Theater kids, especially those in politics, are described as those who are overly dramatic, prone to theatrical gestures, insincere, and unnecessarily showy.
Google’s AI highlights several characteristics of theater kids:
These theatrics are among the reasons why, according to Pew Research, “just 26% of U.S. adults have a favorable view of Congress, while 72% have an unfavorable view.”
Let’s review some examples, noting that while most political theater kids are on the left, some on the right also fall into this category.
President Donald Trump and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez exchanged insults on X regarding Trump's bombing of Iranian nuclear sites and her call for Trump’s impeachment.
Trump called her “dumb,” and she responded with, “I’m a Bronx girl. You should know that we can eat Queens boys for breakfast. Respectfully.”
AOC’s claim to be a “Bronx girl” is performative. While she currently represents the Bronx, she is not “a girl from the Bronx.”
Watch this Benny Johnson video for a summary of the melodramatic act of this theater kid.
AOC grew up in Yorktown Heights, New York, 34 miles north of the Bronx, where the median sold home price is $721,000 according to Realtor.com.
Back in the day, she was known as Sandy Cortez. Now she calls herself “Sandy from the block,” but the block isn’t in the Bronx; it’s in affluent Westchester County. This kind of act lines up with staged photos of her crying next to a fence near an ICE detention center.
As a side note, why do far-left politicians change their childhood names when they start their political careers? How many well-known actors and actresses use stage names different from their birth names?
Barack Obama was known as Barry Soetoro during his childhood but chose a more exotic name when he recognized it would help his political career.
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was born Warren Wilhelm Jr. and changed his name as an adult.
The socialist/communist theater kids include Hillary Clinton. In 2007, while campaigning for her first failed presidential bid, she spoke to a black church congregation in Selma, Alabama.
Pandering to the Southern black audience, she theatrically adopted a Southern drawl, saying, “I don’t feel no ways tired” in a cringeworthy manner.
Hillary from the hood?
Rep. Eric Swalwell, best known for sleeping with a Chinese spy, was in tears over a Trump meme, an AI-generated image of Trump holding a duck and a cat, mocking Trump’s campaign claim that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Ohio.
Sen. Cory “Spartacus” Booker is another emerging actor. During Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court justice confirmation hearings, Booker pushed for the release of classified documents and dramatically stated, “this is the closest I’ll get to an ‘I am Spartacus’ moment,” channeling Kirk Douglas in the 1960 Oscar-winning film.
Sen. Alex Padilla, without revealing his identity to event organizers or security officials, dramatically interrupted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Los Angeles press conference. As expected, he received the FAFO response, was escorted out, and got himself handcuffed.
Secretary Noem’s account states, “This man burst into the room, started lunging toward the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice, and was stopped -- did not identify himself - and was removed from the room.”
Like many talented actors who enjoy encores, Padilla shifted from Rambo to Alan Alda, delivering a tearful soliloquy in the U.S. Senate chambers worthy of an Oscar.
It’s unfortunate that he doesn’t display tears or outrage over the dire situation in the state he represents, California.
Sen. Cory Booker followed Padilla, aiming for a best supporting actor nomination, and took to the Senate podium, outraged over the treatment of “this son of Mexican immigrants.” From Spartacus to Atticus Finch.
The media chorus then joined in, and across all cable news platforms, defended the “mild-mannered” Padilla, who disrupted a cabinet secretary’s press conference like a crazed madman. Another example of the media’s “fiery but peaceful" protests.
Across the fertile plains of New York, New York City mayoral candidate Brad Lander was detained by ICE agents “for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer.” All part of a highly theatrical display for the T.V. cameras.
On cue, supporting actress New York Gov. Kathy Hochul held a press conference to voice her faux outrage, which was hardly noticeable in her botoxed face. Channeling another theater kid, Greta Thunberg, Hochul borrowed Greta’s catchphrase “how dare they” and called the arrest “bullshit.”
One of AOC’s fellow House actors, Rep. Jimmy Gomez, was conveniently photographed on the Capitol steps shedding tears after the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill.
Is he crying because he’s losing the votes of deported illegal immigrants who helped him win his Congressional seat? Or is he mourning the third-world conditions of the state he represents?
Pure theater.
It’s not just elected officials. One particular U.S. Supreme Court justice actually appeared in a theater production. As the New York Post reported, “Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson debuts in queer Broadway musical knockoff of Romeo and Juliet.”
Of course she did. This is the justice that failed to define what a woman is during her confirmation hearings. During her theatrical performance, she portrayed Queen Mab, a pronouned she/her character.
Her court opinions also seem overly theatrical. In a recent Supreme Court decision on birthright citizenship, one of her colleagues criticized her dramatics, saying, "We observe only this: Justice Jackson decries an imperial Executive while embracing an imperial Judiciary," wrote Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
There are also theater kids sitting across the aisle. GOP Rep. Nancy Mace visited the Waffle House and went to the Capitol wearing pajamas to support the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Did her stunt win GOP votes or influence public opinion? Doubtful. The bill barely passed in the House.
Finally, there is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' dramatic soliloquy, setting a House record for the longest speech at nine hours. His filibuster didn’t sway any votes, as Democrats are monolithically opposed to any and all Republican bills.
While the media praised him for taking his “sweet time,” wasting everyone else’s time, they overlooked one of Jeffries' past performances. In 2021, on MSNBC, Jeffries called the filibuster “a racist artifact of the Jim Crow era,” and complained that “the filibuster was allowing people to stand in the way of progress.”
Hakeem from the block. He was against what he’s now for. So much for his block.
Congress is like theater, not grand like Gone with the Wind or Shakespeare, but more like the Three Stooges or Rodney Dangerfield.
No wonder they are held in such low esteem. Unfortunately, the media doesn’t call this out; instead, it offers canned laughter and applause, reminiscent of a 1970s sitcom.
As America approaches her 250th birthday, we are unfortunately not governed by statesmen and scholars, but instead by a group of theater kid buffoons.
Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a physician and writer. Follow me on Twitter @retinaldoctor, Substack Dr. Brian’s Substack, Truth Social @BrianJoondeph, LinkedIn @Brian Joondeph, and email brianjoondeph@gmail.com.
Image: Screen shot from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez video, via YouTube