-By Gary Krasner
“The Opposite” is the 86th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, which was also the 22nd episode of the fifth season. It aired on May 19, 1994.
It’s also replaying again, in the presidential campaign with respect to Trump and Clinton. But first, let’s remember the storyline in that episode of Seinfeld. From Wikipedia:
George returns from the beach and decides that every decision that he has ever made has been wrong, and that his life is the exact opposite of what it should be. George tells this to Jerry in Monk’s Cafe, who convinces him that “if every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right”. George then resolves to start doing the complete opposite of what he would do normally. He orders the opposite of his normal lunch, and he introduces himself to a beautiful woman who happens to order exactly the same lunch, saying, “My name is George. I’m unemployed and I live with my parents.” To his surprise, she is impressed and agrees to date him.
Meanwhile, Elaine is an exec at Pendant Publishing. Starting off in a successful position, she follows her instincts, and that leads to everything going wrong for her, including the company going out of business.
You can read more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Opposite
HOW DOES THIS EPISODE REFLECT THE CURRENT CAMPAIGN?
The instincts of every political pundit was that Trump would flame out. But day after day, with every one of Trumps noxious, blunt, or just undiplomatic utterances, these “wise” pundits thought that would be the end of Trump’s campaign. But like Costanza, Trump instead benefited. His poll numbers continued to rise. It seemed as though the more horrific were his remarks, the more popular he became.
The pundits today are as dumbfounded as George was by his own success, just by going against instinct, and doing the opposite. According to the political experts, Trump is doing the opposite of what is required for a successful campaign—message discipline, scripted stump speeches, published policy papers—yet Trump triumphs.
And Hillary is Elaine! Like Elaine, Hillary came onto the scene as top dog, and may soon be leaving in disgrace. With each attempt to parse and spin her way past her email scandal—which of course is her natural instinct to do—the outcome is a disaster, with her poll numbers in freefall.
The natural Clinton instinct is to lie and demagogue her way out of jams. It used to work. Yet now, the opposite is happening.
No matter how you view it, we’re watching a rerun of Seinfeld.
Although in the episode, eventually everything goes back to normal for George and Elaine. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen for Trump and Hillary. Certainly not for Hillary!