It’s been a weird week of American politics. And we can’t really keep up. Yeah, we know something big happened this week (the whole shakeup of the democratic nomination) but we recorded this episode last week after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. It oddly feels like old news now. But the thing is, we’re not a news show. We didn’t really want to talk about that specifically. But we were wondering, hey… why are people so fascinated with presidential assassinations and presidential assassination attempts anyway?
So, on this episode, Mav and Monica are joined by returning guest Stephanie Siler, to delve into the fascinating and grim topic of presidential assassinations. The discussion explores why certain presidents who were assassinated, namely Lincoln and Kennedy, hold lasting cultural significance, while others, like McKinley and Garfield, do not. How is the concept of assassination depicted in pop culture and why is it ingrained in the idea of the American monomyth. And even though we don’t focus on it, how do we situate Trump and other failed assassination attempts into that overarching narrative. It’s a crazy and interesting, albeit somewhat dark topic, so check it out and let us know what you think in the comments.
Citations and Links:
- The American Monomyth by Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence
- Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
- How to Fight Presidents: Defending Yourself Against the Badasses Who Ran This Country by Daniel O’brien:
- Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme
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- Follow Monica on Instagram: @monicamarvelous
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