the lens of camp, they arguably transition into a parody of the very authority they seek to project. The room transitions into a spectacle obsessed with objects and material, revoking substance and meaning, thus falling into the accidental kitsch of camp. Therefore, it describes only an obsession with artifice.
However, within this aesthetic of camp, its opulence and over-obsession with depicting wealth clearly inspire his supporters. Thus, support seen from his populist followers clearly shows that image is more important than content. In an era where image reigns supreme, even the camp parody of power works to impress his followers.
Illustration by Evie Watson