The first four seasons of The Office were classics. We’ve had four seasons of The Donald Trump Presidency but the quality isn’t the same.
The U.S. Presidential election is officially over and with Joe Biden finally sworn in we thought it was time to reflect. Trump is forever petulant though and when he prematurely claimed victory on Wednesday, November 4th, 2020.
Something clicked into place: it really had big ‘I Declare Bankruptcy’ energy, something Michael Scott, Dunder Mifflin’s bumbling but well-meaning regional manager, idiotically shouted to the entire office in the season four episode ‘Money’. That’s just not how it works, you two.
When Trump tried to tell reporters about his COVID-19 test early in 2020, there was another eerie similarity. “I tested very positively, in another sense,” he said. “I tested positively toward negative, right? I tested perfectly this morning. Meaning: I tested negative.”
It recalled the season 2 episode ‘Michael’s Birthday’, when Michael failed to understand that his accountant Kevin was fine when his skin cancer tests came back negative.
It all just makes sense. Michael Scott and Donald Trump are two peas in a pod. Emotionally needy, incompetent to a fault. Unqualified for their respective jobs. Rude and offensive to others.
Check out our evidence that Michael Scott and Donald Trump are basically the same person.
Treatment Of Women
Michael Scott was desperate to be married but terribly unlucky in love, partly due to being a fool. He aggressively pursued his BOSS, Jan Levinson. After Carol rejected his shocking engagement proposal, he almost immediately tried to pash his co-worker Pam. He was then the other man, cheating with the bar manager Donna behind her husband’s back. Trump and his feelings toward women are, of course, obvious by now.
During the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, The Washington Post published footage of Trump and television host Billy Bush having an, um, crude discussion about women. It was a complete admission of sexual assault and would’ve ended the presidential bid of anyone if we lived in a normal simulation.
He was also huge pals with notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He’s also weirdly close with his OWN DAUGHTER Ivanka.
Attention Whores
Both Michael and Trump are massive narcissists. They just have to be the centre of attention. In the season 7 episode ‘Costume Contest’, Kelley Kapoor chastises Michael for making their Halloween party all about his issues. Throughout the series, he hosts a thousand useless conference meetings (we’re with you Stanley).
Donald Trump, to put it simply, ran for president because of his outsized ego. Even further back, the reality tv star said in an interview on 9/11 – literally hours after the Twin Towers fell – that he was proud to have the tallest building in New York now as a result. Tactful.
It was in the season four premier, ‘Fun Run’, that Michael truly encapsulated the pair’s essence: “Do I need to be liked? Absolutely not. I like to be liked. I enjoy being liked. I have to be liked. But it’s not some compulsive need to be liked… Like my need for praise.”
Business Acumen
It’s clear by now that Trump is a bit of a business buffoon. Everything he touches turns to debt. He started a fake university only to see it fail. He used daddy’s money to get him started. Michael may be a good salesman (he certainly has the gift of the gab) but a businessman he is not.
After starting The Michael Scott Paper Company with Pam and Ryan, he watches it crumble within months. We’re just thankful that he never finished his magnum opus, ‘Somehow I Manage’.
Michael also promised a class of school students that he would pay their college tuition fees, something he ultimately couldn’t fulfil, in the cringe-inducing season six episode ‘Scott’s Tots’ (it can’t just be me who skips this episode every time). Trump has claimed to be the best and greatest of all time in many things.
Treatment Of Minorities
Michael was capable of personal growth – something that Trump will always find elusive – but at the start of the show, he’s terrible with his engagements with minorities. Whenever he talks to Darryl, the African-American warehouse manager, he puts his foot in his mouth, asking him such unfortunate things such as if Darryl was ever involved in any gangs.
He outs Oscar before the accountant was ready (and kissed him under massive duress in front of everyone in the conference room). After reading a Newsweek article about the country, Michael spreads anti-Chinese messaging around the office.
In the season two episode ‘E-mail Surveillance’, Michael observes a man wearing a turban arrive in the office parking lot and panics. He closes the blinds and runs around the office warning about an imminent attack. The man turns out to be the IT guy.
In what is a long, long list, Trump has notoriously referred to COVID-19 as the ‘Chinese Virus’. He’s locking up migrants in cages. He called for a ban on all Muslims entering the U.S.. Back in 2016, he mocked a disabled journalist during one of his rallies (HOW DID HE EVER BECOME PRESIDENT!). Someone needs diversity training badly.
