There’s no denying that Paul dominated the game on Big Brother 19. From the moment he walked into the house he took control and never let go. But as he progressed, I started to think that his strategy seemed somewhat similar to something I saw play out last year: Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Watch the 10 Best Moments from Big Brother 19>>>
Whether you like it or not, you can’t argue that Trump’s campaign was effective in achieving his goal of becoming the President of the United States, so this isn’t a terrible strategy to try to win Big Brother 19. Here’s a look at some of the similarities between the two.
The Slogans
Paul loves coming up with various catchphrases like Friendship and, this season, he added in “boys” and “gumpy.” That kind of branding is classic Trump, and the impressive part is how Paul got the other HGs to adopt his words and constantly chant them back. Every time Raven or Alex or someone else referred to something as “gumpy,” it was like a crowd chanting “Lock her up” or “Build the wall.” Both Paul and Trump used jingoism to get what they wanted.
Counter-Punching
During the presidential campaign, Trump made it very clear that he loves to counterpunch. He’ll be nice if you’re nice to him, but if you attack him, he’ll punch back 10 times harder with vicious personal insults. That’s exactly what Paul did this season, preaching friendship, but getting ugly whenever he perceived a threat. When Cody yelled at him and called him a character on a TV show, Paul proceeded to rally almost the entire house to go after him to make him crack.
Bragging About Their Greatness
One of the key elements that Paul and Trump have in common is that they both believe they are the best, despite evidence to the contrary. Trump often brags about how he’s the smartest person with the best brain and best words, making the greatest deals and doing things better than anyone else. Since he’s been in office, that has proven to be false.
Paul’s entire game this season has been built on telling everyone that he’s a returning player, so he knows the game better than anyone and they should listen to him because of it. But the truth is that last year he was a recruit who didn’t know much about the show and he has talked about how he didn’t even go back and watch season 18 before he came back. He spent all summer predicting a Sunday eviction (which has never happened, ever) and he proved that he doesn’t actually know a lot about the game.
Throughout Big Brother 19, Paul has displayed many Trump-esque qualities to win over supporters, attack his opponents and try to win at all costs. You may not like it, but history has proven that it works.
Will Paul win Big Brother 19? Find out on the two-hour finale airing Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
