Phantom Clowns: The Politics of Trump

In exactly a year, on September 8, 2017, the reboot of It, with a new Pennywise, opens in theaters. Andrés Muschietti's new film is horrific, hints the advance leaks about it, with the scary clown terrorizing children in a "small town in Maine."

After the 2016 wave of real life sightings of clowns in the Carolinas and Ohio, reporters are searching around for the "why" behind the recent encounters. Rob Zombie's forthcoming movie about five carnival workers kidnapped by a gang of sadistic clowns, 31, in theaters September 16, 2016, is being blamed, without a thread of evidence linking the two.

Muschietti's It is being mentioned too.

But neither motion pictures's publicity people appear to be behind any kind of viral marketing involving clowns luring kids into the woods. Studios would have to be stupid to involve themselves in that sort of horror.

The media, nevertheless, are beginning to do deep background pieces on the "reasons" behind the current incidents of clown reports.

I was called for an interview yesterday by a journalist from Atlas Obscura, because, of course, I first investigated and documented the 1981 national flap. And coined the phrase "Phantom Clowns."

Soon after my noontime conversation, the story was published with this headline: "This Cryptozoologist Thinks Trump Might Be Behind the Carolinas Clown Hysteria."

Whoa.

The reporter had messaged me this:

Needless to say, I was quite surprised by the headline, and told the reporter so.

I had not "blamed" Trump for the Phantom Clown sightings, but pointed out that in election years, the media get tired of the same old storylines. 

The press looks for distractions, I noted. Besides, the New York City tabloids had labeled Donald Trump a "clown" - in more ways than one - and that was an intriguing coincidence. 

Within minutes, the story reappeared with this new headline:

Headlines are different than the content of an article.

The current incidents are causing a reflective look back. I did thank the reporter Cara Giaimo for her research into the archival incidents. 

Giaimo also shared my interest in the political angle and the humor of the following memes.  Her article was posted with Trump asking the child in the It meme about a certain campaign promise he had made.

The image is frightening but funny, in the context of social media sharing.

The politics of clowns and the election may be interrelated, but not in any way we yet understand.

Facebook comment:

The first Hillary Clinton/Donald Trump debate scheduled for September 26, 2016, 41 years after The Rocky Horror Picture Show premieres in the USA, Los Angeles, 1975. Tim Curry plays Dr. Frank N. Furter, as he did on stage. Tim Curry also plays the first Pennywise in the TV miniseries It, and will be 71 years & 142 days old on September 8, 2017, the scheduled release of the It reboot. So, Curry will be 71 years & 71+71 days old. I'll spare the other numerology, but it's interesting, the transexual themes bombarding the conditioning media, on September 26 there are 96 days left in the year, 96=freemason. ~ Ronald Christopher Walker

The Phantom Clowns are not through with us. That's for certain.